[ANN][DCR] Decred - Community Governance | Bitcoin Devs | Lightning Network

[sambiohazard]

Thanks for your thorough answers.

[decred]

Here's to hopin' they pick it up, for it was freely given to them as a gift. If anybody else picks it up first, please consider passing it to them for cost at the most.

All domains possible have been grabbed in the interest of preservation, but I'm sure some have been missed! Top-level is definitely a preference though - for a broader audience expansion in the future. Any domains people want to develop can be included, or reimbursed at cost like you suggest, and we can include those in the broader Decred infrastructure. As a community, we should try and set up something where we can put up tasks for anyone to pick up and do and have a process whereby that gets included throughout the larger system - that could work really well.

[digicoin]

What are new features (or problems) that  this cryptocurrency offer (or really solve) relative to other existing coins? Monero, Bitcoin ...

[achillez]

What are new features (or problems) that  this cryptocurrency offer (or really solve) relative to other existing coins? Monero, Bitcoin ...

Hey all - I'm back from a bit of a hiatus. This seems wildly cool. Likewise going to watch with interest. If you need any help getting this to takeoff pls let me know.

[romerun]

watching

[sambiohazard]

What are new features (or problems) that  this cryptocurrency offer (or really solve) relative to other existing coins? Monero, Bitcoin ...

Problems: https://blog.companyzero.com/2015/11/bitcoins-biggest-challenges/

Proposed Solutions: https://blog.companyzero.com/2015/12/iterating-bitcoin/

[decred]

What are new features (or problems) that  this cryptocurrency offer (or really solve) relative to other existing coins? Monero, Bitcoin ...

That's a good question that's often overlooked. The three biggest problems that Decred takes note of when looking at Bitcoin are issues grouped under (1) project governance, (2) funding development, and (3) proof-of-work (PoW) miners having too much power. These observations are documented in a blog post by one of the stakeholders (c0) in Decred's multi-stakeholder development ecosystem. In addition, these stem from over 2.5 years of active contribution to the larger ecosystem by Bitcoin developers employed through c0 - the majority of guys who built and maintain btcsuite. This is the first time in history that such a group of developers - who come from a Bitcoin development environment - are sailing into alternative cryptocurrency waters. Alts have gotten a bad rap - for good reason - but that does not mean all alts have to carry that burden. It is possible to create a future where a symbiotic technological relationship exists between cryptocurrency systems. Good things in Bitcoin come to Decred, and good things in Decred will go to Bitcoin. That's the crux of the relationship Decred envisions between it and Bitcoin.

To work backwards, the technology hopes to address (3) by hybridizing PoW with proof-of-stake (PoS) where PoS becomes a "2nd authentication factor" on the content of blocks created by the PoW miners - and thereby providing a check on the power of PoW miners. PoS can effectively force soft and hard fork upgrades by voting against PoW blocks that do not adhere to the new rules - which creates a notion of continuity across forks that is not possible when using pure PoW. Furthermore, PoS helps to "democratize" the process of deciding what software upgrades should and should not happen. Finally, PoS rewards create an incentive for users to hold their coins and participate in the PoS consensus process. As a summary, these ideas are not possible in a pure PoW system - which has its merits, of course - but Decred argues we need a more robust consensus system. That is the heart of the technological system. There are endless architectural differences between btcsuite packages and the Bitcoin Core client that have been built, tested, and documented over the years - and improvements are worked on every day. All of that comes to Decred and dcrd would for example push contributions back to btcd in the future. If you are curious about (3), definitely have a look at DTB001 as a .pdf or on the wiki.

When we talk about (2), it becomes critical to generate funding internally. Bitcoin has to rely on funding from external parties, where transparency isn't always possible. This may have a corrosive effect on the overall system if the influence of those parties are not aligned with the interests of Bitcoin users. By including a development subsidy as a consensus rule, what is essentially said is that the financial influence over the project is shifted to the users where you don't have to rely on donations. If the users don't agree with the direction of the project, they don't mine and use the software, which acts as a check on those who have to administer it. What you do end up with, if handled responsibly, is a self-funded development mechanism that remains sustainable as the network grows. The upside in Decred's case is that there's a legitimate track record of quality development by way of btcsuite, as well as the other free and open-source projects the devs have produced that haven't been mentioned here yet.

Finally, (1) is where all of us as a community will play a very active role. The current proposal is for a meritocratic form of open governance. Bear in mind this is a proposal, so it's open for discussion as well, and will mature with community input. The goal is a system where your contribution, not your status, carries influence and has attrition built into the design. This is to say that if you contribute lots of code, but then stop, that influence diminishes - so you can't call shots just because you contributed lots in the past. It must therefore remain consistent. This gives newcomers the ability to become just as influential as people that were part of Decred from the beginning - entirely based on continued contribution to the ecosystem. This is again based on observations in the Bitcoin development ecosystem over the years.

Hopefully that gives some insight what Decred is about in terms of its relationship to systems like Bitcoin's. Not entirely familiar with the deeper systems involved in Monero, but if anyone would like to add in where we can improve as a system or technology relative to Monero, that would be very helpful in guiding development. tacotime, for example, represents another stakeholder in the multi-stakeholder ecosystem described above, and has been very active in Monero technologically - so he may be well aware of how the finer Decred points operate relative to that system. Having said that, any new stakeholder from Monero can plug into Decred without fear of missing out on the early Decred days, same goes for anyone. The goal isn't to create more competition, it's to bring an entirely different way of thinking about how we relate to one another.

[Gleb Gamow]

What are new features (or problems) that  this cryptocurrency offer (or really solve) relative to other existing coins? Monero, Bitcoin ...

That's a good question that's often overlooked. The three biggest problems that Decred takes note of when looking at Bitcoin are issues grouped under (1) project governance, (2) funding development, and (3) proof-of-work (PoW) miners having too much power. These observations are documented in a blog post by one of the stakeholders (c0) in Decred's multi-stakeholder development ecosystem. In addition, these stem from over 2.5 years of active contribution to the larger ecosystem by Bitcoin developers employed through c0 - the majority of guys who built and maintain btcsuite. This is the first time in history that such a group of developers - who come from a Bitcoin development environment - are sailing into alternative cryptocurrency waters. Alts have gotten a bad rap - for good reason - but that does not mean all alts have to carry that burden. It is possible to create a future where a symbiotic technological relationship exists between cryptocurrency systems. Good things in Bitcoin come to Decred, and good things in Decred will go to Bitcoin. That's the crux of the relationship Decred envisions between it and Bitcoin.

To work backwards, the technology hopes to address (3) by hybridizing PoW with proof-of-stake (PoS) where PoS becomes a "2nd authentication factor" on the content of blocks created by the PoW miners - and thereby providing a check on the power of PoW miners. PoS can effectively force soft and hard fork upgrades by voting against PoW blocks that do not adhere to the new rules - which creates a notion of continuity across forks that is not possible when using pure PoW. Furthermore, PoS helps to "democratize" the process of deciding what software upgrades should and should not happen. Finally, PoS rewards create an incentive for users to hold their coins and participate in the PoS consensus process. As a summary, these ideas are not possible in a pure PoW system - which has its merits, of course - but Decred argues we need a more robust consensus system. That is the heart of the technological system. There are endless architectural differences between btcsuite packages and the Bitcoin Core client that have been built, tested, and documented over the years - and improvements are worked on every day. All of that comes to Decred and dcrd would for example push contributions back to btcd in the future. If you are curious about (3), definitely have a look at DTB001 as a .pdf or on the wiki.

When we talk about (2), it becomes critical to generate funding internally. Bitcoin has to rely on funding from external parties, where transparency isn't always possible. This may have a corrosive effect on the overall system if the influence of those parties are not aligned with the interests of Bitcoin users. By including a development subsidy as a consensus rule, what is essentially said is that the financial influence over the project is shifted to the users where you don't have to rely on donations. If the users don't agree with the direction of the project, they don't mine and use the software, which acts as a check on those who have to administer it. What you do end up with, if handled responsibly, is a self-funded development mechanism that remains sustainable as the network grows. The upside in Decred's case is that there's a legitimate track record of quality development by way of btcsuite, as well as the other free and open-source projects the devs have produced that haven't been mentioned here yet.

Finally, (1) is where all of us as a community will play a very active role. The current proposal is for a meritocratic form of open governance. Bear in mind this is a proposal, so it's open for discussion as well, and will mature with community input. The goal is a system where your contribution, not your status, carries influence and has attrition built into the design. This is to say that if you contribute lots of code, but then stop, that influence diminishes - so you can't call shots just because you contributed lots in the past. It must therefore remain consistent. This gives newcomers the ability to become just as influential as people that were part of Decred from the beginning - entirely based on continued contribution to the ecosystem. This is again based on observations in the Bitcoin development ecosystem over the years.

Hopefully that gives some insight what Decred is about in terms of its relationship to systems like Bitcoin's. Not entirely familiar with the deeper systems involved in Monero, but if anyone would like to add in where we can improve as a system or technology relative to Monero, that would be very helpful in guiding development. tacotime, for example, represents another stakeholder in the multi-stakeholder ecosystem described above, and has been very active in Monero technologically - so he may be well aware of how the finer Decred points operate relative to that system. Having said that, any new stakeholder from Monero can plug into Decred without fear of missing out on the early Decred days, same goes for anyone. The goal isn't to create more competition, it's to bring an entirely different way of thinking about how we relate to one another.

Apologies for quoting the wonderful text just to say... Dude, it's a beautiful Sunday in December, and shouldn't you be outside on the shores of Lake Michigan enjoying the Chicago skyline? 

[decred]

Apologies for quoting the wonderful text just to say... Dude, it's a beautiful Sunday in December, and shouldn't you be outside on the shores of Lake Michigan enjoying the Chicago skyline? 

Hah, not everyone in the project is in IL. It's global and multi-stakeholder! That one came to you all the way from Australia. And no, Mr. Craig Wright is not part of the project.

[Gleb Gamow]

Apologies for quoting the wonderful text just to say... Dude, it's a beautiful Sunday in December, and shouldn't you be outside on the shores of Lake Michigan enjoying the Chicago skyline? 

Hah, not everyone in the project is in IL. It's global and multi-stakeholder! That one came to you all the way from Australia. And no, Mr. Craig Wright is not part of the project.

Whatever! Tell Ken Armitt and Zhou Tong we said hi. 

[CoinHoarder]

This is pretty much the only PoW/PoS combo coin I could get behind. Other PoW/PoS coins (PPC, etc..) never did much for me... they are too boring. This however is new and innovative, and I like that.

I'll be watching... congrats on getting the idea this far! It is neat to see something like this go from a concept in an altcoin discussion thread to an actual implementation of said concept.  

[Mrpumperitis]

pow/pos is the way to go. Building a gd community and have a reddit page. Dunno if mentioned but there should be a logo.
ive got a gd few contacts that helped a previous alt with mining profit calculators and a few other features which could come useful later.
I sense gd vibes from this...

[Luckybit]

Watching...

[wildduck]

This coin is promising every day more and more..

[MsCollec]

Is the coin live yet or still in pre-ann ?

[cryptrol]

I have been following btcsuite (aka Conformal's btcd) for some time and the quality of the codebase is really good.
Schnorr signatures and transaction expiration are very nice additions.

Will follow the project for sure, it will be _interesting_ to see a coin governed by a meritocracy.

[decred]

This is pretty much the only PoW/PoS combo coin I could get behind. Other PoW/PoS coins (PPC, etc..) never did much for me... they are too boring. This however is new and innovative, and I like that.

I'll be watching... congrats on getting the idea this far! It is neat to see something like this go from a concept in an altcoin discussion thread to an actual implementation of said concept.  

Appreciate this, CoinHoarder. Remember you from the days when MC2 was still a spring chicken. You're always welcome and your views are important to people here. Make sure you're signed up for airdrop - want to do this right and pull those up who care enough to contribute.

pow/pos is the way to go. Building a gd community and have a reddit page. Dunno if mentioned but there should be a logo.
ive got a gd few contacts that helped a previous alt with mining profit calculators and a few other features which could come useful later.
I sense gd vibes from this...

As soon as things go live, it'll be super important to build those services up to support miners. As for logo, there is one and anyone is free to modify it. It's just not present yet because this is a new account and it needs activity before it can display anything.

Is the coin live yet or still in pre-ann ?

It's still in "pre-ann". The tentative date for mainnet to go live is Jan 18th. If it's after that date, it won't be much later. In near future, we'll publicly help all those interested in mining to get their gear setup for launch. All information will be posted here and on the other Decred platforms.

I have been following btcsuite (aka Conformal's btcd) for some time and the quality of the codebase is really good.
Schnorr signatures and transaction expiration are very nice additions.

Will follow the project for sure, it will be _interesting_ to see a coin governed by a meritocracy.

Thank you very much. The kind words echo hope for a legitimate alternative cryptocurrency - despite the fact that everyone has been beat up by crappy projects. We can't let that deter us as a community. A mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship between Decred and Bitcoin is not only a possibility, but becoming a reality. The btcsuite guys are dedicated and write high quality code - and that's the plan for Decred. Let the improvements flow both ways.

[ironbit]

I have tried to synchronized my wallet but without success. Is there a good list with working nodes?

[decred]

I have tried to synchronized my wallet but without success. Is there a good list with working nodes?

No wallets have been released and the web wallet service isn't up yet either. A list of full nodes will be made available in the future as we approach the launch of mainnet.

[msfeg]

lol 
wallet dont sync .