Cardano Q&A: hardware wallets, RealFi, and two governance votes that matter

Another Friday, another Cardano Q&A. Here is the short version for anyone who could not make the call, and the links worth keeping. As always, the theme was less about chasing yield and more about using the tools and the vote you already have.

Hardware wallets: Keystone or Trezor

If you are holding ADA for the long term, get it off a hot wallet. Two solid options came up. My own pick these days is Keystone - a "new breed" air-gapped device that signs by QR code, so the keys never touch a cable or a USB port. Trezor remains a dependable, well-supported choice too. Either pairs with the Cardano wallets you already use.

RealFi testnet: earning toward RFG

The RealFi testnet is live, and you can earn R-Points that count toward RFG tokens. The catch worth noting: your mainnet wallet needs to be staked to FLUID for the rewards to track. There is also a RealFi SPO community programme for operators who want to get more involved.

Two governance actions worth your vote

This is where a delegator's stake weight actually does something. Two on-chain actions are open:

• Lowering minPoolCost from 170 to 75 ADA. The fixed per-epoch fee is what quietly erodes small-pool rewards, so this one matters for pool diversity. Read the proposal.
• Raising k from 500 to 1,000. Doubling the pool target changes the saturation point and, with it, the incentive to spread stake across more operators. The draft is here.

If you have a dRep or vote directly, both are worth an informed look.

Under the hood: Mithril

For the technically curious, we touched on the Mithril signer - how stake pools sign the ledger state so new nodes can sync the chain in minutes rather than days. FLUID runs one.

Join the next call

We run the Cardano Q&A live every Friday morning. Come with questions: fluid7.com/cardanoqa.