Dash is a cryptocurrency that’s designed to make transactions fast, cheap and private. Since January 2017, Dash’s coin is up 8,000%, roughly six times the rise of bitcoin, according to CoinMarketCap.com.
Network: Dash | Token: Dash | Ticker: DASH
Creators
Evan Duffield created Dash, previously called “Darkcoin,” in January 2014.
Dash (DASH)
735.66 USD (5.57%)
RANK
11 MARKET CAP
$5.80 B VOLUME (24H)
$113.49 M
Powered by CoinMarketCap
What is it?
Dash believes it’s created a superior cryptocurrency to bitcoin. From a consumer standpoint, the two work similarly: people who own dash can transfer the coins to prepaid debit cards like SpectroCoin and spend the money wherever debit cards are accepted. Some merchants in the U.S. accept dash directly for goods and services, but not many—a search on Dash’s website reveals just three places in Manhattan that deal in it, two of which are ATM machines. As of July 2017, Dash’s average transaction size was more than $10,000, indicating it’s being traded primarily as an investment, like bitcoin.
Dash’s self-funding structure makes it unique. When new dash are minted, 10% are set aside to improve the currency’s ecosystem. For example, Dash has planned to invest up to $1.2 million in Alt Thirty Six, which makes point-of-sale payment software targeting the legal marijuana industry in the U.S. Alt Thirty Six’s platform, of course, accepts dash. Dash power users vote to decide which projects get funded. Bitcoin relies on volunteers and donations to fund software development.
Recommended by Forbes
MOST POPULAR The 10 Most Dangerous U.S. Cities
+235,996 VIEWS Box Office: 'Black Panther' Superhero Fatigues To Record $76M Friday
Dash’s two-tiered structure is another distinguishing trait. Unlike Bitcoin, where miners do all of the work on the blockchain, Dash has a tier of super-users called “masternodes” who perform key functions like deciding which projects get funded and enabling private transactions on Dash. To become a masternode, you must buy at least 1,000 dash coins—as of December 2017, that buy-in price is nearly $1 million. When new coins are created, 45% of them go to miners, 45% go to masternodes, and 10% go to the network.
Crypto Intelligence
Due to Dash’s masternode structure, where power is more concentrated in the hands of some users, some critics say it’s not truly a decentralized network. Others, like authors Chris Burniske and Jack Tatar, take issue with the initial distribution of coins, saying it unfairly awarded its creators and early adopters with nearly two million dash on the first day of mining. (Dash has said a software bug caused coins to get mined too quickly, and that it proposed to re-launch the currency to correct the mistake, but the community voted it down.)
Regardless, the coin is on a big rally this year, and some see it as a worthy alternative to bitcoin, especially given its lower price, which makes it easier to buy in. "I think there is a lot of value in some of the smaller tokens such as Dash, Ripple, and NEO ... They are very cheap, but their business ecosystem is really strong," former trader Naeem Aslam told Forbes contributor Ken Rapoza. Dash’s biggest competitors are Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, and Litecoin.