Minimum Pool Cost

The parameter is part of Cardano's reward sharing scheme. Before delegator rewards are computed, the pool's declared fixed cost (capped below by minPoolCost) and margin are deducted from the gross pool reward, and what remains is split pro-rata across delegators.

minPoolCost is an economic-group protocol parameter. On its own it is changed through a protocol-parameter governance action ratified by the Constitutional Committee and DReps without a stake pool vote, because it is not one of the security-relevant parameters. If it is bundled with a security-relevant parameter in one action, stake pool operators vote on the whole action.

The floor was 340 ada from the Shelley launch until October 2023, when it was halved to 170 ada, the value still in force. A further cut to 75 ada, bundled with an increase of the Plutus memory limits, expired on September 1, 2026 with DRep and committee support but only 34.5 percent of stake pool stake in favor. The governance action has the full vote record.