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What is Decred (DCR)?

A hybrid of mining and tickets. The cap sits just under 21 million. The reward split is a vote. A ticket is not a savings account.

ECGBy EasyCryptoGuides · Editor · Published · Updated · 2 min read

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First published 10 February 2020. The chain had been live since 8 February 2016. Expanded in October 2026 so a ticket is not described as interest, and so the reward split is the one the votes actually set. Decred is a proof-of-work chain with a second layer of tickets. Jake Yocom-Piatt is the project lead. It was announced in December 2015. There was no public sale. At launch, 8 percent of the ceiling, 1.68 million DCR, already existed. A premine is coins created before anyone mined. It is not a second cap.

Miners find blocks. Five tickets are called to vote on each block. The ticket price moves, every 144 blocks, to keep the pool of live tickets near a target of 40,960. Buying a ticket locks DCR until it votes or expires. The principal comes back either way. The reward is only if the ticket is called. This page will not walk through the purchase. Staking is a lock and a queue, not a savings account.

The split is a vote

For years the block reward was 60 percent to the miner, 30 percent to the tickets, and 10 percent to a treasury. In May 2022 a stakeholder vote moved that to 10, 80, and 10. In August 2023 another vote moved it to 1, 89, and 10. The treasury share stayed. A page that still says miners get most of the reward is describing the original rule. The same August vote changed the mining algorithm. This page will not describe how to mine it. What is Bitcoin, in plain language? is a chain that does not let ticket holders rewrite the reward split.

The subsidy steps down every 6,144 blocks. The project’s issuance page puts the ceiling just under 21 million, because a block that does not include all five votes does not pay the missing slice. Politeia is the system for spending proposals. A passed proposal is not a dividend of your coins.

Decred has an optional mix. This page will not walk through it. What is Monero (XMR)? is private by default. Decred is not. A Decred address starts with D. A Bitcoin address will not receive DCR. The wrong network is still the wrong city. Nothing here is an instruction to mine, to buy a ticket, or to buy DCR.

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This article is for information only and is not financial advice. Cryptoassets are volatile and you can lose money. See our disclaimer.

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