Overview
Cexplorer Stake Pool Groups is a free page that shows which Cardano stake pools are run by the same company, exchange, or operator, or belong to an alliance of independent operators. ADA holders delegate to stake pools to earn rewards, and one organization can run many pools. Grouping those pools lets delegators and researchers see how much stake each organization controls in total1.
The page is part of Cexplorer.io, a Cardano block explorer (a search engine for blockchain records), where it appears under the name Cardano Groups, or "Donuts"1. The group data comes from a public GitHub repository run by Vellum Labs, the team behind Cexplorer.io, and anyone can suggest changes to it2.
Key Features
- See who holds the most stake. Each row shows a group's number of pools, total stake, delegator count, and share of total staked ADA, so the largest operators stand out at a glance1.
- Check how much operators back their own pools. The pledge column shows how much ADA a group's owners commit to their own pools, plus a multiplier comparing the group's total stake with that pledge1.
- Know which groups also run a DRep. An "Also DRep" column flags groups that also run a DRep (delegated representative), a registered voter that ADA holders can choose to vote on Cardano governance decisions for them1.
- Drill into any group. Cexplorer group pages add a short description, a history chart of total stake and delegators over time, and a table of the group's pools with stake, rewards, luck (blocks produced compared with blocks expected), fees, blocks, and pledge3.
- Suggest corrections yourself. Anyone can propose a new group or a change to an existing one through the cexplorer-community repository, and approved changes usually reach the site by the next day2.
What to Expect
Visitors to Cexplorer Stake Pool Groups land on one long table with the largest groups at the top. Groups range from crypto exchanges to alliances of independent operators who each run a single pool1. Clicking a group name opens its own page3.
For delegators, Cexplorer Stake Pool Groups helps answer a practical question before choosing where to stake: is this pool listed as part of a larger operation? Someone who wants to support decentralization, meaning stake spread across many independent operators, can check whether a pool belongs to one operator running many pools or to an alliance of independent single-pool operators, since the table lists both kinds of group. Researchers and writers can use the share and pledge columns to judge how concentrated Cardano staking is, which is the use Essential Cardano's guide to Cexplorer.io points readers toward4.
For contributors, the community repository includes a template file: a short form with fields for a group's name, website, logo, description, and the IDs of its member pools and DReps5. A moderator reviews each submission before it goes live, so the same repository is the place to report a missing pool or a wrong entry2. People who want to compare individual pools rather than whole groups can turn to stake pool explorers, and those choosing where to delegate can follow ADAStack's guide on how to stake ADA.
