Decred aims to be a self-funded and community-directed digital currency whose security and adaptability make it a superior store of value. To further this mission, the 1.4 software was released to the public.
All users, Proof-of-Work (PoW) miners, and Proof-of-Stake (PoS) voters on the Decred network are encouraged to upgrade their software! If a majority upgrades before the 1st of March, the upcoming 1.4 consensus vote will start with the next Rule Change Interval.
Benefits of the 1.4 release
Regular software upgrades are needed to advance the Decred project. The new release contains multiple improvements such as smart fee estimation, performance enhancements, speed optimizations, improved SPV wallets, various updates to the RPC server, and improvements to the infrastructure and quality assurance. The 1.4 release also contains a consensus vote to upgrade the Decred protocol itself (see below).
The user friendly Decrediton wallet, which runs on the Decred daemon, has also been updated. Apart from the benefits listed above, Decrediton users can now create wallets that support Trezor transactions. Furthermore, several small changes were made to improve the Decrediton user interface. Users are encouraged to upgrade for a better user experience.
Downgrade Warning
The database format in v1.4.0 is not compatible with previous versions of the software. People upgrading from previous versions will see a one time database migration. Once this migration has been completed, it will not be possible to downgrade to a previous version of the software without having to delete the database and re-download the chain.
Attention! Please make sure that you have a back-up of your seed (the 33-word passphrase). As long as you have the seed, your coins will be safe.
The upcoming 1.4 consensus vote
The release notes state that in order to fully support the Lightning Network, current consensus rules need to be modified. For this reason, a new vote called fixlnseqlocks is now available.
The changes to the Decred protocol that will be voted upon are described in this Decred Change Proposal (DCP0004). Matheus Degiovani has written an excellent technical analysis on the importance of this vote.
You are all encouraged to learn more about how the voting process works, and how you can participate.
Track the voting process
A consensus vote can only begin when PoW miners and PoS voters upgrade their software to create blocks with the latest version. Anyone can track the upgrade progress via the Decred Voting Dashboard:
Solo miners and voters are urged to upgrade their software before the 1st of March to start the voting process as soon as possible.
If you are mining in a PoW pool or if you are using a Voting Service Provider, please check if the operator upgraded the pool software to the latest release and contact them if necessary.
Concluding thought:
Do your own research, ask questions, and encourage everyone to upgrade to the 1.4 release!
