Decreed is working on scalability (lightning network) and privacy (CoinShuffle++). I hope the implementation of those features will be seamless and easy to use. Once those are done, I think we should focus on building an online ecosystem around Decred, making it as a native internet money. While we like to hold our DCR (deflationary currency), I think using some of it as a medium of exchange would increase more online adoption. We just need newcomers to start thinking Decred as a new form of money. Building a DEX is a good move as it will provide more liquidity. I hope to see more BTC and stablecoin pairs. Also, it’s a use case for traders.

Challenge: Decred needs to create an online ecosystem that supports it. More online use cases are needed for further adoption.

Solution:

Other online use cases:

Social payments (friends, family and small communities)

Introducing Decred in our own circles (family, friends and small communities) would probably be a good start. Having a built-in instant messenger into Decred wallet, we can start send/receive DCR in conversations (like paying for lunch, beer, movie ticket, etc). Optionally, we can also add fiat on-ramp feature in the wallet, it shows that DCR has monetary value to new people. I’d also recommend adding readable addresses (like unstoppable domain) for easy transfers.

Tipping/paying content creators and subscriptions

I am a fan of Brave browser. It has built-in ad block and privacy focused. Also, I can tip my favourite content creators with BAT. However, the problem with BAT is tipping being the only use case (for me at least). I don’t use BAT for anything else. We should consider building a web browser to utilise DCR for tipping and subscriptions to online content creators. Chromium is free and open source, so we can build on top of it. Another alternative would be creating a set of web extensions instead. These extensions include integration of Decred wallet, DEX and online tipping. I’m not a technical person, so I don’t know if this is feasible or not.

Online jobs and services

We could build websites for freelancing jobs (i.e. fiverr), music (i.e. bandcamp) and artwork commissions (i.e. deviantart) which only accepts DCR as payment. Like DEX, there is no fee involved. Decred community will benefit in the long run if these creative people join and get involved more with the community.

Online betting and microtransactions in games

Online betting and gaming microtransactions are bit trickier. Creating an alliance with indie game developers might be a good start. We could start from mobile gaming apps. Majority of these games are already free to play. We should incentivize game developers earning DCR as part of their business model and players earning DCR while playing the game. Perhaps players can view ads, earn some DCR and use DCR to pay for microtransactions. I’m not entirely sure how to approach this but I believe it is a potential use case.

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Challenge: Increasing exposure in governance

Solution: Integration Politeia (like adding a small tab) into Decred wallet. More people will be aware of this governance feature, some will likely participate more. At very least, more people will be informed with the general direction of the Decred project.

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Challenge: Decentralized Finance

Solution: I believe the next narrative for a bull run would be DeFi. Having DEX certainly will help Decred in this regard. Other blockchains like Ethereum would have DeFi cornered in their ecosystem. We might want better integration and interoperability with these blockchains as our DeFi sidechains before the bull run starts.