Original Placement:
Today’s guest on the Cardano SPO column is a stake pool operated by Sergiu Cazan, an economist from Romania with a mission focused on autism awareness: Elik Pool [ELIK].
The previous guest was a stake pool operated by Piero, a Cardano Ambassador who has been translating content into Italian.
This column is where I invite Stake Pool Operators (SPO) to share their stories and vision as a way to connect with and learn about the Cardano Community.
Hi, thanks for your time. Tell us something about yourself, where are you based and what are your backgrounds?
Hey Patryk and everyone — my name is Sergiu Cazan I’m an economist from Romania with solid business experience. I discovered crypto, and Cardano in particular, back in February 2021. I’m blessed with a family and 2 children and have always aspired to do good in life, because taking care of others is the only way our world can change for the better.
My business experience stems from various fields, starting with the telecom and communications industry, import and export trading of industrial products and banking.
What’s the path that led you to Cardano and to become a Stake Pool Operator (SPO)?
It all started as a fun way to wait for the birth of my daughter Elisa in (March 2021) — the pool is named after her and I was looking for a birthday gift so that she’ll thank me when she’ll turn 18 
I researched crypto for a bit and bumped into Cardano and Charles’ famous Whiteboard video. That clip, the “Change the world” ethos and altruistic community convinced me that’s something I really want to pursue going forward.
Although through my economical background I was well aware of the problems and shortcomings of the current financial system it was not until I discovered Cardano that I saw the actual solution to many of the problems.
As our mission statement says on the website:
“There will only ever be one pool operated by us. We’re firm in our belief that in order fo r true decentralization to be effective, we need as many successful single pool operators as possible .”
After I have understood this decentralization part I have started my own pool that will hopefully be managed by my daughter when she turns 18 — we’re simply here to stay in our ecosystem:)
Tell us about your mission. Why is it important to you and what is your plan to have the greatest impact?
Giving back to the community and making the world a better place is one of the reasons why I decided to make the pool a mission driven one — with a main focus on a personal and sensitive subject that I have thought about a lot before making it public.
Elisa’s elder brother has Autism Disorder and after careful consideration I have decided to go public with Autism Awareness mission driven donations to a local NGO that helps children like our to achieve the most in life.
As there were no pools at first glance with this mission I have decided to choose it as the primary mission, because if we don’t raise awareness around this issue, it’s very hard for the autistic children to be understood and truly accepted with their needs inside a community.
By these awareness initiatives I have discovered that there are 2 more Stake Pool Operators within our community that have children with autism disorder and although I will not name them now, we hope to make a nice surprise at some point with a joint event
Hopefully — and we’ll move on to the next question, these actions and this interview will reach out to a lot of helpful people like our current delegators that are not here just for 1% or 3% ROI
What are you most looking forward to in 2024? What does the Cardano ecosystem require to reach a greater user base?
I’m looking forward to a better 2024 not only in terms of asset appreciation after the Bitcoin halving but also more and more adoption inspired by money ownership — as opposed to the current FIAT system, true decentralization and real good projects that help people in day to day life.
As a personal opinion, there is only one way to reach a greater user base through organic and sustainable growth (not just pump my bags when moon adoption) and that is education.
Fortunately, this education is the work of all of us, SPOs, delegators, people like you that make interviews and give us a way to be heard outside just a regular tweets or website reach.
With our collective work and of course other people’s curiosity over crypto in general — Cardano can get the attention it deserves and our collective missions will have a broader impact with more good being done by all.
Speaking of good — on behalf of one of my friends, I would like to recommend the book “The Life You Can Save” by Peter Singer.
We’ve met through Cardano and I’m proud to call him my friend now, we should all get a quick glance at this book’s idea by reading or watching videos reviews for it
Fantastic. Any closing thoughts? Where can people get in touch?
Thank you Patryk for the opportunity of presenting our ELIK pool and mission, it’s been great to speak to you and share our thoughts.
I’m easily available on Twitter of course — my handle is @sergiu_cazan.
We’re glad to answer any questions and open to any collaborations within our ecosystem:)
Keep in touch for further events!
Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the people interviewed are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOG. Moreover, this content is for educational purposes, it doesn’t constitute financial advice.