Hey Cardano! This is a popular topic among some in the ecosystem, but doesn’t get talked about enough. So I wanted to make a post here and highlight the issue, most especially if you are type of crypto participant with a set-it-and-forget-it approach.
Thanks to cexplorer, we can see that there are currently 16,370 Cardano accounts delegated to retired stake pools. This means that these pools have ceased operations, no longer produce blocks, and do not earn or distribute any ADA delegation rewards.
In total, this accounts for 45.52 MILLION ADA that is effectively dead stake, no longer earning any rewards whatsoever.
A number of these retried pools are ISPO pools (such as MELD), where people delegated to earn extra tokens. A handful of them are some of the old IOG pools. But the vast majority are smaller single pools (such as NANI) that have since closed their doors for operations.
So, what this means for you: make sure to check the pool that you are delegated to, and confirm that you are not in the population of people no longer earning any ADA staking rewards.
A great solution is to find another, operational pool and move your delegation there. This staking graveyard of over 45 M ADA is more than enough to help power smaller pools to start producing blocks. It would be great to see a tide shift in this regard.
At the very least, people should be aware of this state of the ecosystem, and ideally take some action if you are currently registered to a retired stake pool.
Hope this was helpful, and welcome any insights or experiences from friends in the ecosystem on this topic.
Newbie here. I fall perfectly into this category. Hope it’s OK to revive this thread, rather than create a new one (more noise). My story goes like this:
Back in 2021 I started trying to learn the crypto space and experiment with various platforms. I bought a decent chunk of ADA and delegated it to two different stake pools, but now 3 years later, I can’t remember exactly which ones, so I’m desperately looking for help to try and unpick where my ADA is, and figure out how to retrieve it.
I’m fairly certain I used the Yoroi wallet to do this, as I have the FF extension installed and a record of passwords for two different accounts.
I did manage to randomly click around and land on various (I think) associated addresses that came up on the Cardano block explorer, and found my way to what looks like one of the pools, which shows as retired. That’s as far as my skills have carried me. What to do next, I have no idea.
Have my funds been rugged?
Any help anyone reading this thread can offer is much appreciated.
You cannot be rugged by delegating to a stake pool. The ADA never leave your wallet. It is just recorded that whatever is in your wallet at each snapshot “votes” for a stake pool. If that pool is retired, it won’t produce any blocks and you won’t get rewards anymore, but that’s all.
It doesn’t matter that much which wallet app you used at the time and you don’t have to remember which stake pool you delegated to. As long as you have the seed phrase(s), you can restore the wallet(s) in any wallet app you like with them and should immediately see the delegation(s).
Thanks so much for the detailed reply. Much appreciated.
Two subsequent questions if I may?
Will I have gained my rewards during the time the stake pool was active?? And are those rewards also just “there” automagically in my wallet addresses??
Yes, as long as the pools were not retired and were producing blocks, you will have received rewards. And those rewards never went anywhere and will be there when you restore in any wallet app.
