Decred Is Turning Its Entire $21 Million Crypto Treasury Over to Investors

For all the promise, one long awaited approach to blockchain governance, Decred's Politeia software, went live today at 1300 UTC. As CoinDesk previously reported, Politeia builds on Decred's existing approach of combining proof-0f-work and proof-of-stake consensus by attempting to turn over all governance decisions to those actively participating in the operation of its protocol at the time of any given decision.

Those who own Decred tokens currently stake the coins in exchange for a chance to be chosen to verify blocks.

In short, Politeia gives holders of the cryptocurrency a way to exercise control over every aspect of the project, meaning it puts the Decred treasury in their hands.

As Decred users start making proposals for expenditures and the community begins voting them through, Yocom-Piatt is going to initially maintain a veto power over expenditures.

His veto power will sunset in six to 12 months when control of the funds moves from Decred Holdings Group LLC, an organization he manages, to a smart contract.

It also opens up decision-making around how the organization that supports Decred works, how its staff is managed and even the fundamental consensus model that Decred uses.

At the same time, he notes that it is important that Decred never becomes a way for the protocol's whole community to micromanage its individual contributors, lest "We run the risk of turning staffing into a stakeholder popularity contest and driving voter apathy," Yocom-Piatt writes.

"Literally everything is on the table with Decred."

Decred's boosters, like Placeholder's Chris Burniske, look forward to a day when Politeia will be able to govern projects outside of the blockchain as well.

Decred seems to be aiming for the last option, but its founder seems realistic that either of the former always loom as possibilities.