Helping small Cardano stake pools take off, together.
F2LB (First 2 Lifetime Block) coordinates a delegation queue between members: everyone stakes their F2LB wallet to the first pool in the queue to help it bootstrap and consolidate — then we all move on to the next one.
An initiative born from the Cardano community
For 5 years, F2LB has been helping small pools break through and pushing network decentralization.
It all started from this post on the official Cardano forum. A few members started organizing the F2LB community, first on Telegram, then on Discord.
The idea: a coordinated effort to help small solo stake pools bootstrap and consolidate on the Cardano network, while strengthening decentralization. Every F2LB member is added to a queue and delegates their f2lb_wallet to the first pool in line, for a number of epochs based on the amount already delegated to that pool. Once the pool has been served, everyone moves on to the next one.
After five years, F2LB has helped serve 130 small pools and mint 477 blocks, giving a total ROS of about 2.87% to all delegators (members and sponsors). Many thanks to all F2LB members and sponsors!
Useful links
- Discord community
- X updates
- Telegram history
- Google Sheet official source
- f2lb.bardels.me live dashboard
- f2lb@googlegroups.com email (members)
How does the queue work?
The rules that define how the F2LB initiative operates.
- The pool currently in queue position 1 receives delegations from all F2LB sponsors and members in the other queue positions.
- The pool must be up and running by queue position 10; if it reaches position 7 and isn't ready, it gets removed from the queue.
- After being served, a pool commits to keep delegating to the first pool in queue for X epochs according to the CDEE parameter (see contribution table), unless there are more than 30 pools in queue.
- Values in the contribution table are reviewed and adjusted every 10 epochs to keep fitting the initial goal: bootstrapping small solo stake pools.
- If a pool doesn't delegate correctly during an epoch, it gets pushed down one slot in the queue.
- Once served, a pool can re-queue at the bottom of the list, as long as it still meets the requirements — just ask on Discord.
- After 6 consecutive epochs without re-delegating, a pool is deleted from the queue.
- If a pool decreases the initial declared ADA amount in its f2lb_wallet, it drops 3 positions and its EG gets recalculated.
- While in queue, a pool can increase its declared ADA amount (AD) to get more granted epochs (EG), gaining a maximum of one additional level for every 10 epochs it waits.
- When a pool reaches position 3 or lower with a stake over 2 million ADA, it moves to the addonQ with the same number of mainQ EG.
Contribution & granted delegations
The delegated amount (AD) determines the re-delegation commitment (CDEE) and the granted epochs (EG).
| Level | AD — ADA delegated to f2lb_wallet | CDEE — extra epochs committed | EG — epochs granted |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ≥ 1,000 ADA | 10 | 1 |
| 2 | ≥ 3,000 ADA | 8 | 2 |
| 3 | ≥ 10,000 ADA | 5 | 3 |
| 4 | ≥ 40,000 ADA | 3 | 4 |
Requirements to join F2LB
Two ways to take part: as a sponsor (delegator) or as a candidate pool.
🤝 As a sponsor
- Follow the F2LB community on Discord or check the queue every epoch — you can also give your email to receive a re-delegation alert.
- Delegate / re-delegate your wallet to the first pool in queue.
👤 As a pool
- Have fewer than 50 lifetime blocks OR at most 2 million ADA staked at the time of entering the queue.
- Have a variable fee ≤ 5% and a fixed fee ≤ 200 ADA.
- Have a minimum of 1,000 ADA to delegate to the first pool in the F2LB queue each epoch.
AddonQ — the complementary queue
A second delegation track that reduces waiting time on the main queue.
Alongside the main queue (mainQ), a complementary queue (addonQ) allows delegating to a second pool at the same time — which has consistently reduced waiting time on the mainQ.
It only holds four pools at a time. Following mainQ order, pools can be asked if they want to trade one or two of their granted epochs for 3 or 6 epochs on the addonQ, where our main sponsor moroworom delegates a wallet of 900K ADA.
Detailed addonQ rules are available on the Google Sheet, starting around line 23.
Ready to join the community?
Come to Discord to ask to be added to the queue, or for any other questions.
Join us on Discord