Cardano proposal slashes fees by 55%, but it comes with a cost for small pools

A new Cardano governance action proposes cutting the minimum from 170 ADA to 75 ADA, this time without the Plutus memory-limit change that brought stake pool operators into the previous ballot.The proposal drops one voting requirement that stopped the earlier action. Approval is pending, and each pool would still set its own declared fee.Delegators in a small pool can lose a large share of a thin epoch reward to its fixed charge before their share is calculated. Meanwhile, operators rely on that charge for income, and those with little delegated stake already face uneven block production.A lower floor would give them more room to compete on price, while leaving each operator to decide whether to use it.A different ballot leaves the reward question openThe earlier action paired the same pool-cost reduction with higher Plutus memory limits. It expired on Sept. 1 after DRep yes votes reached 68.6%, above the 67% threshold, and five of seven Constitutional Committee members voted yes.Stake pool operator support reached only 34.5% of counted stake, short of the required 51%. The memory-limit component made an SPO vote necessary for the combined action.The standalone proposal, submitted ...