Some of you may know us as the Texas Stakehouse - our playful nod to the Lone Star State's reputation for great steaks and Cardano's staking protocol. Today, we want to share an important update about our stake pool's journey.
Our Story So Far
When we launched the Texas Stakehouse with the ticker [100X], our name and ticker each carried special meaning. The pool name playfully referenced our Texas roots and Cardano's staking mechanism, while our ticker "100X" was inspired by Charles Hoskinson's vision of Cardano being 100 times more decentralized and environmentally friendly than Bitcoin - a vision we continue to believe in wholeheartedly.
Some of my fondest memories are of our monthly meetups in Texas - a small but passionate group of people who truly believed in Cardano's purpose and potential. There was something magical about those gatherings, where ideas flowed freely and community bonds were forged. While circumstances changed, that dream of building a strong, local Cardano community never died.
Learning From Our Journey
A good friend once told me that my stake pool's challenges should be studied - and they were right. In the spirit of transparency and growth, let me share our post-mortem analysis.
The Early Days and Lessons
Initially, I launched the pool with more enthusiasm than expertise. We tried everything to build our community - including waking up at 5 AM to create educational content with my friend Dan. While those early morning video sessions didn't gain the traction we hoped for, they represented our genuine commitment to the Cardano ecosystem.
Technical Evolution
What started with cloud infrastructure evolved through several stages:
- Learning basic terminal commands and SSH from supportive community members
- Developing deeper understanding of system security
- Moving to bare-metal servers
- Attempting Kubernetes deployment for better management
The Challenges We Faced
The combination of growing infrastructure costs, increasing storage requirements, and technical complexities became overwhelming. The final challenge came in 2022 when our Kubernetes migration attempt, coupled with mounting expenses, led to the pool's closure. We lost 5,000 ADA in an associated wallet - a harsh lesson in the importance of robust backup systems and security protocols.
Professional Infrastructure & Management
Our current pool parameters:
- Fixed Fee: 340 ADA
- Margin: 3.5%
- Pledge: 5,000 ADA
Our pledge strategy has evolved with our journey. The Texas Stakehouse began with a substantial 250,000 ADA pledge, which we gradually adjusted to 5,000 ADA as we focused on building and maintaining infrastructure. Looking forward, we're committed to a sustainable growth strategy that includes rebuilding our pledge back to its original level of 250,000 ADA over the next 5 years.
Future Vision & Innovation
At BOLT, we're not just talking about gaming - we're already doing it. Our track record includes two successful web-native games integrated with the Cardano blockchain:
- Khaos Factions: A blockchain-integrated FPS game
- HeartBreak Club: A top-down shooter with Cardano integration
These games, developed by our small but dedicated team, demonstrate our ability to create engaging gaming experiences that leverage blockchain technology. Taking inspiration from games like Call of Duty Black Ops while operating at a focused scale, we've proven we can deliver on our gaming vision.
Building on Our Foundation
Our existing game development experience serves as the springboard for our next phase:
- Expanding from web-native to spatial/VR experiences
- Leveraging our established VR Framework
- Creating seamless blockchain gaming integrations
- Building more immersive community experiences
Technical Roadmap
- Integration with Layer 2 solutions (Apex Fusion, Midnight)
- Hydra scalability implementation
- Advanced spatial computing infrastructure development
- Continued evolution of our VR Framework
Connect With BOLT
Join us in building the future of gaming and VR experiences on Cardano:
- Website: fragmint.network
- YouTube: FragMint Channel
- Ticker: BOLT ⚡️
- Pool ID: 90722261a7047faeaa946b0ee5f9815d7bd21fff076cd9f996e6e907