In the decentralized world of distributed ledger technology (DLT), initial coin offerings (ICOs) and cryptoassets, many are called, but few are chosen indeed.
With more than 1,600 cryptocurrencies already on the market, and hundreds of blockchain startups launching their native altcoins almost every day, it is critical to separate the shaft from the viable seeds and give hodlers a clear view of the cryptoverse.
Here’s presenting Decred (DCR), one of the very few digital currencies that has remained solid over the years.
What is Decred (DCR)
Decred (DCR) is an open-source, fully decentralized, autonomous payments cryptocurrency, just like bitcoin (BTC), litecoin (LTC) and others.
However, the hybridized Proof-of-Work (POW), Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, coupled with its excellent autonomous governance, stands Decred out from all other payments virtual currencies.
The Decred project is focused on eliminating some of the governance issues drawing back the world’s flagship crypto, bitcoin, via its hybrid protocol.
Unlike the bitcoin, where it is seemingly possible for a miner to dominate the network with his sophisticated ASICs and GPU bitcoin mining equipment, the menace is virtually impossible on the Decred blockchain.
Case in point, Bitmain, a Chinese ASICs mining equipment manufacturer and bitcoin mining behemoth, presently controls  more than 40 percent of the Bitcoin network and has come under scathing criticisms  from a section of the Bitcoin community in recent times.
History of Decred (DCR)
As stated  by the CEO of Company O and founder of the Decred project, Jake Yocom-Piatt, the inspiration to create Decred came as far back as 2013, when he stumbled upon the whitepaper posted by Adam McKenzie on the bitcointalk forum, for a DLT-based crypto called memcoin two.
The project blueprint detailed how the POW and PoS protocols could be adapted to create a system that entirely supported on-chain governance.
“It supports on-chain governance, that’s what really led to the start of Decred,” noted Yocom-Piatt.
He added that the memcoin two founder, McKenzie and some other users of the coin kept persuading him to join the memcoin two project. However, in March 2015, he made up his mind to start Decred instead, and on February 7, 2016, Jake Yocom-Piatt officially launched Decred via his Chicago-based Company 0.
Importantly, on April 25, 2017, the Decred development team announced  the release of Decred v1.0.0, in a bid to make it possible for the community to vote on pertinent issues concerning the project, thus giving stakeholders the complete authority over the network and not a select few.
“The release of Decred 1.0 is a watershed moment in the cryptocurrency movement. Decred finally does what has never been done before, putting the power of change in the hands of the very people that care about it most,” said the Decred team at the time.
It’s noteworthy that in September 2017, Decred developers successfully executed an atomic swap between the native Decred (DCR) altcoin and litecoin (LTC), to allow hodlers of both altcoins trade their cryptoassets on a peer-to-peer base, eliminating the need for cryptocurrency exchanges.
Yocom-Piatt expressed his excitement over the significant milestone, giving credits to the Lightning Network developers as well as Decred devs for their unwavering dedication.
The Decred (DCR) Push Towards Excellence
The Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm is employed by the Bitcoin network and several other cryptos, in mining new coins and reaching consensus on the system.
While the PoW mechanism is highly secure, preventing spamming and hacking of the network, its downside is that it requires miners to have access to uninterrupted electricity supplies, as well as sophisticated mining equipment, for them to be able to confirm transactions and generate new cryptocoins on the network.
On the other hand, the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm eliminates the need for miners to have state-of-the-art, high power consumption devices.
Instead, it allows users to mine new coins and confirm transactions on the network, based on the number of cryptoassets they own.
While the PoS consensus mechanism gives everyone on the network an equal advantage, it also has its demerits.
PoS tends to make miners hoard their coins instead of using them to make payments, and it is much easier for rogue actors to launch an attack  on a PoS network as compared to the PoW algorithm.
After carefully studying the strong points as well as the weaknesses of various blockchain architectures, the Decred team concluded that combining both the Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithms would suit the project perfectly.
The hybridization of the PoW and PoS algorithms gave birth to what is known as the Proof-of-Activity (PoA) consensus.
According to an Investopedia report, in PoA consensus, the mining operation starts with POW, and once a new block is mined, the network automatically switches to POS.
While the POA combines the strengths of both algorithms, it also inherits their weaknesses.
However, the possibility of a double spend attack also known as a 51% attack happening on a POA network is almost nonexistent.
Decred Coin (DCR) Price, DCR Wallets and Exchanges
Unlike other coins that follow the ICO route, DCR was not born via the controversial fundraising method.
DCR is the native digital asset of the Decred ecosystem. Just like bitcoin, there are a total of 21 million DCR tokens in supply, and the team has made it clear there’ll never be more.
DCR tokens can be mined or purchased on a vast array of cryptocurrency exchanges.
To mine DCR coins, a Decred miner is required to have the necessary DCR mining hardware, as well as the official Decred mining software called GoMiner or other software like the CCMiner  and the SGMiner.
Decrediton is the official wallet of DCR. The purse is available in Windows, MacOS  and Linux  operating systems.
For a comprehensive guide on how to setup Decrediton click here
Additionally, DCR holders can store their DCR digital assets on the Exodus multi-cryptoasset, user-friendly and highly secure desktop wallet app which can be downloaded here .
DCR is ranked 29th on the CoinMarketCap top 100 cryptocurrency table. The price of DCR sits at $35.69, with a market capitalization of $301.12.
Decred coins can be purchased on quite many virtual currency exchanges including Bittrex, Poloniex, Cryptopia, Upbit and others.
The Decred Development Team
As stated earlier, Jake Yocom-Piatt is the founder of the Decred project. Before launching Decred, Jake funded and oversaw the development of an alternative full-node Bitcoin implementation called btcsuite.
Other members of the Decred development team include:
Dave Collins, a Decred Lead Developer, John Vernaleo, a Senior Developer, Alex Yocom-Piatt, Josh Rickmar and Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Marco Peereboom.
