Decred, a creation of Bitcoin developers, rolls out decentralized governance, claiming a first in blockchain technology.
Decred is a cryptocurrency project and platform built from the ground up to leverage the will of its constituents to drive change. This approach eliminates the conflicts that arise when powerful entities attempt to assert control over a cryptocurrency.
Tomorrow, April 25, 2017 marks the release of Decred v1.0. This historic release puts Decred stakeholders in charge of shaping the future of Decred through direct community consensus voting.
For the first time in the history of cryptocurrencies, governing control moves away from centralized authorities, such as developers and miners, and is given to the community of stakeholders. Decentralization struggles without decentralized governance; this is especially true when it comes to a rapidly growing global currency.
Most cryptocurrencies distinguish themselves by how they secure the transactions on their network.
For example, Bitcoin is famous for using a proof-of-work algorithm that rewards miners for finding solutions to a cryptographic hash puzzle. Other cryptocurrency projects rely on proof-of-stake algorithms that reward users who hold the currency in a “staking” wallet with interest on the balances they carry.
Both approaches have strengths and limitations; Decred takes advantage of the best of both worlds with a hybrid proof-of-work and proof-of-stake consensus system. This allows the platform to strike a balance between benefits to both miners and stakeholders, giving rise to a more robust notion of consensus.
The 1.0 release of Decred will include the first community vote on two important issues.
After 75% or more of miners and stakeholders have updated to 1.0, Decred stakeholders will be able to vote on one consensus change and one signaling vote. Due to the rapidly growing popularity of Decred, the number of stakeholders buying vote tickets has increased dramatically, leading to large oscillations in the ticket price.
This is a good example of an unanticipated condition which needs to be resolved though community consensus. A new ticket price algorithm will aim to ease the large oscillations in ticket price and lead to better ticket price discovery while still maintaining the target ticket pool size.
A consensus change of this magnitude is very difficult to achieve in more traditional cryptocurrencies and requires the voluntary acceptance of the code by miners that may or may not have their own agendas. If it passes, the new ticket price algorithm will activate seamlessly for everyone with no further intervention. The second vote will allow stakeholders to signal support for Lightning Network development.
The Lightning Network is a payment layer that makes it economical and fast to process payments, especially small payments, like buying a cup of coffee without having to pay a large transaction fee to process the transaction. If this signaling vote passes, the developers will begin work on integrating Lightning Network on the Decred blockchain. Once development is complete and tested, a future consensus vote can be taken to automatically activate the Lightning Network code.
The recent 2017 roadmap highlights some of the other massive innovations that the team hopes to put up for a vote throughout the year. In addition, a new improvement proposal system will be put in place soon to allow for the community to contribute directly to the agenda.
The release of Decred 1.0 is a watershed moment in the cryptocurrency movement. This digital currency 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. Decred is celebrating version 1.0.0 release with a puzzle challenge.
The ‘Autonomy Puzzle’ challenge features an initial prize of 500 decred (DCR) to the first solver, equivalent to approximately USD 7,500 at the time of this release. However, players will be working against the clock, as the prize will be reduced every 24 hours. The puzzle difficulty level has been rated ‘easy to medium’, as Decred is aiming to include participants of all skill levels.
We recently added Decred among the available digital currencies you can store on the HolyTransaction multicurrency wallet.
We define it as “multicurrency” because you can store more than 10 different cryptocurrencies within the same account and login details.
Open your Decred Wallet here and store it right next to your own Bitcoin, Ethereum and more.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Open your free digital wallet here to store your cryptocurrencies in a safe place.
Emerging at the forefront of Bitcoin innovation, El Salvador is working toward achieving a level of financial independence and openness independent from a centralised banking system. El Salvador has paved the way for other nations to follow in its footsteps by becoming the first nation in the world to recognise Bitcoin as a legitimate currency.
To encourage worldwide collaboration and proliferate networking avenues for Bitcoin enthusiasts, El Salvador hosted the “Adopting Bitcoin” Conference over 3 days, between November 15 and 17. The event took place in San Salvador and at Bitcoin Beach and brought together members of the Bitcoin ecosystem from a multitude of states.
More than 110 speakers from over 30 countries discussed the most recent breakthroughs throughout the whole range of Bitcoin-related disciplines, including those pertaining to technology as well as economics.
In this setting, the presentation of the Bitcoin core engineer Jon Atack was a significant highlight, focused on technology and development, while the presentation of Mexican senator Indira Kempis will be the most famous name in the track focused on economics. The multi-stage event will be held in English, with Spanish translations provided in real-time for the most critical phases.
Paolo Ardoino, the Chief Technical Officer of Bitfinex, is one of the attendees at the crypto conference in El Salvador who gained the greatest notoriety. Arduino said in his statement that his company “would redouble its efforts to establish a free, unstoppable, robust, and open Bitcoin and technological infrastructure for El Salvador.”
Overall, Bitfinex has committed to working closely with the government of El Salvador, which is currently mired in debt and is governed by President Nayib Bukele, to devise an appropriate regulatory framework for the cryptocurrency market and other digital assets in the nation. Ifinex, the parent company of Bitfinex, has agreed with the government of El Salvador to work together on developing a regulatory framework for digital assets and securities.
While adverse market dynamics hindered the optimism around the event, there is a suite of conclusions that indicate the ongoing commitment of Bitcoin leaders and pioneering nations like El Salvador to still pursue the broader adoption of Bitcoin as a payment medium.
As the blockchain industry, as well as all the other financial sectors, witnessed in 2022, the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies declined primarily due to the Federal Reserve’s strategy of dramatically raising interest rates to curb rising inflation in the United States, which caused the cost of money to increase. Subsequently, the remainder of the decline was caused by a succession of events, including the bankruptcy of organisations involved in cryptocurrency trading and the collapse of currencies such as Terra USD. Large investors sold out these high-risk assets, precipitating a precipitous value decline.
El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, announced that the nation would begin buying one Bitcoin each day starting with November 17, 2022. The use of dollar-cost-averaging (DCA) in Bitcoin transactions is widespread among the community, yet it is unprecedented for a nation-state. When Bukele’s proclamation was made, the nation possessed a Bitcoin treasury that included 2,381 BTC and had a worth of more than $39 million.
So far, Bukele has made it a pattern in the past to acquire a significant quantity of Bitcoin during periods of market instability and to “buy the dip.” This action would signal the end of a nearly five-month pause amid severe bear market circumstances and the collapse of Sam Bankman-massive Fried’s $32 billion FTX enterprise.
According to NayibTracker, Bukele made his most recent purchase of Bitcoin on June 30, 2022. At that time, he paid $1.52 million for 80 Bitcoins (worth around $1.33 million), which works out to an average price of $19,000 per coin.
Overall, El Salvador’s “Adopting Bitcoin” conference serves as a reminder of the ongoing commitment of crypto pioneers and their belief in the long-term potential of this cutting-edge technological revolution.
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