DASH – Powerful Features to Further Your Crypto Investment Strategy

David Hamilton

@DavidtheWriter

DASHDashPay

Dash is a cryptocurrency that continues to see growing adoption. The innovative developers behind this project combined various proprietary technologies to create an efficient and fast network that enables users to make private transactions on a public blockchain. 

Since its inception, the DASH project has been popular in the market. The network’s scalability and unparalleled security are also major draws for this crypto. DASH users can send transactions globally in near real-time utilizing the network’s advanced features. Consequently, DASH consistently ranks among the top cryptocurrency projects in the world. 

What Problems Does Dash Attempt to Fix?

DASH’s combination of features makes it ideal for tackling some of the most pressing issues facing cryptocurrency users today. The network’s usage worldwide expanded considerably over the last couple of years thanks to its reliability and developers’ hard work, and the global DASH community’s strength. Here are some of the main problems DASH solves.

• Security

As a fork of Bitcoin, DASH employs a similar proof-of-work mining-based method of securing its blockchain. It has an additional second layer of security provided by its masternode network. This combination makes Dash one of the most secure value transfer networks globally, arguably more secure than Bitcoin. You can send value internationally without worrying about censorship or a centralized party blocking, delaying, or confiscating your funds. For these reasons, DASH is widely used in countries like Venezuela, where hyperinflation has wreaked havoc on the local currency. 

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• Speed & Scalability

DASH also improves on Bitcoin’s scalability by prioritizing on-chain scaling, facilitated by fully-incentivized infrastructure. Additionally, the network can approve transactions in seconds versus minutes or hours like other popular coins. 

• Governance

DASH also solves many common governance issues via the introduction of a DAO (decentralized autonomous organization). This protocol allows network participants to have a say in any upgrades or alterations to the network’s core functionality and make critical decisions on the direction of the project, hire and fire teams, and more. DAOs are more popular than ever because they provide a truly decentralized experience to users and avoid the risk of developer centralization. 

• Decentralized Funding

The DAO also helps the network allocate funding to projects. Users can vote on the best ways to spend the network’s reserves. This strategy ensures that most users back all upgrades, provides a higher level of transparency than alternative governance systems in the market, and allows for sufficient funding to be allocated towards the project’s success without relying on outside entities. 

How Does Dash Work?

DASH’s technology makes all of these benefits possible. The network is structured differently than Bitcoin in many ways. For example, DASH relies heavily on the use of masternodes. Masternodes are similar to regular nodes but with added capabilities and responsibilities.

DASH Masternodes

DASH masternodes function like shareholders in the network and provide critical infrastructure to power the network’s unique features and advanced functionality. These users are provided access to voting mechanisms. In this way, masternodes have a direct say in all network changes and funding decisions. Every masternode is allotted one vote per proposal. 

Anyone can run a masternode on the DASH blockchain, provided that they possess at least 1000 Dash in a network wallet. Some technical requirements must be met, including having a static IP address, a reliable and modern PC, enough RAM, HD space, and bandwidth to handle all the tasks you will participate in.

InstantSend

InstantSend is another next-gen feature that DASH brings to the market. The system allows DASH users to perform instantly-settled transactions, finalizing payments in under two seconds.  InstantSend transactions rely on a consensus of MasterNodes to validate a transaction and prevent it from being reversed until it is confirmed in a block by miners.

PrivateSend

PrivateSend is an advanced technology that allows any user to make and receive obfuscated payments on the blockchain. To accomplish this task, a user requests a PrivateSend transaction as they make a payment. The network takes the funds of other users and mixes them so that the origin of a single transaction cannot be discovered.

This feature utilizes the popular mixing platform, CoinJoin, to accomplish this task in a non-custodial manner. In this way, the network’s privacy features are probabilistic and not based on encryption.  Technically speaking, the system will reduce your transaction inputs down to standard denominations as the first step. Then, your wallet sends a request to DASH masternodes. As soon as your request is met and at least two other people send similar messages, the process initiates.

The masternodes will begin to mix up the inputs and instruct all the users’ wallets. Then, the now-transformed input is sent back to the wallet holder. Besides, the system introduces a change address protocol to further your protection. Together, these systems repeat until all the coins in your wallet are fresh. These actions happen in a second behind the scenes, and funds can be privately sent immediately when ready. 

ChainLocks

Another cool feature DASH users enjoy on the backend is Chainlock. This security protocol is designed to protect the blockchain against 51% attacks. A 51% attack refers to a scenario in which more than half of the network’s mining power is controlled by a hostile actor who wishes to reverse transactions. ChainLocks provides an extra layer of security for Dash users by making blocks irreversible once confirmed, making all payments permanent in approximately 2.5 minutes. 

Mining Algorithm

DASH introduces a new mining algorithm by the name of the X11 Hashing Algorithm. This consensus mechanism was built specifically by Dash’s core developer Evan Duffield to service the network’s needs. The main difference between X11 and Bitcoin’s SHA-256 is that the X11 algorithm utilizes a chained hashing algorithm. This approach’s advantage is that it provides DASH with additional security over using Bitcoin’s hashing algorithm.

Block Times

DASH adds a new block of transactions approximately every 2.6 minutes. These blocks hold 2MB of data. As such, DASH is capable of 56 transactions per second at present. Scaling research from Arizona State University indicates that the network can scale to include 10MB blocks and beyond.

Mining Dash

Notably, you can still mine DASH with a GPU. However, these actions’ timeframe is shortening as ASIC miners continue to enter the popular cryptocurrency market. DASH mining rewards are set to decrease in time like Bitcoin but at around 7.14% yearly.

Dark Gravity Wave

DASH introduces a system called, The Dark Gravity Wave protocol. This coding manages the difficulty of the network. The system actively adjusts every block’s difficulty level rather than after a set number of block approvals. This protects against large fluctuations of mining power and ensures that the network runs smoothly.

Dash Platform

One of the most exciting recent developments to the DASH ecosystem is Dash Platform, a second data layer that enables decentralized digital identities. This protocol simplifies sending and receiving payments globally. Users can register a unique network nickname on the blockchain using this system. This DASH ID can be used to send and receive payments without the need to deal with those long, traditionally cumbersome crypto addresses. The platform also enables developers to build decentralized applications leveraging these simplified human-readable IDs efficiently.

Dash Platform is part of DASH’s recent shift to a more mainstream crypto payment option. Providing users the ability to send funds via a network nickname streamlines the entire crypto UX dramatically. This addition also improves the network’s WEB 3.0 integration capabilities because it enables anyone to navigate the network and send payments without prior experience. 

Users can easily search for friends and family and add them to their wallet in seconds. In this way, DASH has made sending crypto as easy as following your favorite social media influencer. The network currently offers users a chance to test out the system and gain the first-hand experience on the latest DashPay social wallet builds. 

You can use this opportunity to provide developers with valuable feedback on improving the system and its features. Additionally, Alpha users can connect and discuss their experiences using the test net. In this way, DASH seeks to provide the most value possible via this simplified payment protocol.

History of Dash

The story of DASH begins with Evan Duffield, the coin’s creator. When Duffield introduced DASH to the market in January 2014, it was under another name – Xcoin. The goal of the project was to provide crypto users access to real privacy tools. Shortly after launch, Duffield decided to rebrand the coin to Darkcoin to highlight its privacy features more. 

The name Darkcoin did bring attention to Dash’s system. However, it wasn’t necessarily the attention Duffield envisioned with the name change. Specifically, the coin began to see heavy usage on the DarkWeb. The DarkWeb is all the non-search engine listed websites. Unfortunately, many of these websites offer many illegal services, which led to some bad press for DASH.

Recognizing that DASH’s marketing was going the opposite way as intended, Duffield did another rebranding in 2015. This time he combined the words “digital” and “cash” to come up with DASH. The rebranding served its purpose, and by the end of 2016, the coin had found more mainstream use among regular traders. 

DASH has continued its focus on providing a secure, reliable, and transparent payment system to the masses. The addition of Dash Platform has added a focus on building easy and accessible decentralized applications and digital identities. 

Where to Get Dash

Adding DASH to your portfolio isn’t hard. DASH is one of the most popular coins in the world. Consequently, you can find this coin on nearly every major exchange. Both Binance and Coinbase Pro offer this coin to traders. You will need to fund your account with fiat currency and trade for Bitcoin or Ethereum to acquire DASH. 

Once you have cryptocurrency, the process is simple. You need to select the DASH trading pair and the amount of crypto you want to trade. Your coins will arrive in your wallet in seconds. It’s that easy.

How to Store Dash

Depending on your investment strategy, it may be wise to purchase a hardware wallet to secure our coins. Both Trezor and Ledger support DASH, so you have reliable options to consider. You can also store your DASH in any number of mobile wallets. Jaxx Liberty is a smart option that’s free and allows you to store all types of cryptocurrencies conveniently. 

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DASH – A Cryptocurrency Still Ahead of Its Time

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DASH is the perfect example of an innovative cryptocurrency built to serve the needs of the masses. This token protects your privacy and provides users with options not found on any other blockchain. This combination of benefits and usability make DASH a long time contender as the most usable crypto available today. As such, you can expect to see this coin continue to spark investor interests as the market expands in the coming years.