Decred (DCR) is a cryptocurrency whose name is a portmanteau of “decentralized credit”. It’s a currency which shares many similarities with Bitcoin and which uses a hybrid proof of work and proof of stake consensus system. Launched in 2015, Decred utilizes a governance model that is community-based. The internal voting system that Decred uses is one of its key features which helps to differentiate it from coins such as Bitcoin. Another technical feature of Decred is that it separates transaction signatures from the remainder of the transaction data. In addition, transactions can be set to expire after a certain amount of time has elapsed. If a transaction is held up on the network, for example, it can expire, preventing it from ever going through. Although a controversial coin, Decred has some high profile proponents including Litecoin’s Charlie Lee.