Dash, like Bitcoin, is a project with a strong community around it, which has a lot to say about its development. On the official website, the project is described as a revolutionary payment method. Its main slogan is: “Your money, your decision”, a blooming cheap and fast transfer to any place, which can also be anonymous.
Brief history and current state of the Dash project
Originally Dash was called Xcoin, then it was changed to Darkcoin. It was strongly associated with anonymity, but also with dark web. To break these associations, it was decided to change the name to Dash, which in English means “rush” or “speed”. It is much more suited to a trading system offering cheap, fast and anonymous transfers, which is supposed to be used by average people, on a global scale.
Jack Dorsey supports the application for cryptographic payments in Africa
Dash aspires to become a global transaction system and transfer operator or at least non-cash payments at points of sale. We can pay DASH (in capital letters it means the name of the cryptographer, which is the same as the project’s nickname) for various types of products and services already in over 4800 outlets and services.
The Dasha community is mainly located in the USA and Europe, although recently it has been rapidly gaining popularity also in countries with difficult access to banking or high inflation. The growth of the project community can be observed in South American countries.
As of the day of writing, the Dash network already has over 4600 full nodes, ensuring security and enriching it with new functionalities, such as instantaneous and anonymous transfers. This also shows a high rate of network decentralization compared to other projects.
Currently, Dash is focusing on presenting itself as a simple, fast and economical payment method, available on a daily basis. On the main project page we can read:
“Dash gives you the opportunity to send money as you see fit. Buy coffee, pay your phone bill or share the bill with friends. With Dash you can instantly make payments anywhere, to anyone for less than a penny.”
Dash team
We will only mention the most important members of the Dash team, as the project has an open source code (which also proves its transparency) and it is impossible to name all the programmers who supported the platform development.
The creator of Dash is Evan Duffield, who started working in 2014 with the vision of creating DAO. Until 2017 he was the project’s CEO, but currently he remains in an active position as a strategic advisor.
Ryan Taylor, a native of the hedge fund industry, is the current project CEO.
The COO position is held by Robert Wiecko, who gained his experience while working for Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Bob Carroll currently serves as CTO in Dash. He is known for his university environment and work for Informix Software, North America Systems Engineers and Everspring.
Glenn Austin serves as CFO for Dash. He previously worked for such institutions as UBS, Morgan Stanley, and CitiGroup.
Although Amanda B. Johnson is not mentioned on Dash’s website as part of a close team, it is worth noting her influence on the development of the project. Amanda is a publicist and presenter who played a significant role in marketing the platform.
Full list of Dash team members can be found here: https://www.dash.org/team/.
What makes Dash different?
Dash protocol is based on a hybrid of PoS and PoW. Additionally, the network is strengthened by Masternodes, i.e. full nodes that enrich the system with new functionalities. To create an MN in a Dash network we need to deposit 1000 DASH on a wallet with a fixed Internet connection. MN owners receive 45% of the prize per block. Masternodes in the Dash network increase the stability of the network and provide its new functions. Apart from passively earning 45% of the prize from newly dug blocks (shared between all MNs), Masternode operators can vote on changes in the Dash network. In this way, the project separates cryptic mining from its management (which is the same in many networks, as computing power = decision making). It is worth adding at this stage that Dash is not only a transaction system, but also DAO, where the community has a great influence on the future of the project.
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We mentioned that Masternodes enrich Dash with new functionalities. Below we explain what exactly they give to the transactional network and the community:
PrivateSend
It is a possibility of anonymous transfers inspired by cash or coins, whose individual pieces seem to be identical and interchangeable 1:1 (which makes them difficult to trace). The PrivateSend service is built into the Dash wallet and is easy to use. Thanks to this feature, the cryptovalots we send are mixed with other transactions (up to 3 transactions are mixed with each other), which makes it difficult to determine their source. This ensures anonymity for all Dash network uses.
InstantSend
This functionality allows users to send instant transactions without the possibility of charge back. It is ideal for buyers who pay for a good or service in a few seconds, as well as for sellers who immediately receive an irrevocable payment.
Dash technical specification
Maximum number of coins: 18 900 000
Supply reduction: emissions are reduced by about 7% per year
The Dash emission system differs from most of the cryptovalots, where the supply (reward for the block) is halved every specified time. Instead, the supply of Dash changes by about 7% every year. 45% of the prize from the new block goes to Mansternods, 45% to miners, and the remaining 10% is allocated to the budget dedicated to project development.
The first block: 19 January 2014
Average time between blocks: 2 min 39 sec
Reward for the new block: 3.34 DASH
Blockchain size: 13.37 GB
The number of masternodes: 4600+
Algorithm: x11
X11 is a hash function using PoW. It was designed by Evan Duffield, creator of Dash. Its original idea was to eliminate the possibility of digging with ASIC excavators to make the network more decentralized. The X11 is much more complex than the SHA-256 used in Bitcoin because it uses as many as 11 different hash functions: BLAKE, BLUE MIDNIGHT WISH (BMW), Grøstl, JH, Keccak, Skein, Luffa, CubeHash, SHAvite-3, SIMD, ECHO. Unfortunately, despite the safety and complexity of X11, it was not possible to prevent the invasion of ASICs, which can now dig on this algorithm.
Open source code: Yes
What else should you know about the project?
Dash was created thanks to the work of programmers and organized community. It turned out to be an excellent move to allocate 10% of the prize for the block to the project’s development fund, which so far has been enough for the project to develop dynamically. Thanks to this, Dash did not have to organize an ICO collection.
Apart from the well established community, the project has managed to establish solid cooperation with financial institutions, such as Wells Fargo or Western Union, thanks to which users can buy and sell DASH directly from them. Dash’s presentation is also highly visible on the legal medical hemp market. With the help of DASH, we will supply many medical cannabis stores in the United States.
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Interesting projects are constantly being developed around the Dash ecosystem. One of them is Dash Taxi, the equivalent of Uber or Bolt, where we will pay for the ride at DASH.
Dash Pay is an expansion of the existing Dash portfolio planned for 2020. It is designed with a mass client in mind, which can be seen by the emphasis on simplicity of use. It will allow you to register on a blockchain under any name or nickname and transfer digital coins directly to your contact list.
In the coming months we will see many interesting events related to the Dash project, which can also be reflected in the stock market charts.
