Cryptocurrency Decred (DCR): mining, rate for today, history of creation

According to Coinmarketcap, there are currently over two thousand cryptocurrency assets. Some of them have been around for several years and are popular among investors, traders, miners and other cryptocurrency users. One such cryptocurrency is Decred.

Decred (stock ticker DCR) is an open-source, decentralized payment asset running on a unique blockchain.

Decred's capitalization reaches $320.6 million, and the rate of one DCR is $37.54 (0.0057 bitcoins). The coin is in 30th place in the Coinmarketcap rating. The issue is limited to 21 million coins, 8.54 million (40.6%) are already in circulation. The DCR cryptocurrency had its largest capitalization of $233.6 million on June 23, 2022, when the price of one coin reached $45.7.

DCR is traded on more than twenty cryptocurrency exchanges. The daily trading volume of this asset is 1-2 million dollars, most of which takes place on the following sites:

Huobi;
Bittrex;
OOOBTC;
Upbit;
Poloniex;
Bluetrade;
Cryptopia;
Kucoin;
OKEx;
DragonEX.

The history of the appearance of the Decred cryptocurrency

Decred is a development of the American company Decred Holdings Group, whose headquarters are located in Chicago. The goal of the project is to create an alternative cryptocurrency with improved characteristics compared to Bitcoin.

Despite the fact that Decred was created by a private American company, its functioning is based on the principle of decentralization, which is implemented by providing the opportunity for owners of nodes (nodes) of the network to take part in decisions on the development of the project through voting.

Alex Yokom Pyatt - Founder and CEO of Decred Holdings Group

The leaders of the Decred project are:

Alex Yokom Pyatt - founder, CEO;
Marco Peerboom – Chief Technical Officer;
Dave Collins - lead developer;
Jake Yokom Pyatt, David Hill, John Vernaleo, Josh Rickmar developers.

In addition, another 30 programmers, marketers, designers and other specialists are taking part in the development of the project.

Decred appeared on February 7, 2016, there was no ICO. Developers are paid from funds that accumulate in a wallet specially designed for this purpose, which receives 10% of the reward from each block found. According to the developers of the Decred cryptocurrency, in the future these funds will be managed in a decentralized manner, through voting by the owners of network nodes.

Road map

SPV Wallet support. Instead of using the typical wallet approach where wallets connect to a centralized server, we have added support for a proper SPV mechanism that uses compact filters and operates over a P2P network.
Politeia Voting - Our proposal system is nearing completion and will allow users and stakeholders to make proposals, dictate what is and is not funded, and participate in project-level decision making.
Lightning Network . The bulk of the work to connect Lightning Labs to ldd has already been completed and will be released soon.
Initial Privacy Release - Privacy work has begun in earnest, and we will do a gradual privacy release where we will release working code and provide more information about our plans and approaches.
Decentralized control of funds - While Politeia voting will be used to control the flow of funds from developers, we will be creating a smart contract that would completely decentralize control of dev org funds.
Decentralized autonomous objects. Using a similar method used to decentralize control of dev org funds, we will allow the creation of DAEs on the Decred chain.
Scalability optimization. To improve the scaling properties of Decred, various changes are required, some of which are consensus changes, such as a new signature algorithm, support for multi-language synchronization, and header obligations.
Decrediton Integrations - Decrediton GUI will be adding new integrations to support SPV, mobile, Politeia voting and Lightning Network.
Decentralized Exchange - We will develop a proposal for a decentralized cryptocurrency-only exchange and publish it publicly.
Marketing Growth - Decred has built a presence on many of the leading cryptocurrency marketplaces throughout the remainder of 2022 and will continue to increase its marketing efforts.

More details on the development here...

Future planned features Part of the reward from new blocks goes to the further development of the Decrd system. This ensures that the platform is constantly evolving to meet the needs of the community. Some of the planned features for the future include:

Payment integration
Tough fork voting
Improved privacy
Continuous interface and design development
Lightning network support
Decentralized control of development funds
Stakeholder-centric DAO

These issues are discussed frequently on the Decred blog. You can visit the blog to stay updated on planned future features.

Technical features of the Decree blockchain

The Decred blockchain has the following technical features:

When calculating blocks, hashing is used using the Blake256 algorithm, and consensus in the network is achieved simultaneously using two algorithms: PoW and PoS;
time between blocks – 5 minutes;
network hashrate – 76.6 Phash/s;
number of blocks – 278.1 million;
transaction cost from August 2022 – 0.0001 DCR;
transaction speed – up to 15 per second;
blockchain size at the end of September 2022 – more than 3.4 gigabytes;
maximum block size – 384 kilobytes;
confirmation of blocks using the PoS algorithm is carried out by five network nodes that own special tickets, which are distributed between nodes according to a special algorithm. When confirmation is received from three nodes, the block is considered found;
number of PoS nodes - 281;
the reward for the first block found was 31.2 coins, every 6144 blocks (21 days) it decreases by 1%;
the amount of reward for finding a block in the network is divided into 3 unequal parts: 60% is transferred to the miner who found the block;
30% - to the owners of five nodes who participated in the block validation (confirmation) process, 6% each;
10% - to a special wallet in favor of the project developers;

The block reward at the end of September 2022 is 19.93 DCR, of which: miners - 11.96, validators -1.19, developers - 1.99 coins.

According to the project roadmap (decred.org/roadmap), the developers are developing the following elements:

creation of a mechanism for decentralized management of the development of the project and its fund;
increasing the anonymity of payments and transaction speed, including the integration of Lightning Network technology;
implementation of the option to purchase a PoS ticket for joint use by several owners of DCR coins;
integration of the ability to use DCR coins in applications other than wallets;
improvement and creation of new wallets (including mobile ones);
creation of a decentralized exchange;
improving the blockchain, its scalability and efficiency.

Plans for further development

Significant plans include the Lightning Network protocol, which will solve the problem of scalability and enhance privacy. The creators are working on smart contracts; in the future, operations with virtual currency without reference to the blockchain are planned.

READ Review of the Kasta crypto wallet and the KASTA token: features, opportunities, investment potential

In the new roadmap, the creators announced the implementation of DAO. Changes in hard forks will be voted on by shareholders. A 75% vote is required to approve updates.

It is planned to change the request for proposals function. The administration process today is complex - to simplify the work, employees and contractors will be hired for long-term work.

Another update is a public system that allows users to make suggestions for the further development of the project. Work is also underway to introduce transaction support.

Review of the advantages and disadvantages of the Decred coin

Decred has the following advantages:

low transaction costs;
high energy efficiency and network reliability through the use of hybrid consensus;
fast synchronization of wallets with the network;
good development team and rapid development of the project;
limited issue and periodic reduction in remuneration help protect against inflation;
support for a large number of cryptocurrency exchanges;
good marketing policy and high team activity in the media and social networks.

The disadvantages of the project include the following:

the presence of a large number of competitive cryptocurrency payment systems and the lack of serious advantages over them;
low practical decentralization of the project due to the fact that the use of the one ticket – one vote system allows the richest owners of the DCR cryptocurrency to control the development of the project.

What does the company/project do?

Decred is a cryptocurrency that uses a hybrid consensus system to achieve balance between miners and users. Decred's goal is to use this hybrid system to create a more secure currency:

“Typically, miners who operate the infrastructure have significant influence, while users have relatively little influence. Decred allows users to directly participate in the project without the need for expensive mining hardware."

How to get Decred coins?

In addition to purchasing Decred coins on exchanges, they can be mined using PoW mining or PoS staking.

Types of mining in Decred

Mining DCR coins using the PoW algorithm (mining)

Profit from mining Decred directly depends on the available computing power and the cost of electricity, but constantly changes depending on the complexity of calculations in the Decred network.

Reference! Over the past year, the complexity of calculations has increased from 20.5 million to 6.35 billion (309 times), correspondingly reducing the profitability of mining.

In this regard, Decred mining is currently only profitable when using high-performance ASICs.

Decred mining difficulty chart for the last year:

Decred mining difficulty chart for the last year

Even when using powerful video cards and free electricity, the level of income from Decred mining is very small, including with dual mining paired with ether or other coins of the Ethash algorithm. The Decred mining speed on AMD RX470/580 series video cards is up to 800-900 Mh/sec, and on Nvidia video cards it is even less, which, even with free electricity, gives an income of $0.01 per day.

Attention! If we take into account the cost of electricity, then DCR mining on video cards is unprofitable and is associated with more intensive wear and tear.

Mining on ASICs

The best ASIC miner for the Blake256 algorithm currently is the MicroBT Whatsminer D1, which costs about $4,200. Its production began in September 2022, and first shipments to customers are scheduled for November 2022.

With a consumption of 2.2 kilowatts, it is capable of performing calculations at a speed of 44 Th/s, which is approximately 49 thousand times more productive than an RX580-level video card. Its energy efficiency is 0.05 watts per gigahash, which is hundreds of times more efficient than video cards. It is capable of bringing the owner $59 per day with an electricity cost of 6 cents per kilowatt.

Released in August 2022, the iBeLink DSM7T ASIC operates at 7 TH/s and consumes 2.1 kW. This allows you to earn $7 a day with an electricity cost of 6 cents per kilowatt.

The Obelisk DCR1, released in June 2022, has a speed of 1.2 TH/s, consumes 0.5 kW and produces $1 per day with an electricity cost of 6 cents per kilowatt.

You can accurately calculate the income from your available computing power using online calculators, for example, at whattomine.com/coins/152-dcr-blake-14r.

You can learn more about which ASICs are currently the most productive, as well as what kind of income they generate, on the website asicminervalue.com.

Decred mining pools

To mine Decred, you need to select a pool with the highest hashrate and the shortest distance from the miner (with the lowest ping). This is necessary to achieve the greatest operational efficiency and the smallest number of lost solutions (stale shares) associated with the delay of their arrival to the pool.

The best Decred pool can be selected on the website dcrstats.com/PoW. Currently, the most productive Decred mining pools are:

beepool.org;
f2pool.com;
poolin.com;
coinmine.pl/dcr;
uupool.cn/dcr;
decred.luxor.tech;
uupool.cn/dcr;
dcr.suprnova.cc.

Power distribution diagram of Decred mining pools:

Power distribution diagram of Decred mining pools

Mining DCR coins using the PoS algorithm

Mining of DCR coins using the PoS algorithm is carried out by providing a fixed amount of coins in exchange for tickets (at the end of September 2022 - 98.27 DCR per 1 ticket). Exact information about the ticket price and staking reward is available on dcrstats.com in the TICKET PRICE and BLOCK REWARD columns, respectively.

Owning tickets gives you the opportunity to vote on project development issues according to the system: one ticket is equal to one vote.

If there are tickets and a fully functional Decred wallet is constantly connected to the network, the owner can earn coins for staking. The process is to confirm the blocks found by miners. Having one ticket makes it possible to participate in block validation on average once every 28 days. A ticket can participate in this process no earlier than 24 hours after finding 256 blocks.

If a ticket has not been validated for more than 142 days (40960 blocks), it becomes invalid. In this regard, it is better to engage in staking in pools.

Decred staking pools

For more efficient staking, you need to use pools, the best of which can be selected at decred.org/stakepools/.

The most effective staking pools:

dcr.stakeminer.com;
dcr.stakepool.net;
stake.decredbrasil.com;
ultrapool.eu;
dcr.ubiqsmart.com;
pool.d3c.red;
stakepool.eu;
stakey.net;
dcr.farm;
tokensmart.io.

Downloading the Decred wallet is available on the main project website

Mining pools

Solo “drilling” of DCR, like other popular cryptocurrencies, is practically not used. It is much safer and easier to join mining pools to consistently make a profit.

You definitely need to clarify what software you will need to install when joining the miner pool.

Decred developers provide official recommendations on which pools you should join to engage in:

Mining;
Staking. It is curious that the recommended list of pools for receiving passive income is much wider than for active income.

The possibilities of earning money on Decred as part of pools and independently are not limited to these two methods. DCR is also suitable for:

Trading on crypto exchanges;
Investments;
Games based on exchange rate fluctuations;
Landing page. Find a project that is interested in attracting Decred and allow you to block coins for a certain period at a guaranteed percentage.

To receive passive income, you can register on the website of the Matbi cryptocurrency exchanger and join the affiliate program operating here. Referrals will bring you up to 0.5% of the amount of cryptocurrency purchases.

Create a wallet

Decred storage

All wallet addresses begin with the letter D and consist of 26-36 alphanumeric characters. Decred is stored in the following types of wallets:

Web wallet;
Console wallet Cli;
Decrediton GUI wallet;
Hardware wallet, such as Trezor (DCR support coming to Ledger Nano S in the near future);
Alternative software wallets that support Decred, for example: Exodus, Atomic, Coinomi, AnyBit and others.

Web wallet

This is an official wallet with a Russian-language web interface that allows you to work with assets in an Internet browser at wallet.decred.org.

Its use does not require registration, it is convenient and fast, but it is the least secure due to the increased possibility of an attacker stealing the security key through vulnerabilities in the browser.

User safety is ensured by storing the mnemonic phrase from the wallet in a safe place. In addition, you can create a password for transactions.

To create a wallet, you need to read and agree to the terms of its use, after which you must back it up. When creating a wallet, a mnemonic phrase is generated, which, together with the address, must be saved in a safe place.

Subsequently, it can be used to restore the wallet on any computer. This phrase is tied to the wallet and can be used in other versions of it. To start working with your wallet, you must confirm the saving of this phrase by entering it in the control window.

Working with the wallet is simple and consists of clicking the buttons for receiving or sending assets at the bottom of the wallet page. To receive assets, it is enough to tell the sender your wallet address, and to transfer assets, indicate the recipient’s address, the required amount and send them.

To ensure the safety of assets when using an online wallet, you need to delete the security phrase previously saved in a safe place on the user’s page by clicking the Delete recovery phrase link and confirming this action.

Wallet Cli

This is the official console version of the wallet, the use of which allows you to receive coins for staking. It is available for download at https://github.com/decred/decred-release/releases/tag/v1.3.0. Its main applications are:

Dcrd is a daemon, a command line application that acts as a network host.
Dcrwallet – command line wallet;
Dcrctl is a client for managing the wallet and daemon.

To work with these applications, you need to use commands in text format, a list of which can be viewed by typing the command dcrctl -help in the Dcrctl window.

Importing the keys of a previously created wallet into this version involves entering a mnemonic phrase using the dcrctl -wallet walletpassphrase command.

More information on how to use the command line wallet can be found at https://docs.decred.org/getting-started/user-guides/dcrctl-basics/.

Decrediton wallet

This is an official wallet with an intuitive GUI for Windows, macOS and Linux. It can be downloaded from the link at decred.org/downloads/. In fact, it is a graphical add-on to the command line Cli wallet.

After downloading this file, you need to select its language (English or Portuguese), install the wallet, launch it and wait for synchronization with the network.

During installation, you will be prompted to create a new wallet or restore an existing one from a mnemonic phrase. If a new wallet is created, a new phrase will be offered with gaps, which must be filled in at your discretion with words from the drop-down list, and then saved in a safe place.

Mnemonic phrase when creating a new Decrediton wallet

You can use the wallet after synchronizing with the network, which takes half an hour or more depending on the Internet speed and computer performance.

Acquisition of DCR

Decred is still a new cryptocurrency and using Bitcoin is the easiest option to obtain it. Ways to get DCR coins:

Exchange. Many exchange platforms - Fex, Bittrex, Huobi, Binance - have added cryptocurrency to their listings.
Fast exchange. They support Evercoin, HolyTransaction and others. Conversion takes place without registration, but a large commission is charged for the service.
Direct exchange. The popularity of Decred has led to the emergence of exchanges that operate on the basis of currency conversion: LiteBit (euro), ezBtcCanada (Canadian dollar).
Payment devices. For online implementation, there are services that integrate large platforms for digital commerce.
Pow mining. Using computer technology to mine cryptocurrency.
Pos mining. To purchase votes and receive incentives for work, some participants block the amount of Decred.
Investment in Decred. There is an active search for people to develop the network for payment in DCR.
Receiving coins as payment for services or goods.

useful links

decred.org – the main website of the project;
mainnet.decred.org, dcrstats.com - current statistics of the Decred network;
whattomine.com/coins/152-dcr-blake-14r – DCR mining calculator;
bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1290358 – the main section on the Bitcointalk forum;
github.com/decred – Decred software codes on Github;
docs.decred.org – official project documents;
coinmarketcap.com/ru/currencies/decred/ - current DCR rate and other information regarding the financial performance of this cryptocurrency;
medium.com/decred – official section on Medium;
twitter.com/decredproject – section on Twitter;
facebook.com/decredproject/ - Facebook page;
reddit.com/user/decred - section on Reddit;
telegram.me/Decred – Telegram messenger

Which Decred calculators are best to use?

For a user who has at least a basic level of knowledge of English, any online mining calculator will be suitable, of which there are dozens on the Internet. Some of them are tailored for a specific coin, others are considered in the currency needed by the user. Let's name a few of the most famous services:

Red-miner.com. This DCR calculator on the well-known cryptocurrency resource of the same name with Russian language support is well suited for beginners. Here you can also calculate double mining ETH/DCR, ETC/DCR, EXP/DCR.
Mycryptobuddy.com. A convenient service in English for calculating the profitability of different cryptocoins.
In-trend.biz. The calculator is located on the page dedicated to the Decred coin on the Russian-language service “In Trend”.
Whattomine.com. The most famous and accurate resource used by experienced miners. Here, a maximum of variables are taken into account to obtain the most accurate calculation of the amount of profit and the payback period of the initial investment.
cryptoage.com. On this resource you can calculate the profitability of Decree for solo mining and for joint mining with other cryptocurrencies. The profit amount is displayed in Bitcoins, dollars and Russian rubles.

To get a more accurate result, you should use only the most current data regarding network complexity and current currency quotes. In addition, we must not forget that the mining profitability is usually 10-15% lower than the calculated figure due to the luck of the pool.

Why Choose a Stake Pool

A stake pool is used to delegate your voting powers to a third party (the pool). The pool cannot steal your funds.

Participating in a stake pool is perfect for people who wish to take part in Decred's proof of stake voting but can't due to:

Not wanting to keep a constantly unlocked wallet
Lack of a reliable/low latency Internet connection

In order to participate in Proof of Stake voting and the stake pools, you need a wallet that supports stake pool voting, and enough DCR to buy tickets for voting.

There are currently two wallets which support stake pool voting:

Decrediton – GUI wallet for Windows/macOS/Linux. The is used to buy tickets.
dcrwallet – CLI wallet for Windows/macOS/Linux. The Buying Tickets with dcrwallet guide explains how to purchase tickets via command line.

As of late July 2022 the average DCR needed to buy tickets has been just above 93. At current prices that's nearly $7,000, which should be kept in mind by those considering using Proof of Stake voting and stake pools.

Where can I buy/sell?

DCR is listed on many popular exchanges, and you can buy or sell this coin both for another cryptocurrency and for fiat.

Exchange	Cryptocurrency pairs
DCR/BTC, DCR/ETH
DCR/BTC
DCR/BTC, DCR/USDT
DCR/BTC, DCR/USDT, DCR/LTC, DCR/DOGE
DCR/BTC, DCR/USDT, DCR/ETH
OOOBTC	DCR/BTC
DCR/BTC, DCR/USDT, DCR/KRW

The largest volumes of trading in pairs with this cryptocurrency on the UpBit market are more than 46%. Second place is occupied by one of the most popular exchanges, Bittrex – 26% of transactions on the market with the DCR/BTC pair.

You can mine cryptocurrency directly to your account on a crypto exchange. But if there is no desire to sell it right away, and the miner wants to put aside coins for the long term, waiting for their growth, it is better to store DCR on a full-fledged wallet.