This thread was a space for Rocket Pool believers to share why they were still here—what they believed in about Rocket Pool and RPL, what it felt like to hold through the lows, and how they could stay positive and proactive. It offered support, reflection, and encouragement, grounded in shared values around decentralization and Ethereum staking. The focus stayed on honest experiences, not blame or mockery—just voices from those still building and believing. Participants received a POAP.

Rocket Pool has had separate quora for on-chain and snapshot voting. This isn't really the intent; it's based on getting similar absolute requirements given that one is a percent of all vote power and the other is a percent of initialized vote power. haloooloolo has volunteered to initialize more vote power so that the difference is small and Rocket Pool can use a single quorum going forward without more tweaks. Buyers of this POAP helped fund this community initiative to initialize on-chain vote power!

On November 9, 2024, Ether crossed over $3k yet again. While it's no All-Time-High, it's a significant mental milestone and a reason for celebration in the Ethereum community. This POAP recognizes $3k as a price-point milestone in our journey to the Pectra upgrade. POAP developed by superphiz, art by the ever-talented Shfryn. Distribution is free through private channels only.

The Rocket Pool community is celebrating the launch of Saturn 0, an important step toward Saturn 1, enabling new minipools to operate without requiring staked RPL. These minipools offer a 5% commission, with a bonus up to 9% if participating in the Smoothing Pool, depending on RPL stake levels. This bonus will phase out four reward periods after Saturn 1, encouraging users to transition while still earning RPL rewards with any amount of RPL stake. Under Saturn 0, any amount of RPL stake qualifies for rewards. This POAP was awarded to community members who attended the event in the Rocket Pool Discord.

The Rocket Pool Smartnode v1.14.0 release includes mandatory client updates for Nethermind, Prysm, Besu, and Reth, alongside Smart Node changes such as removing the 16 ETH minipool option, enhancing deposit prompts, and optimizing RPC calls for oDAO nodes. Minor adjustments were also made to accommodate Saturn-0 and update messages. Shortly after, version 1.14.1 was released to address a breaking change in Prysm and update Lodestar, which is only necessary for Prysm users. Node operators that updated within 72 hours received a POAP.

The Rocket Pool Houston release delivered Protocol DAO on-chain voting. Shortly, the Protocol DAO will be able to vote on Snapshot for meta governance and vote on-chain to make protocol changes. Before Rocket Pool can enable Protocol DAO voting, node operators need to initialize their voting power in the new system and update their signaling address that is used to vote on Snapshot. Node operators that initialized their voting power by July 15 received a POAP.

In early May, 2024, NodeSet opened the first public beta of the HyperDrive node management software enabled with the StakeWise integration module, for its decentralized professional node operator network. This exclusive POAP was bestowed upon the the core team and pioneering node operators that registered a validator with the NodeSet StakeWise vault on the Holesky test network in preparation for the the Gravita x NodeSet StakeWise mainnet vault. Organized by rocknet and designed by ShfRyn.

🎉 Big news, Rocket Pool community! 🥳 The SEC just approved the first Ethereum ETF, and our #trading room on Discord is buzzing with excitement! Imagine Eth, our beloved decentralized hero, getting a shiny new badge of approval from the big leagues. It's like seeing our favorite digital star finally getting its moment in the spotlight! Picture the scene: the Rocket Pool crew, all gathered in the #trading room, decked out in virtual party hats, celebrating with confetti made of smart contracts, and raising glasses of pixelated champagne. 🥂 This ETF approval is more than just a win; it's a milestone worthy of a moonwalk! 🌕✨ Now, investors—whether they're new to the crypto world or seasoned pros—can jump into Ethereum as easily as buying a stock. It's like Eth has rolled out the red carpet, making it simpler than ever to be part of the revolution. And let's not forget the memes—oh, the glorious memes! Get ready for an onslaught of "ETH to the moon" jokes and celebratory GIFs flooding the chat. So, grab your virtual popcorn and join the fun in the #trading room. Eth's future is shining brighter and looking more mainstream than ever. 🚀💫 Here's to new beginnings and even bigger crypto dreams! 🥳🎉