Coin Specs
About
Dash which is a shortened name for ‘Digital Cash’ is the first payment-focused cryptocurrency based on the work of Satoshi Nakamoto with built-in privacy functions. Evan Duffield, fascinated by the blockchain technology wanted to fix a few elementary drawbacks which he observed in Bitcoin. As a result, he founded a new cryptocurrency on 18th January 2014 with similar blockchain database as of Bitcoin’s but with additional features and enhanced privacy, known as Dash. Dash when compared with Bitcoin has number of improvements and additional features such as PrivateSend and InstantSend and a two-tier incentivized network (Masternode network).
Benefits and Features offered by Dash
DASH coin is specifically designed to work as peer-to-peer decentralized electronic cash. It intends to be as liquid as real cash (fiat money such as USD/EUR). Currently, the circulating supply of DASH is around 8.5 million and is believed to reach the maximum supply by the year 2300. The block reward offered by Dash reduces by 7.1% every year and its block mining time is 2.5 minutes which is four time faster when compared with Bitcoin.Dash decentralized network offers a bunch of unique functions. Some of the prominent ones are listed below.PrivateSend
PrivateSend is a decentralized mixing service which runs a sequence of transactions in such a way that no one can trace the transaction (funding) back to its source when a PrivateSend transaction is created. PrivateSend offers decentralization, strong anonymity by using chaining, denominations and passive ahead-of-time mixing. PrivateSend not only enhances privacy, but also improves the fungibility of a cryptocurrency. The mixing and denomination process is seamless, automatic, and requires no alteration on the part of the user. PrivateSend is currently implemented only in Dash Core wallet.InstantSend
Usually decentralized cryptocurrencies require confirmation of specified number of blocks to secure a transaction and avoid double spending of the money. This process is generally time-consuming and takes around 10 minutes to one hour. These limitations do not apply to Dash, thanks to its second-layer network of masternodes. Masternode quorums enables users to send and receive instant irreversible transactions. Masternodes voting quorums can be utilized to check whether a submitted transaction is valid or not. If it is valid, the masternodes lock the inputs for the transaction and convey this information to the network, ensuring that the transaction will be included in subsequently mined blocks and not allowing any other spending of these inputs during the confirmation time. Thus, InstantSend speeds up the transactions tremendously without relying on any centralized authority. Recently Dash effectuated instantSend transactions by default without incurring any additional fees, thus moving one step closer towards its goal of mass merchant adoption.Dark Gravity Wave
Dark Gravity Wave is a difficulty-adjusting algorithm which adjusts the difficulty level of every block based on statistical data of previously found blocks. This enables to issue blocks with relatively consistent time even if there are fluctuations in hashing power and thus, smoothing out the transactions.Decentralized Governance
Dash has solved the problem related to governance and funding by introducing a decentralized platform. There is no central authority to make decisions for the project. All the decisions are made by the network i.e. by the owners of the masternodes. The Decentralized Governance by Blockchain allows each masternode owner to cast a vote once (yes/no/abstain) for any proposal. If the proposal has majority of voting as yes, it passes and can then be implemented (or not) by Dash’s developers. Dash pays 45% of the block reward to its miners, 45% to masternode owners and the rest 10% is reserved and used as per requirement to fund the development of its platform.Dash Evolution
Dash Evolution is a decentralized currency platform that is built on the technology of Dash Blockchain. It aims at providing unique features and benefits of Dash for creation of other decentralized technologies. It will make Digital Cash easy to use and anybody will be able to setup an account on the blockchain, add contacts and pay by name. Evolution will include features such as: Quorum Chain, Social Wallet, DAPI, DashDrive etc.Some of the astonishing achievements of Dash in 2018
Implementation of ChainLocks
Dash recently implemented a unique feature to its protocol known as ChainLocks to protect its network against 51% mining attacks and avoid double spending of the coins. It ensures that the chain reorganisation becomes theoretically impossible.Mass Merchant adoption in Venezuela
Massive inflation has taken hold of the domestic currency in Venezuela. As a result, Dash recently introduced SMS payments system in Venezuela which allows its user to send and receive the cryptocurrency by short message service. Currently more than 2500 merchants in Venezuela are accepting DASH as a form of payment and the number is said to be growing by 150-200 every week. Dash is also being accepted at some major outlets such as Church’s Chicken and is also in negotiation with KFC.Dash is undeniably a great project with an experienced team of professionals. From the investment point of view, Dash will surely prove beneficial in the long run as it is focusing on mass adoption of its currency rather than some short-term gains. Seeing the features, technology and advantages of Dash, it is apparent that it is one of the most underrated coin in the whole crypto market and its value is bound to grow in the future.
Exchanges




Masternode
In Dash, a second-tier network of masternodes exists alongside its first-tier network of Proof of Work (PoW) to achieve distributed consensus on the blockchain. Masternodes power features such as PrivateSend, InstantSend, governance and treasury system. Users are rewarded for running masternodes. The collateral staking amount to host a Dash masternode is 1000 DASH. Masternode owners are paid a percentage of the block reward for their efforts and up-time. Masternodes also protect the network against malicious attacks.To set up DASH masternode follow this, official guide at https://docs.dash.org.Useful links
