Dash Review: Beginners guide
Dash (DASH) : Decentralised Digital Cash
Industry type: Decentralised digital economy.
What is Dash ? Dash was originally launched in 2014 by duplicating the Bitcoin code and was originally named Xcoin. It was later rebranded to Darkcoin and again rebranded to Dash. Dash is a decentralised autonomous organisation whose native spending currency offers privacy and speed features that are currently superior to Bitcoin.
What gives it value?
- Decentralised.
- Privacy options.
- Fast transactions.
- Low fees.
- The number of coins is capped at 18 million.
Interesting Technology:
- Master nodes are computers that host a Dash wallet and vote to make decisions on where funding for the Dash network should be spent. A qualified master node must stake a bond of 1000 Dash, have an established IP address, and be able to run for 24 hours a day in exchange for 2 Dash per week. Also, masternodes get paid 45% of every block reward.
- PrivateSend is a coin mixing technique that hides the identity of transactions for an extra fee. This is achieved by mixing at least 3 transactions together to confuse the true transaction trail.
- InstantSend is a software for Dash users to make transactions within seconds for a slightly higher fee.
Notable team:
- Evan Duffield created Dash in 2014 with the vision of creating a decentralised autonomous organisation. Duffield stepped down as the CEO in 2017 to transition to a strategic advisory role.
- Ryan Taylor became the CEO of the Dash core development team after leaving a multi-million dollar New York hedge fund.
- Amanda B. Johnson is a Dash digital content producer and presenter. Johnson is generally loved by the broader altcoin community and has played a big role in Dash’s marketing arm.
Notable partnerships:
- Dash has a strong list of merchants that trade with its crypto including games, online casinos and web stores.
- Wall of Coins partnered with Dash to allow users to buy and sell Dash with cash at traditional financial service institutions such as Wells Fargo, and Western Union.”
- Alt-360 provides a POS system for legal cannabis dispensaries in the US to sell their goods with Dash.
- Zimbabwe partnered with Dash to fight its rising inflation problems with a peer-to-peer localised cryptocurrency called KuvaCash.
Review: The Good.
- Privacy options with PrivateSend.
- Fast transactions with InstantSend.
- Brilliant marketing campaign.
- Rewards from block development are distributed between the miners, the master nodes, and a funding pool for Dash developments. This gives incentives for master nodes and a large amount of money for Dash developments.
- Democratic voting of the master nodes allows for decentralisation with quick decision making in regards to funding developments and community needs.
Review: The Not So Good.
- There is controversy over members of the core development team mining 2 million of the total 18 million coins for themselves within the first 48 hours of its release.
- Critics also claim that a substantial amount of masternodes are owned and operated by the core development team, which casts some doubts over the legitimacy of Dash’s decentralised nature.
- Some are critical about Dash’s privacy features, claiming that is nothing more than a coin tumble that can theoretically be traced if someone possessed the masternodes that the transaction passes through.
- With all of its marketing campaigns that make it seem widely-used, Dash is still very much in development like many other coins.
Future Roadmap:
- Dash Evolution is a payment platform in development for consumers and merchants to make an account on the blockchain and utilise an easy-to-use interface to make transactions with the Dash network.
CONCLUSION:
In my opinion in this Dash review, it is a jack of all trades and a master of none. It doesn’t offer the best features but is well rounded in terms of privacy, speed, and decentralisation. Its focus on mass-adoption development and marketing as an easy-to-use spending cryptocurrency may see it take a top spot for the more general consumer and merchant. However, the pre-mining scandal that occurred in its early days should not be overlooked, as it may mean power imbalances and incentives exist within the Dash development team. With this aside, if the Dash Evolution payment platform does become what it claims to be, then Dash could be far closer to mass adoption than any other coin at this time.
Dash Price:
The current Dash price, market cap and charts.
Local exchanges:
Coinspot: www.coinspot.com.au
Cointree: www.cointree.com
Overseas exchanges:
CEX.io: www.cex.io
Binance: www.binance.com
Bitfinex: www.bitfinex.com
Changelly: https://changelly.com/
Where to store this crypto:
Hardware wallet: www.bitgear.com.au
Desktop wallet: www.exodus.io
Online wallet: www.cryptonator.com
Mobile wallet: www.jaxx.io
Similar coins:
Zcash (ZEC) – A privacy focused coin.
Monero (XRV) – A privacy focused coin..
PIVX (PIVX) – A privacy focused coin.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – A coin focused on spending.
Further information:
Tether whitepaper: https://github.com/dashpay/dash/wiki/Whitepaper
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/dashpay/
Website: www.dash.org
