Hello,
I believe this is my first post this thread. I've been buying Dash for about a year and a half now. I'm very concerned about a variety of things mainly because of the way things are playing out. Correct me if I'm wrong, but far the market is basically saying that there's really no competition between Monero and Dash and Monero is simply just taking over the so called privacy area of crypto that was supposed to be Dash's niche.
1) So can anyone please tell me how exactly is Dash better?
And I hope the answer will not be because of the voting rights from the Masternode because that would but the decentralization argument into question. I look at charts and numbers but I rarely read the go over the chatter, but if i can recall correctly Monero was mocked and ridiculed by the Dash team 2 years ago. But again I mainly look at charts and numbers.
2) I've been catching up with some of the interviews from the Dash team and it seems like they're kinda going after bitcoin. I believe that could be a grave mistake. This whole industry was created through bitcoin wasn't it. So if that's the case is, then why are we criticizing bitcoin in such an aggressive manner and even if we were right is it really worth it? I mean the results so far speak for it self.
3) Lastly, the argument by Icebreaker in my opinion was very constructive and yet it seems like the only response on this thread were personal attacks about his personal failures which have absolutely nothing to do with the content of his criticism. Can anyone refute his criticism? I'm a Dash supporter and I hold almost 2K coins because I really thought they were undervalued by at least $500, but after reading Icebreakers criticism and looking at Monero go take over the market I'm just about ready to leave the bandwagon. I'm not trying to be a jerk but these are just my concerns.
Oh dear, people are getting stressed from the trolls. I assume you are not one, as you asked valid questions.
Yes, Dash started out as a privacy coin, but I do believe Evan always wanted to make true money, and quickly, this is what makes Dash different from Monero:
1. First, Dash's privacy is not at the expense of a hidden blockchain. The blockchain is completely readable and verifiable, whereas Monero's is opaque. This makes Monero only able to do one thing, hide transactions from view. Dash's privacy is still arguably just as good, creating doubt as to where funds came from. As for mixing funds (which ultimately is what Monero does - mixes with 3 inputs) Monero's comes at the cost of a very large and expanding block chain with no plan to manage it other than having your wallet "served" to you from a centralized source.
2. What Dash can do, it can only do because it has an open blockchain, like Bitcoin's and has a second tier (Masternodes). Here is my list:
a. Dash can do instant transactions, fully locked and hasn't been hacked since it's inception over a year and a half ago. Private Send also has a bounty and a sample, if anyone can break it, they will win the bounty. (need link here)
b. Because Dash is based on Bitcoin and has been kept up to date with Bitcoin's releases, Dash is able to utilize all the code created for bitcoin, and integrate quickly into new services provided for Bitcoin.
c. Dash has incentivised nodes. The Masternodes are paid for doing work along with the miners. There are currently at least 3 services that allow people to combine their funds into a Masternode and reep the rewards, even if they don't have enough Dash to build their own node. These are centralized services, but the future will make these smart contracts where no funds need be put at risk, and will be allowed to be held by the owner (though locked for an agreed amount of time, undoubtedly)
Now for the exciting stuff. Stuff that can't happen without a second tier network. I'm sure you've heard the name "Evolution" pop up. This is a huge undertaking, and we are about to release the first wallet that contains the foundation for Evolution. Evolution is exiting, and would not be possible if Dash had an opaque blockchain period. Yet, Evolution will not be fully realized for another year, most likely. So this is what Evolution will be able to do, and please keep in mind, these services will be done in a completely decentralized way. Arbitrary and un-gameable. And please realize that Evolution will NOT be manditory. You will be able to use the old fashioned wallet, a daemon or QT wallet, an off-line wallet, etc, if you want to be as safe as possible. I will do this myself for my "investment" but for daily use, I will use Evolution. Remember, despite what Evolution can do, you, the user, will still be responsible for the safe management and risks taken with your money until someone wants to provide an insurance service like Banks provide.
Although decentralized, Dash will feel to the user like a centralized service. This means the user will be able to access their account via user name and password. When they log in from their phone, their account will look exactly as it does from their desktop or laptop, etc... This is because they will access their account via a decentralized API. We call this the DAPI. The DAPI hooks you into the network, and the network holds your user information in a "sharded storage" system. This means each Masternode holds a fractured portion of the hole with redundancy. This allows the network to hold a lot of information without each Masternode to be bogged down with huge storage requirements and allows for easy expansion and growth. The "Dash Drive" (as we call it) is not for storing just anything, it is dedicated only to a few essential things, such as user rating (optional) names and passwords, contact information, etc... all accessible and readable only to the user.
So think about what it is like when you access your bank account or Paypal account. You can see this month's expenses, who you paid what to. You can enter notes, you can see year-to-Date. March's statement, etc....
You can have "bill pay" and automatically pay your bills and subscriptions via a smart contract inside your account.
"savings" can enter a pool of funds via a smart contract to create Masternodes to earn "interest". These Masternodes would be run by any service provider, and will not ever have to leave the control of the user. They will be locked for a term chosen by the user (much like a CD at a bank) only these contracts can't be broken for any fee, though I can see a possible future where people might be able to trade their shares for unlocked Dash if they needed out in an emergency.
Shared accounts, multi-sig accounts, all will be managable from a service that feels like it's centralized but not. The possibilities are endless, and I'll just start rambling, so I'll stop here.
There will be nothing that Dash can not do for you that Banks can. Even loans will be possible once the deflationary nature of cryptos slow down.
One more thing, for others, because you stated you didn't want to hear it, but Dash's governance system (voting by collateralize MNs) and budget system means that issues and questions on direction can be quickly resolved and that Dash is fully self funding with no need to ask big pockets for donations, and is unencumbered by the strings invariably attached to those donations.