Decred

Decred launched on February 8, 2016. From block 4,096, a proof-of-work miner could propose the next block, but at least three of five randomly called tickets had to respond. If a majority rejected the previous block, its ordinary transactions returned to the mempool and the miner lost the reward.

This did not let ticket voters blacklist a transaction forever; another miner could include it later. The design instead made mining a proposal checked by a changing jury, combining the cost of proof of work with live proof-of-stake consent.

A holder locks the market-priced amount of DCR for a ticket. After 256 blocks it joins a pool targeting 40,960 live tickets, waits about 28 days on average and can wait roughly 142 days before expiry. Voting returns the ticket price plus a subsidy, while fees, missed calls and expiry change the outcome. The principal and any reward become spendable after a further 256-block maturity period.

The ticket needs an online signing wallet. A holder may run it directly or delegate signing to a non-custodial voting service provider. That provider cannot take the funds, but it can cast the actual vote, so convenience creates a separate concentration point.

Politeia opened in October 2018 for public proposals, discussion and ticket voting. A proposal vote runs for 2,016 blocks and needs 20% participation and 60% approval. Consensus changes take a longer path: a Decred Change Proposal, tested software, miner and voter readiness thresholds, then 75% approval among non-abstaining tickets.

The treasury also evolved. Ten percent of subsidy first went through a 2-of-3 company-controlled wallet. DCP0006 moved it to a consensus account, and the first decentralized payment followed in December 2021. An authorized Pi key still drafts each spend, but tickets approve it and consensus rules cap the amount.

Block one distributed 1.68 million DCR: 840,000 for prior company and developer work and 840,000 through an airdrop. Thereafter the subsidy is multiplied by 100/101 every 6,144 blocks toward an upper limit of 20,999,999.98387408 DCR.

The total curve stayed in place while allocation shifted from 60% miners, 30% ticket voters and 10% treasury to 1%, 89% and 10% at block 794,368. An intermediate 10/80/10 split applied from block 657,280 through 794,367. That history made tickets central to both validation and issuance. Their influence still depends on people locking funds, keeping signers online and adopting compatible software; it is not a single switch held by miners, maintainers or the treasury.