The group of developers behind the original bitcoin announced that they are working on a new alternative currency called Decred. The project is launched to improve two actual bitcoin weak points – project governance and development funding. 

With bitcoin’s continuing growth, those who stand at its origins, including Company 0, which funded its development since the early 2013, are voicing concerns about bitcoin’s increasing centralisation.

Jacob Yocom-Piatt, CEO at Company 0 explains: “Many people may not know that despite the technological decentralization Bitcoin has brought the world, there are serious and growing issues of centralization that rule decisions made about the present and future of the project. The Bitcoin software is controlled by a small group of people who decide exclusively what can and cannot be changed. This is in part due to a lack of mechanisms and pathways for funding development work directly from the community, and as a result Bitcoin development is funded by external entities that create conflicts of interest between the developers and the representative power of the community that uses Bitcoin. We want to change that."

Decred is supposed to be an open virtual currency that functions through a system of decentralised community-based governance integrated into the technology.

The company’s press release invites all interested users to contribute to the development of the project by signing up and joining the launch of the currency. The publication provides website link for further information – www.decred.org.

Anna Lavinskaya