I came across this well written article about Dash which raises an interesting question : Is Dash a better alternative to Bitcoin?
http://www.cryptoworldwide.com/crypto-coin-spotlight/inside-dash-is-dash-a-better-alternative-to-bitcoin/Posted By: Scott Sidders July 21, 2015
Written By: Scott Sidders
DASH contends to have real world application because of it’s cash-like qualities and user-base – in other words, the technology and community behind DASH make it worth noting as not merely a tradable crypto commodity, but as a potential cryptocurrency for future widespread adoption.
What is DASH?DASH is an alternative to bitcoin that features better anonymity via Darksend, a protocol that mixes and mashes transactions together before dispersing them to the proper addresses. This stops people from tracking DASH users’ spending of the coins. DASH is intended to emulate cash (only digital), in that DASH is untraceable, instant, and bypasses the need for third-parties for transfer of funds. DASH is a fork from Bitcoin, meaning it can easily adopt new applications made for Bitcoin.
InstantXThere’s thousands of crypto coins, so why should you care about DASH? First, DASH offers fast transactions across the internet. You could send DASH from Canada to Zimbabwe, to Brazil, to Scotland, to Australia, and back to Canada in mere seconds. Peer-to-peer this is nothing new, but peer-to-merchant, transactions can be finalized in seconds as opposed to bitcoins’ minutes to an hour for satisfactory confirmations. For example, if you want to send BTC to a merchant this can take up to an hour before confirmations are processed enough for the merchant to release their product. For DASH, using the new InstantX protocol, you could send DASH to the merchant and in seconds the transfer can be locked in to ensure double spending cannot occur, thus allowing the merchant to release their product instantly. This is true for all merchants that adopt InstantX. An entire white paper has been written dedicated to explaining this further if you want to read more:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/241012134…hanism-for-Mitigating-Double-Spending-Attacks
DarksendDASH offers better anonymity than bitcoin via Darksend. Some bitcoin merchants have declined buyers due to “dirty money” since they can gain an idea of where bitcoins have come from. Darksend essentially scrambles transactions so that you can’t trace which payments were sent by whom. Anonymity may not be important to all crypto users, but think about countries run by totalitarian regimes where you don’t want the authorities to know what you do with your money. Maybe you don’t want people knowing how much money you have or maybe you don’t want your friends and family know what you do with your money. Regardless of why you would want your transactions private, it’s about giving crypto users the option and the right to financial privacy. Think of how much information credit card companies gather and sometimes sell to companies for better targeted advertising. You now have the option to deny being subjected to sharing your financial information thanks to DASH.
MasternodesBest of all, no third party carries out these tasks, masternodes do. A masternode can be hosted by anyone and in order to host one you need to have 1000 (approx $3600 USD) DASH as collateral which deters bad actors from acquiring 51% of the masternodes. The masternodes perform tasks for the DASH network such as the mixing up and distributing of payments via Darksend. Since this costs to perform, masternode hosts receive a percentage of the block reward. That’s right, by owning a masternode, you can earn dividends on every block mined – and best of all, you don’t have to do anything. The return on investment for masternodes has been around 14% annually which has gained a lot of appropriate attention. The 1000 DASH that must be secured as collateral doesn’t leave your possession either, it only has to be untouched to keep your masternode running.
Furthermore, masternodes create a decentralized system of governance. By owning a masternode you can participate in voting on future projects — similar to how voting stock works for a company and its shareholders. Masternodes have some real potential for other developers too. If interested I recommend checking out Fernando Gutierrez’ candid article regarding masternodes here:
https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/po…uly-trustless-and-opens-endless-possibilities
Why does DASH matter?The technological aspect of DASH is great, but greatness is in the eye of the beholder and without people using DASH, it’s worth nothing. However, this is not the case. The DASH development team has shown to be a real asset to the crypto world. For instance, the DASH team recently went from pseudonymity to being open and known. This is a big step in crypto because most coins currently have developers that hide behind their user names without anyone knowing who they really are. This becomes problematic when a coin is worth something because now whether the original developers intended to be ethical, or not, they now have incentive to cash out and abandon the coin without being personally held accountable. Incidentally, this happens all too often. Thus, having upfront and honest developers is a huge step in the alt-coins and will hopefully continue to be the standard. Here’s an example of one member from the DASH team, Fernando Gutierrez, doing a talk at a BTC group meeting in Barcelona.
https://youtu.be/wj-5sBFHQAUDASH does have an active, and quite large, community behind the coin relative to others. It cannot be stressed enough how important community is. Think about how Bitcoin became so large a phenomenon now. People that believe in the technology put themselves out there to communicate the value of using cryptos to the public. DASH’s community, though small in comparison to bitcoin, has some really passionate and intelligent people that believe in it. This can’t be said about most crypto coins.
ConclusionPredicting how crypto coins will be in the long term future is difficult because of how fast this industry moves, but it is reasonable to believe that DASH will be around and I wouldn’t doubt it if DASH became worth much more than it is now. Due to the strong community, the adaptability to integrate new technology from the bitcoin protocol, the security, and anonymity aspect of this crypto coin, DASH contends to be a better alternative to bitcoin, though this is dependent on the people’s attitude towards DASH. I can’t predict the future, so obviously you shouldn’t base financial decisions on my words alone. However, I’m going to humour you and make a prediction for DASH’s future prospects. Based on what I’ve learned about DASH thus far, DASH will gain a lot of attention in the next year, and in one year from today, I think DASH will have steadily climbed to over $30 USD and will remain above this price.
Suggested further readings:The DASH white paper:
https://www.dashpay.io/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Dash-WhitepaperV1.pdfInstantX white paper:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/241012134…hanism-for-Mitigating-Double-Spending-Attacks
Masternode article:
https://www.dashpay.io/news/self-sustainable-decentralized-governance-by-blockchain/The information provided herein is the author’s opinion and provided for entertainment purposes only. While the author strives to make the information on this website as timely and accurate as possible, the author makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this site, and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this site. The information contained in or provided from or through this website is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, investment advice, trading advice or any other licensed advice. The authors on this website are in no way liable for any decisions you make based on information provided herein. CryptoWorldwide.com and its staff do not necessarily endorse nor oppose any claims or views expressed by authors on the website. All content is subject to copyright and may not be reproduced in any form without express written consent of the publisher.
* pls have some respect for both the cryptocurrency and its community. accusations of scam towards Dash will not be tolerated in this self-moderated topic, there are enough of those out there already !
