Security of the network relies on a decentralised pool of SPO's to run it. Without proper support, smaller SPO's will struggle against big players moving in and pushing them out untill they have a majority market share. If these organizations use the same hosting providers for all their infrastructure, this adds additional risk.

On the other hand, running nodes and participating in the network can be a great way for community initiatives to support their projects. By supporting and promoting smaller mission focussed SPO's the security of the whole network benefits. Larger hosting providers are also notorious for caring little for their environmental footprint. By promoting SPO's which run on sustainable energy sources we are achieving two goals: A lower ecological footprint of the Cardano network and a more distributed and secure network in terms of infrastructure used.

Guiding questions:

Regarding Single Stake Pool Operators, Stake Pools connected to community project & Stake Pools benefiting a public cause, which proposals would:

• Allow community funds to be used to support these stakepools through staking
• Help ADA holders to make the right decisions when choosing a stakepool
• Promote a decentralised and diverse distribution of stakepools across the globe

Possible directions:

• Design models/smart contracts to use community funds to support stakepools by staking
• Platform/organisation to help independent SPO's promote and proof legitimacy
• audit systems of SPO infrastructure/hosting
• guide/tools for self-hosting/managing a stakepool
• Develop topology models/protocols to encourage dispersed/decentralised hosting of pools

Why is it important?

A globally distributed self-reliant network is the best defense against a number of major threats to the network

How does success look like?

A diverse and healthy ecosystem of stake pool operators from around the globe collectively run the network on a multitude of infrastructures

Key Metrics to measure

• dispersion of stakepools around the globe
• amount of community funds in ada staked to projects/ngo based SPO's
• number of verified unique hosting providers/self hosted infrastructures used for SPO's
• number of stakepools using green energy primarily