Decred

Decred is a Layer 1 cryptocurrency and self-funding governance project that launched in February 2016. It was created by a group of developers, several of whom had previously worked on the btcsuite Bitcoin implementation, with the stated goal of building a currency whose rules could be changed by its stakeholders rather than by a small group of maintainers. The project describes its ambition as building a community-directed digital currency designed for long-term durability.

How Decred works

Decred uses a hybrid consensus system that combines proof of work with proof of stake. Miners produce blocks using the Blake-256 hashing algorithm, but each block must also be validated by a set of randomly selected stakeholders who have locked DCR into voting tickets. If those ticket holders reject a block, its reward is reduced. This design means neither miners nor stakeholders can unilaterally change the rules, and it makes certain attacks that rely on hash power alone considerably more expensive.

Decred's supply is capped at 21 million DCR, the same figure Bitcoin uses, with roughly 17.5 million in circulation. Block rewards are split three ways: a share to proof of work miners, a share to ticket-holding stakeholders, and a share to the project treasury. That treasury component funds development through Politeia, an on-chain proposal system where stakeholders vote on how the money is spent. This removes the reliance on outside foundations or venture funding that many other projects depend on.

Role in the ecosystem

Decred sits in the category of Bitcoin-influenced Layer 1 chains that experiment with governance. Its hybrid model has been referenced in wider discussions about how blockchains can upgrade themselves without contentious hard forks. The project has also worked on privacy features through an optional coin mixing implementation, and on decentralized exchange tooling for atomic swaps between chains.