What Is Dash (DASH)?
Dash is an open-source blockchain and cryptocurrency focused on offering a fast, cheap global payments network that is decentralized in nature. According to the project's white paper, Dash seeks to improve upon Bitcoin (BTC) by providing stronger privacy and faster transactions.
Dash, whose name comes from "digital cash," was launched in January 2014 as a fork of Litecoin (LTC). Since going live, Dash has grown to include features such as a two-tier network with incentivized nodes, including "masternodes," and decentralized project governance; InstantSend, which allows for instantly settled payments; ChainLocks, which makes the Dash blockchain instantly immutable; and PrivateSend, which offers additional optional privacy for transactions.
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What Makes Dash Unique?
According to its website, the goal of Dash is "to be the most user-friendly and scalable payments-focused cryptocurrency in the world." To accomplish this, the project relies on a network of masternodes, which are servers backed by collateral held in Dash that are designed to provide advanced services securely and governance over Dash's proposal system. In exchange for part of the block rewards, masternodes provide a second layer of services to the network. They facilitate functions such as InstantSend, PrivateSend and ChainLocks.
Dash is marketed to both individual users and institutions, including merchants, financial services, traders and those who need to send international remittances. In October 2020, Dash Core Group reported that its strategic objectives moving forward include building its ecosystem and brand, ensuring that users are satisfied and further advancing the technology behind the network.
Dash's governance system, or treasury, distributes 20% of the block rewards for the development of the project in a competitive and decentralized way. This has allowed the creation of many funded organizations, including Dash Core Group.
Dash uses a two-tier network to secure its transactions. The first tier consists of nodes that carry out mining operations under a proof-of-work consensus protocol, meaning that they compete to solve complex cryptographic problems and at least 51% of nodes must approve a transaction for it to be added to the blockchain.
The PoW algorithm used by Dash is called "X11" — a custom hashing algorithm developed by Dash founder Duffield that uses a sequence of 11 hashing algorithms. According to Dash's documentation, X11 is "one of the safest and more sophisticated cryptographic hashes in use by modern cryptocurrencies."
The second tier consists of masternodes operating under a proof-of-service consensus algorithm in which masternodes are rated based on their history of providing good services to the network. Masternodes oversee the network and have the power to reject new blocks added by nodes if they were approved improperly. They also enable Dash's ChainLocks feature, which increases security because every 12 hours, a rotating group of masternodes observe and confirm all new blocks added to the blockchain. Dash's developers have stated that this protects the network against 51% attacks.
As one of the more popular altcoins, Dash can be purchased on most major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase Pro, Huobi Global, Kraken and OKEx. It can be traded against fiat currencies, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether (ETH), and stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) and USD Coin (USDC). It can be bought and sold on both spot and derivatives markets.
Dash aims to be the most user-friendly and scalable payments-focused cryptocurrency.
It features instant transactions, optional privacy features, and a self-governing model powered by masternodes.
The network offers unique features like InstantSend for near-instant transactions, CoinJoin for privacy, and ChainLocks for enhanced security against attacks.
As of 2023, Dash continues to evolve with its DashPay platform, making cryptocurrency transactions as simple as using traditional payment apps.
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