With the implementation of Atomic Swap technology Decred really got ahead of the competition. But now, according to Litecoin founder Charlie Lee, Vertcoin seems to be following Decred's step and testing the important new tech.
Atomic swaps AKA Atomic cross-chain trading is an important technology based on a simple concept of exchanging predetermined amount of different cryptocurrencies without using an outside exchange.
It is important for a number of reasons. One that we definitely shouldn't ignore is that centralized exchanges are without the doubt the worst neuralgic spot in the cryptocurrency world. For one thing keeping your money there exposes you to a massive risk of fraud, hacking and/or simple lack of proper liquidity.
It can never be repeated enough times Money you keep on an exchange is not yours. Only the money kept in a wallet for which you own a private key is yours.
Further another reason for its importance is that the exchanges are vulnerable to disruption by legislators and law enforcement agencies; illustrated lately in the ongoing case of government shutdown of Chinese exchanges but also in the case of government seizure of btc-E exchange.
Finally, Atomic Swaps are important because they pave the way of cross-chain cooperation by connecting different cryptocurrency ecosystems.
SegWit upgrade has made Atomic Swaps possible for Bitcoin and Litecoin and soon it will be reality, bringing complete change to how we trade and manage our coins.
Market reacted very positively to new tech so the value of Decred increased by around 50 percent in a week which haven't seen many coins thriving. Atomic Swaps will be integrated in next version of GUI wallet Decredition.
I would be very interested in possibility of an off-exchange trading between Decred and Steem, one being perfect coin for payment and trading and other being a crypto with a real-world application.