Decred: An Innovative Cryptocurrency or A Well Arranged Scam?
An alliance of developers have already begun work on a new cryptocurrency, Decred. The new currency is based upon the same Bitcoin model that was previously used with all other cryptocurrencies. However, Decred is saving the main technical features of Bitcoin and fixing all of the issues that Bitcoin had.
While the only clear contributors to the project are community-based such as are Github users, it can be assumed that the developers have a large amount of experience with Bitcoin development, and may even be the original Bitcoin Core developers.
Decred will serve as a hybridized proof-of-work/proof-of-stake consensus system that allows users to create a balance between proof-of-work miners and proof-of-stake users to develop a much more robust consensus.
Why Decred is Unique
You may be wondering: why is another cryptocurrency needed? Well, when Bitcoin was originally released, they were working in a market that did not even exist yet. There were flaws in the concept that can be fixed with the release of new cryptocurrencies such as Decred, Litecoin, Dogecoin, etc.
Bitcoin wasn’t a failure, it changed the idea of currency for better and for always. While a more extensive list of new Decred feature can be found on their website, the entire currency is based on the idea of combining the very best of proof-of-work and proof-of-stake Blockchains in an attempt to utilize both systems in Decred.
Vitalik Buterin, Co-Founder of Ethereum and Ether cryptocurrency, told Cointelegraph:
“Right now, I believe that in order to succeed, a new blockchain project has to bring something genuinely new to the table, and it can't just be a slightly better consensus algorithm.”
Whether or not Decred can execute this concept will be determined after its release. Decred has another major goal in mind. Bitcoin, because it was the first of its kind, had trouble getting public outreach and funding. Decred aims to fix these issues by claiming itself “self-funded and progressive” relying completely on community governance and opensource qualities.
Despite a full list of improvements, Another Co-Founder of Ethereum, Anthony Di Lorio, said:
"Decred is not worth spending time and resources pursuing, because it does not present anything unique or worthwhile"
Mining and Wallet System
So that all Decred users could have access to a GUI regardless of platform, they have developed an online wallet service from BitPay’s Copay wallet and its dependencies. The wallet will allow for basic functionality such as sending and receiving Decred coins. For the more technically minded, there will also be a command line version of the Decred wallet.
As for mining Decred coins, a simplistic AMD GPU miner that works with a local daemon will be made available before the launch. After the currency becomes stable, Decred will release proper “getblocktemplate” functionality and get some pool software up and running.
Funding Strategies
Rather than asking interested parties for donations, Decred has chosen to receive funding entirely from its individual developers. As for the plan for public outreach and engagement, there is some controversy.
Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof, CEO of Bitnation, told Cointelegraph:
“Decred is currently utilizing highly unethical marketing strategies, making it a project with possibly fraudulent intentions”
However, Decred has also been through several stages of funding from Company 0, a company that has also supported Bitcoin since its release. Making the source of funding very reliable.
In a press release, Jacob Yocom-Piatt, CEO of Company 0 said:
“Many people may not know that despite the technological decentralization Bitcoin has brought the world, there are serious and growing issues of centralization that rule decisions made about the present and future of the project. The Bitcoin software is controlled by a small group of people who decide exclusively what can and cannot be changed. This is in part due to a lack of mechanisms and pathways for funding development work directly from the community, and as a result Bitcoin development is funded by external entities that create conflicts of interest between the developers and the representative power of the community that uses Bitcoin.”
Airdrop
Decred is gearing up for an airdrop of coins. The airdrop allows the Decred network to expand, decentralize the distribution of the coins, and attract the right interest and people for Decred. Registration for the airdrop is now open. However, if you plan to register, do it fast because it caps at 5000 people. If you are among the selected, then you will be given a form that you can use to submit your Decred wallet address. Of course, since there are no public wallets available yet, you must use the binaries and source code provided. While airdrops are only the first step towards success, the NXT Foundation believes that Decred needs to be more than a plan.
Bas Wisselink, Co-Founder of NXT Foundation, told Cointelegraph:
“It’s pretty much like any other startup with aims to which it's hard to say ‘no’ to, but once again without providing anything more than plans. Unless this is more than just a plan, it will probably go the same way any airdrop went: it will get dumped and then no interest will remain. After 6 years of crypto, the window for ‘just a plan’ has closed. A project needs to be able to truly offer something new. If it does, it can expect a bootstrap period of at least 2-3 years.”
Whether or not you are interested in Decred does not matter. It will be yet another driving force in the financial world. Get ready for what may possibly be the new and improved cryptocurrency Decred. The projected launch date for Decred is January 18, 2016.
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