Decred (DCT) blockchain overview
As the crypto industry develops, projects based on decentralized governance, where the entire crypto community can participate in creating a particular ecosystem, have become increasingly common.
This concept is called a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO). One such project is Decred, which will be discussed in this article.
What is Decred?
Decred is a hybrid blockchain that uses mining mechanisms like Bitcoin and staking mechanisms like Ethereum. Decred was also one of the first blockchains to implement the concept of decentralized autonomous organization.
The Decred core network was launched in February 2016 and quickly became a leader in the cryptocurrency rankings. According to the monitoring service CoinMarketCap, at the end of 2017, Decred was among the top 50 crypto projects in terms of market capitalization, which at that time exceeded $600 million.
Decred has a well-developed ecosystem, which includes its decentralized exchange, Decred DEX (DCRDEX), which allows atomic swaps with cryptocurrencies such as:
- Bitcoin (BTC);
- Litecoin (LTC);
- USDT and USDC stablecoins;
- Polygon (MATIC), now known as POL;
- Decred (DCR).
How does Decred work?
In a way, Decred is an evolution of the Bitcoin protocol. In addition to the decentralized management available to all holders of the native DCR cryptocurrency, the developers introduced a mixed blockchain system based on Proof-of-Work (PoW) and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms.
The Proof-of-Work algorithm allows miners to confirm transactions and mine new blocks using special ASIC devices.
However, in addition to PoW, Decred also utilizes "proof-of-ownership," allowing participants to steal native DCR cryptocurrency without special hardware and participate in the network's consensus, receiving rewards for doing so.
The rewards for network participants are distributed as follows:
- PoW miners receive 60% for mining new blocks and confirming transactions;
- 30% of rewards are sent to DCR cryptocurrency stakers;
- The remaining 10% goes to the Decred fund, aimed at supporting the developers of the ecosystem.
Another feature of the Decred protocol is support for the Lightning Network, a Layer-2 or L2 solution designed to scale the Bitcoin blockchain.
Decred token
The native token of the Decred blockchain protocol is the DCR cryptocurrency, which was released to exchanges in February 2016, along with the launch of the project's leading network. The maximum issuance of DCR tokens is 21 million — the same as the Bitcoin protocol. As of April 2025, 16.7 million DCRs were circulating on the market, which is about 71.5% of the token limit.
In addition to payment for commissions on transactions in the Decred network and remuneration of miners and stakers, DCR tokens are used for management: their holders can participate in voting, thus influencing the development trajectory of the project ecosystem.
Since listing in April 2025, the DCR cryptocurrency has increased by more than 1040% to $10.93, with a market capitalization of $182.8 million. However, relative to the historical high (ATH) recorded in April 2021 at $250, the value of the DCR cryptocurrency has declined by more than 95%. Over the past year, the DCR cryptocurrency has declined by 53%, but the general correction in the crypto market has contributed to this decline.
Regarding market capitalization and many other metrics, such as user activity and trading volumes, Decred has lost ground to many new projects. Since the end of 2017, Decred's market capitalization has more than tripled, but the project is still among the top 200 leading CMC cryptocurrencies.