[ANN][DCR] Decred - Hybrid PoW/PoS | btcsuite Devs | Tons of New Features | Go

[decred]

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Decred is an open, progressive, and self-funding cryptocurrency with a system of community-based governance integrated into its blockchain. At its core is a hybridized proof-of-work proof-of-stake (PoW/PoS) consensus system that aims to strike a balance between PoW miners and PoS voters to create a more robust notion of consensus. The project is a result of the theoretical proposals brought by proof-of-activity (PoA) and MC2 in 2013. Decred development started in April, 2014 with a single developer and expanded to include developers from btcsuite shortly thereafter.

Decred is built in the spirit of open participation and we have provided below a full disclosure of the technical features of the system, wallets and mining, initial funding and distribution, project governance and development, and a group contribution timeline. We hope to launch mainnet on 06:00 PM UTC February 8th, 2016 ¹, and will provide additional details in this thread. Everyone is welcome to participate, and you are certainly welcome to join the development and project groups if you have interest in contributing to our efforts!


i. Latest Release

v1.0.5 Released 2017-06-21 Release Notes



GUI Wallets (bundled with dcrd/dcrwallet):

• Paymetheus - For Windows.
• Decrediton - For macOS and Linux.

Core software:

• Command Line Installer
• Web Wallet

Supported Miners:

• gominer - Officially supported CUDA/OpenCL miner for AMD/NVIDIA GPUs.

Third Party Miners:

• ccminer - CUDA miner for NVIDIA GPUs
• Claymore
• sgminer - OpenCL miner for AMD GPUs

ii. Technical Features

The features below are implemented in Decred and will be available in full at launch. For a deeper description, please consult the Decred Technical Brief.

• Novel hybridized proof-of-work/proof-of-stake (PoW/PoS) consensus system - A decentralized lottery is used to select PoS miners to vote on PoW blocks. The PoW and PoS subsidies account for 60% and 30% of each total block subsidy, respectively. This system is based on that of MC2, which is very similar to, but developed independently from, Proof-of-Activity (PoA) by Iddo Bentov, Charles Lee, Alex Mizrahi and Meni Rosenfeld.
• Cold staking and decentralized stake pooling - The ability to generate new coins without the risk of having your coins online when PoS mining. The PoS mining system has also been engineered with distributed, decentralized stake pooling in mind, so that even those with small amounts of stake can participate in network validation.
• Internal voting system for the addition of new features and hard or soft fork selection - Both PoW and PoS miners can vote for features and issues through bit flags, providing a sensible mechanism for resolving disputes about the features of the blockchain.
• Immutable transaction hashes ("transaction IDs") by separating transaction signatures from the rest of the transaction data - A permanent fix for transaction hash malleability has been implemented that prevents mutability of the transaction hash by separating it from its input signatures. This allows more efficient SPV validation. Fraud proofs have also been added.
• Elliptic curve cryptography over secp256k1 with optional Curve25519 support - The Bitcoin scripting system has been modified to allow for simple, drop-in addition of new elliptical curve digital signature algorithms.
• Schnorr signatures with threshold n-of-n support - In addition to supporting Schnorr signatures, groups of signers can now jointly sign transactions off-chain in constant size signatures, ensuring higher privacy and less blockchain bloat.
• Script enhancements and new OP codes - New OP codes have been added to the existing Bitcoin scripting engine, and extensions for the plug-in use of future scripting engines have been added.
• PoW mining using BLAKE256 hash algorithm - Inspired by Bernstein's Chacha stream cipher, SHA3 finalist BLAKE256 offers speed as well as high security.
• Compatibility with Bitcoin transaction scripting system - Decred's scripting system has been derived from Bitcoin's with care in ensuring that all future updates to the Bitcoin transaction script will be easily extensible to Decred. Further, any newly created functionalities will also be devised with backwards compatibility with Bitcoin in mind.
• Modularized, easy-to-use Golang btcsuite codebase - Thanks the to the codebase inherited from btcsuite, adding new features to the daemon or wallet will be facile. Decred will episodically sync updates from btcsuite, so that it benefits from the latest developments in Bitcoin.
• Hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets - Wallets use a seed to deterministically generate addresses, so your wallet can be restored from a single BIP0032 seed.
• Transaction expiration - Transactions have a new expiration field to prevent inclusion into the blockchain after a certain height.
• Patches for intrinsic Bitcoin bugs - Extra push for multisignature scripts has been removed, SIGHASH_SINGLE behavior has been corrected.
• Approximately 21 million coins - Exponential decay in subsidy or the number of coins generated per year.
• Self-funded development via block subsidy - In order to have an ongoing source of funding for development work, a consensus rule has been added to allocate 10% of each block subsidy to a development organization. This entity is transparent and responsible for funding development work performed by current and new developers so that the project remains sustainable without a funding dependence on outside forces in the future. Decred therefore improves with growth in a sustainable way and is accountable only to its users.

iii. Project Governance and Development

In addition to the technical features that make up the technology, Decred as a project introduces several development and governance features and proposals to ensure and steer long-term growth. We encourage participants to discuss these topics earnestly, as we want to ensure the system of development and governance is built on a solid foundation.

• A multi-stakeholder development ecosystem that welcomes and empowers participants who want to build new functionality and improve on existing features.
• Any party can submit feature proposals and developers are paid for work to fulfill requirements. This is done in full view of the community in a system designed to fight against ingroup-outgroup dynamics.
• The initial contributors are the developers responsible for btcsuite (est. early 2013 - present).
• A proposal for a layered form of transparent meritocratic governance that extends beyond proof-of-work and proof-of-stake mechanisms to bring forward and represent insider and outsider voices in the community.
• A proposal for bottom-up decision-making through the Decred Assembly, an evolving and inclusive list of community members who make non-financial contributions to the project through their work and effort.
• The project is bound by the Decred Constitution on the core principles of finite issuance, privacy, security, fungibility, inclusivity, and progressive development of the technology that keeps these principles together.

iv. Resources

Documentation: https://docs.decred.org

Beginner's Guide:

Mining:

• Proof-of-stake (PoS)
• Proof-of-work (PoW)

FAQ
Advanced
Research

Block Explorers:

• Testnet
• Mainnet

v. Pools

Proof-of-work (PoW):

• http://coinmine.pl/dcr
• https://dcr.maxminers.net
• https://dcr.suprnova.cc
• http://decredpool.org
• https://pool.mn/dcr
• http://yiimp.ccminer.org
• https://zpool.ca

Proof-of-stake (PoS):

• https://dcr.stakeminer.com
• https://dcr.stakepool.net
• http://dcrstakepool.getjumbucks.com
• https://dcrstakes.com
• http://pool.d3c.red
• https://stake.decredbrasil.com
• http://stakepool.eu
• https://stakepool.dcrstats.com

vi. Exchanges

• Bittrex
• Poloniex

vii. Press ²

• Bitcoinist
• Bitcoin Magazine
• Chicago Tribune
• CoinDesk
• Cointelegraph
• CryptoCoinsNews
• IBM Security Intelligence
• Slashdot
• Softpedia
• The Hacker News

viii. Additional Information

Documentation: https://docs.decred.org/
Website: https://decred.org
Forum: https://forum.decred.org
GitHub: https://github.com/decred
IRC: #decred on irc.freenode.net
Reddit: https://reddit.com/r/decred
Twitter: https://twitter.com/decredproject
User Projects: https://docs.decred.org/advanced/user-projects/


ix. Group Contribution Timeline

Below are key points of free and open-source contributions made by the Decred developers to the digital currency ecosystem since 2013. The largest of which is the btcsuite package, which comprises a suite of packages and tools for working with Bitcoin in Golang, and includes btcd, a full node, mining capable, Bitcoin implementation. To date, the total contribution across btcsuite represents 98,046 lines of code, 44,576 of which are test coverage.

This timeline illustrates a long-term and focused commitment to the creation, improvement, and maintenance of free and open-source cryptocurrency software, which will extend to Decred, and serve as a baseline for what users can expect from the project in the future.

• 05/01/13 - btcd: a bitcoind alternative written in Go
• 05/08/13 - btcwire: The bitcoin wire protocol package from btcd
• 05/13/13 - btcjson: The bitcoin JSON-RPC package from btcd
• 05/29/13 - btcdb: The bitcoin database package from btcd
• 05/29/13 - btcutil v0.0.1
• 05/31/13 - btcutil v0.0.2
• 06/13/13 - btcscript - the script package from btcd
• 07/19/13 - btcchain: The bitcoin chain package from btcd
• 10/03/13 - btcd: Not your mom's Bitcoin daemon
• 10/05/13 - btcd v0.3.0-alpha
• 10/16/13 - btcd v0.3.1-alpha
• 10/23/13 - btcd v0.3.2-alpha
• 10/05/13 - btcutil v0.1.0
• 11/13/13 - btcwallet and btcgui: Wallet handling for btcd
• 11/14/13 - btcwallet v0.1.0
• 11/14/13 - btcd v0.3.3-alpha
• 11/14/13 - btcutil v0.1.1
• 11/18/13 - Deslugging in Go with pprof: btcd
• 11/22/13 - btclog v0.0.1
• 12/13/13 - btcd v0.4.0-alpha
• 01/10/14 - btcutil v0.2.0
• 01/14/14 - btcd v0.5.0-alpha
• 01/15/14 - btcwallet v0.2.0
• 01/16/14 - btcwallet v0.2.1
• 01/19/14 - Redecentralization: building a robust cryptocurrency developer network
• 02/05/14 - btcd v0.6.0-alpha
• 02/05/14 - btcutil v0.3.0
• 02/05/14 - btclog v0.0.2
• 02/11/14 - btcwallet v0.3.0
• 02/12/14 - Transaction Malleability: No Shortcuts Allowed
• 02/21/14 - btcd v0.7.0-alpha
• 03/16/14 - 2014 Summer Internships: hacking on Bitcoin with Go
• 05/26/14 - btcd v0.8.0-beta
• 05/26/14 - btcwallet v0.4.0-alpha
• 04/25/14 - Btcd + getwork + cgminer = profit
• 05/12/14 - Introducing btcrpcclient - Bitcoin RPC Made Easy
• 05/24/14 - Btcd Beta Announcement
• 08/27/14 - BIP0064 - Not yet.
• 09/21/14 - btcd v0.9.0-beta
• 09/21/14 - btcutil v0.4.0
• 09/21/14 - btclog v0.0.3
• 10/25/14 - btcsim: simulating the rise of Bitcoin
• 10/27/14 - Monetas brings colored coins to btcd
• 01/04/15 - The Bitcoin Consensus Red Herring
• 03/02/15 - Btcsuite: Code Migration and Btcd 0.10.0 Release
• 03/02/15 - btcd v0.10.0-beta
• 03/04/15 - btcwallet v0.5.0-alpha
• 03/07/15 - btcwallet v0.5.1-alpha
• 03/11/15 - Btcwallet 0.5.0 Release and Roadmap
• 05/06/15 - Btcsuite: Announcing Btcd 0.11.0 Release
• 05/06/15 - btcd v0.11.0-beta
• 05/27/15 - Btcwallet 0.6.0 Release
• 05/28/15 - btcd v0.11.1-beta
• 05/28/15 - btcwallet v0.6.0-alpha
• 11/22/15 - Btcsuite: Announcing Btcd 0.12.0 Release
• 11/22/15 - btcd v0.12.0-beta
• 11/22/15 - btcutil v0.5.0
• 11/23/15 - btcwallet v0.7.0-alpha
• 11/30/15 - Bitcoin's biggest challenges
• 12/07/15 - Iterating Bitcoin
• 12/14/15 - Decred announcement

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[tacotime]

reserved

edit:

tl;dr

I approached c0 with the MC2 concept from 2013 and merged efforts to develop the system in 2014. I developed a working proof-of-concept for Decred at that time, and then let them refine it while I audit and provide feedback.

[notsofast]

Watching with interest.

[Godson_Mansa]

tl;dr

edit: i should've read lol this project might be great

[canth]

Reserved ; reading through the briefs as we speak.

[pa]

What is the origin and meaning of the name "Decred"? How is it pronounced?

[dEBRUYNE]

Good luck!

reserved

[_ingsoc]

I'm here too. Really sorry the images won't show - we'll try and fix that up (new accounts need higher posts for images).

[myagui]

Decred staking/voting Pool:
StakePool.eu


Maintained by myself and Epsylon3, well known ccminer/cpu-miner developer.
Pool running in dedicated servers across disperse regions and providers.
Main discussion thread here.

[sammy007]

Looking good.

[ocminer]

Will be ready for this one

[billotronic]

ffs that is a lot to read.... about half way through it and it looks mighty interesting.

Can you elaborate on this for the airdrop?::

If you have contributed to the advancement of technology in its many forms, plan to, or are keen to participate in Decred, please ensure your URL links to material that demonstrates this.

[anticlimax]

ffs that is a lot to read.... about half way through it and it looks mighty interesting.

Can you elaborate on this for the airdrop?::

If you have contributed to the advancement of technology in its many forms, plan to, or are keen to participate in Decred, please ensure your URL links to material that demonstrates this.

Looks interesting.. Need to read more.

[decred]

ffs that is a lot to read.... about half way through it and it looks mighty interesting.

Hey billotronic, thanks for having a look! Sorry about it being super long - there's been so much going on around the code as well! Getting that across in a short way is a challenge that's hard to meet.

Can you elaborate on this for the airdrop?::

If you have contributed to the advancement of technology in its many forms, plan to, or are keen to participate in Decred, please ensure your URL links to material that demonstrates this.

With regards to your question, what Decred is hoping to do is get people involved who are doers - so it's not just a free-for-all giveaway. If you read it, and it resonates with you in some way, and you can see it growing from this foundation - in particular if can see yourself joining the project and being part of it, then you would qualify for the airdrop. Even just having an account that's been active in discourse on the issues, that's important and worthwhile.

The hope is to get people involved through the airdrop who are either interested in developing the actual Decred technology (software, etc.) or develop the project and governance in other ways. So that's really all it's about, trying to find people who are interested and want to walk this journey together. It's not going to be a project where those who were there first call all the shots - it's going to be open and collaborative. A place where contributing will reward.

[jwinterm]

Looks neat. Not sure the premine is the best idea, and airdrops have a somewhat notorious history in cryptoland, imo, but with that being said, I'd be happy to participate in this one

[decred]

What is the origin and meaning of the name "Decred"? How is it pronounced?

tacotime came up with it while brainstorming with c0. If I remember correctly, it was on the topic of "decentralized credits". It's kind of taken on a meaning of its own now. It seems that most people who see it think it's pronounced "dee-cred".

[jcv]

What is the origin and meaning of the name "Decred"? How is it pronounced?

tacotime came up with it while brainstorming with c0. If I remember correctly, it was on the topic of "decentralized credits". It's kind of taken on a meaning of its own now. It seems that most people who see it think it's pronounced "dee-cred".

In terms of the name, made up words are always nice since you don't have to translate them (an idea that goes back at least to Kodak if not earlier).

[decred]

Looks neat. Not sure the premine is the best idea, and airdrops have a somewhat notorious history in cryptoland, imo, but with that being said, I'd be happy to participate in this one

Those are fair comments. The project struggled with this for a long time. Back in 2013, we thought about trying to get people to contribute financially to fund the development that way, but then there was an explosion of projects who ran off with people's money promising to build stuff. Some of them did build stuff and many more didn't. It was really important to not do that - the community's been battered to hell with all the scams.

But the question remained, how do you pay for real development work and produce something that is worthwhile, whilst not putting the community at risk if it can't be built? The best alternative was to do use what's being built for that purpose so the devs carry the risk and then give to the community the same amount (spread across those interested), so that there's a form of balance. Both these concepts, premine and airdrop have been abused, so we wanted to make sure that's avoided - hopefully people will see that we haven't asked them to carry risk for the devs in that way.

At the end of the day, I'd rather opt for a solution that gets new technology that isn't vaporware and tries to make improvements, remains sustainable in the long-term, and delivers something real in the end.

[shojayxt]

Well this sure looks interesting.  I'll definitely be following this.

[thefix]

I am following and will be interested in mining when it starts.

Will an AMD miner be the only option available or will some love be shown to the many Nvidia card miners?