{"id":4939,"date":"2019-01-09T12:30:44","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T20:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/?p=4939"},"modified":"2019-01-09T13:36:50","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T21:36:50","slug":"what-is-dash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>What Is Dash?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is an instant and semi-private\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cryptocurrency<\/a> based off the Bitcoin and Litecoin code base. However, it includes various changes and improvements that have differentiated it since its debut in 2014. The project\u2019s creator, Evan Duffield, built Dash to address three key issues he saw in the existing Bitcoin network: privacy, governance, and transaction speed. Over the past four years, Dash has risen to become one of the top global cryptocurrencies, with its market cap consistently placing in the top twenty cryptocurrencies despite a highly competitive market.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/files.coinmarketcap.com\/static\/widget\/currency.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<div class=\"coinmarketcap-currency-widget\" data-currencyid=\"131\" data-base=\"USD\" data-secondary=\"\" data-ticker=\"true\" data-rank=\"true\" data-marketcap=\"true\" data-volume=\"true\" data-stats=\"USD\" data-statsticker=\"false\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The main goal of Dash is to make digital cash more usable. Currently, you can send Bitcoin for online transactions and value transfers. However, the wait time for transaction confirmation on the Bitcoin blockchain makes it infeasible to use Bitcoin for in-store transactions or other value transfers that require near-instant confirmation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bitcoin\u2019s high fees also make it a poor choice for smaller transactions, limiting its general usefulness as a digital currency for purchasing goods and services. As we\u2019ll see, Dash seeks to solve these issues with its innovative architecture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In this guide, we dive into:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"#dash-history\">Dash History<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#how-does-dash-work\">How Does Dash Work?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#roadmap\">Roadmap<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#trading\">Trading<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#where-to-buy-dash\">Where to Buy DASH<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#where-to-store-dash\">Where to Store DASH<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#conclusion\">Conclusion<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#additional-dash-resources\">Additional Resources<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"dash-history\">A Brief History of Dash<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash began as a fork from the <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/litecoin-vs-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bitcoin\/Litecoin<\/a> codebase. With its emphasis on privacy and transaction speed, it originally had a reputation as a coin for illicit transactions. In the early days, it was known as XCoin, but that name soon changed to Darkcoin, further playing into the idea that Dash\u2019s privacy features could be used to hide sketchy transactions. Wanting to pivot away from the dark coin association, the community underwent a final name change to Dash, a portmanteau of \u201cdigital cash.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The early days of Dash were characterized by the design and building of the currency\u2019s unique two-tier architecture that facilitates fast transaction speeds and the coin mixing necessary for privacy. Shortly thereafter, Dash implemented a decentralized governance system that allows power users to vote on development proposals for the network.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the corporate world, four years is still a company\u2019s infancy. However, in the rapidly growing and emerging cryptocurrency space, Dash is now one of the old guards. It represents one of the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/coinmarketcap.com\/currencies\/dash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">most stable and established cryptocurrencies<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> currently on the market. This stability comes, in part, from Dash\u2019s highly active community of users. These users have generated thousands of threads and comments about the project on <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/dashpay\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reddit<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bitcointalk.org\/index.php?topic=421615.0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">BitcoinTalk<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and they\u2019ve shared the project far and wide. Since creation, Dash has consistently added nodes to its network, increasing reliability and security with this growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"how-does-dash-work\">How Does Dash Work?<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash\u2019s innovation was a two-tiered structure to its blockchain. The first tier is familiar to anyone who has studied <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bitcoin<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-bitcoin-cash-vs-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bitcoin Cash<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-litecoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Litecoin<\/a>, and other standard proof of work cryptocurrencies. On Dash, miners are responsible for creating new blocks and securing the blockchain. In exchange for mining blocks, miners on Dash receive 45 percent of the block reward. This is in contrast to Bitcoin, where miners receive 100 percent of the block reward. The remaining 55 percent of the block reward is allocated elsewhere, as we\u2019ll see shortly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash has an average <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/themerkle.com\/4-cryptocurrencies-with-much-faster-block-times-than-bitcoin\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2.5 minute block time<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, four times faster than Bitcoin. For the mining, the development team created a proprietary hashing algorithm known as X11 that requires sequential, repeated hashing. The X11 algorithm has been shown to use <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.weusecoins.com\/what-is-dash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">30% less wattage than Litecoin\u2019s Scrypt<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> algorithm.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16831\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16831\" style=\"width: 849px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16831\" src=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count.png\" alt=\"Number of Dash Masternodes (Jan '19)\" width=\"849\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count.png 849w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count-591x390.png 591w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count-621x410.png 621w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count-300x198.png 300w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count-768x507.png 768w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count-682x450.png 682w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/masternode_count-600x396.png 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 849px) 100vw, 849px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16831\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Number of Masternodes (Jan &#8217;19)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The second tier of Dash\u2019s architecture is for servers set up by power users, known as <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-are-masternodes-an-introduction-and-guide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">masternodes<\/a>. These masternodes process Instant Pay transactions, facilitate coin mixing, and vote on governance proposals. In exchange for these services, masternodes receive 45 percent of the block reward. Anyone can create a masternode on the Dash network, but you\u2019ll first need to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/what-is-dash-820943\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">prove that you own 1,000 DASH<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (currently equivalent to around $90,000).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 1,000 coin minimum is a security measure that prevents an attack against a peer-to-peer network known as a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Sybil_attack\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sybil attack<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Sybil attacks involve creating many fake accounts under pseudonyms, enough fake accounts to constitute a majority of the user base and therefore influence the network. By requiring 1,000 DASH to set up a masternode, it would be prohibitively expensive to carry out a Sybil attack against the masternode network. The 1,000 DASH minimum has the added benefit of keeping the price of the coin stable, and it ensures that when masternodes vote on governance proposals that they\u2019re invested in the success of the entire network.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>How Masternodes Facilitate Instant Payments<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of Dash\u2019s key features is InstantSend. Since Dash wants to be a form of digital cash that people can use in stores, transaction verification needs to be instant. While a block time of 2.5 minutes means that Dash\u2019s standard transactions are quicker than Bitcoin\u2019s, 2.5 minutes is still too long to wait for your transaction to clear at the grocery store or gas station. The project&#8217;s solution is InstantSend payments verified by the network\u2019s masternodes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Essentially, you send your transaction to a masternode. The masternode locks the funds so they can\u2019t be double spent and sends a confirmation once the funds are locked. The transaction itself still gets added to the ledger as part of a future block, but since the masternode has locked the funds, the transaction is guaranteed to get paid. InstantSend payments can receive verification in just a few seconds. Solving the problem of fast confirmations is a non-trivial hurdle for cryptocurrencies. Dash\u2019s masternode solution is among a handful of options for instant processing of digital currency transactions.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4942\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4942\" style=\"width: 1709px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4942 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02.png\" alt=\"Dash Features and Benefits\" width=\"1709\" height=\"462\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02.png 1709w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02-591x160.png 591w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02-621x168.png 621w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02-600x162.png 600w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02-300x81.png 300w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02-768x208.png 768w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2018-01-10-at-11.13.02-874x236.png 874w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1709px) 100vw, 1709px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4942\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the Benefits<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3>Built-in Coin Mixing Promotes Anonymity &amp; Privacy<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Several third-party applications provide coin mixing services for Bitcoin, but as a default, Bitcoin transactions are publicly traceable. In addition, if someone ties your identity to your public address, they can monitor your incoming and outgoing transactions. This is problematic for the fungibility and usability of a digital cash system. In 2014, Dash became one of the first privacy coins available on the market (along with <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-monero\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Monero<\/a> in the same year). The network includes built-in coin mixing that makes it nearly impossible to trace transactions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash calls its coin mixing service PrivateSend. At its most basic, when you want to send a private transaction, you send the request to the masternodes. One masternode broadcasts your mixing request and matches you up with other transactions happening at the same time, helping you move denominations of .1, 1, or 10 DASH between many users. Then, the first masternode passes your transaction to another masternode where the mixing process begins again, further obfuscating the trail.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Masternodes can\u2019t directly learn the details of your transactions, but using such a coin mixing system does implicitly require that you trust the Dash network and the masternode operators. If privacy is your number one concern in a digital currency, Monero and <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-zcash\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Zcash<\/a> have explored the issues of network trust and identity shielding in much greater detail. However, for most applications, Dash provides a high level of privacy and untraceability with its coin mixing.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Decentralized Governance Mitigates Hard Forking<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We mentioned earlier that miners receive 45 percent of the block reward and masternodes receive another 45 percent. The remaining 10 percent is dedicated to the development, marketing, and infrastructure for the Dash network to continue to grow and improve.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the challenges Bitcoin faces is any time the user base disagrees on how to proceed with a change to the system, the result is a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. Over time, this has fragmented the Bitcoin community into many smaller communities, including Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Gold, and even Dash. To solve this problem of fragmenting the community with hard forks, Dash implemented a decentralized governance model.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_16834\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-16834\" style=\"width: 561px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-16834\" src=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2019-01-09-14.02.44.png\" alt=\"Dash Masternode Information (Jan '19)\" width=\"561\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2019-01-09-14.02.44.png 561w, https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Screenshot-2019-01-09-14.02.44-300x234.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 561px) 100vw, 561px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-16834\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Masternode Information (Jan &#8217;19)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Dash\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Dash_(cryptocurrency)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">governance and voting system<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, anyone can propose a new feature, change, or marketing plan that will improve the Dash network. The masternodes then vote on each proposal. The number of <em>yes<\/em> votes for the proposal must outnumber the <em>no<\/em> votes by at least 10 percent of the total masternode number. For example, there are currently <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/178.254.23.111\/~pub\/Dash\/Dash_Info.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4,800 masternodes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on the Dash network. Therefore, for any new proposal, the <em>yes<\/em> votes would need to outnumber the <em>no<\/em> votes by 480 votes (10 percent of the total masternode count) in order for the proposal to pass.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once a proposal passes, it receives funding from the block reward. In this way, Dash could, in theory, vote to fire its current development team if the community disagreed with the direction the team is taking.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Extending Usability With an App &amp; API<\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The newest development in the Dash architecture is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/evolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash Evolution<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As part of the project\u2019s goal of easy-to-use, instant digital cash, it needs a clear way to accept and make Dash payments. The project&#8217;s website describes the challenge as making digital transactions easy enough that your grandma could understand what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To that end, Evolution is an API and mobile app that allows consumers to make payments and web stores to accept payments without having to interact with the blockchain client. While not yet fully implemented, the founders believe this is the next level of usability for digital cash.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>[thrive_leads id=&#8217;5219&#8242;]<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"roadmap\">Roadmap<\/h2>\n<p>Unfortunately, the team hasn&#8217;t updated their <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dashpay\/dash-roadmap\/blob\/master\/README.md\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">roadmap<\/a> since June 2018. As mentioned above, the next big milestone for the project is Dash Evolution. Beyond just an API and mobile app, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/evolution\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Evolution<\/a> includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Shared file system (DashDrive)<\/li>\n<li>Light client wallets<\/li>\n<li>Updated budget voting and governance systems<\/li>\n<li>Social wallet with friends list and multisig accounts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u00a0It&#8217;s not clear when these new features will be available.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"trading\">Trading<\/h2>\n<p>DASH had a fairly uneventful first couple of years price-wise. It wasn&#8217;t until the start of 2017 that the DASH price took off, blasting from around $10 (~0.0105 BTC) to reach an all-time bitcoin high of ~0.1083 BTC (or $110). That equates to a 1000 percent increase in USD and over 900 percent rise in BTC &#8211; within just three months.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This extreme price swing was most likely caused by a couple of factors. Arguably the most impactful cause was the announcement of a release date for the first steps of Evolution. It&#8217;s likely that this announcement, in combination with speculative investing, caused a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/2017\/03\/10\/priceexplained.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">short squeeze<\/a>\u00a0boosting the price higher than it organically would have.<\/p>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\nbaseUrl = \"https:\/\/widgets.cryptocompare.com\/\";\nvar scripts = document.getElementsByTagName(\"script\");\nvar embedder = scripts[ scripts.length - 1 ];\n(function (){\nvar appName = encodeURIComponent(window.location.hostname);\nif(appName==\"\"){appName=\"local\";}\nvar s = document.createElement(\"script\");\ns.type = \"text\/javascript\";\ns.async = true;\nvar theUrl = baseUrl+'serve\/v3\/coin\/chart?fsym=DASH&tsyms=USD,EUR,CNY,GBP';\ns.src = theUrl + ( theUrl.indexOf(\"?\") >= 0 ? \"&\" : \"?\") + \"app=\" + appName;\nembedder.parentNode.appendChild(s);\n})();\n<\/script><\/p>\n<p>Following the early 2017 price movement, the coin followed the general market for the most part. It&#8217;s worth noting, however, that the price tends to swing more volatilely than other altcoins &#8211; in both directions. DASH faired better than most altcoins during the 2018 bear market. Its price currently rests between $75 and $85.<\/p>\n<p>Adoption is the name of the game for Dash at this point. Keep your eye out for Evolution release announcements as they&#8217;ve had a positive impact on the price in the past and they are directly linked to real-world adoption.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"where-to-buy-dash\">Where to Buy DASH<\/h2>\n<p>Surprisingly, lesser known exchanges have a high DASH trading volume than their more popular counterparts. For the highest volume, you should check out Bithumb and purchase the coin with KRW.<\/p>\n<p>You can also get some DASH with USD on <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/bitfinex-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bitfinex<\/a> or with BTC on ETH on <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/binance-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Binance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Mining and Masternodes<\/h3>\n<p>Other than flat out buying DASH, you can also mine it or receive it as a masternode. Although you technically can mine the coin using a CPU\/GPU, it&#8217;s no longer profitable, so you should do so with an <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.dash.org\/en\/stable\/mining\/index.html#asic-mining\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ASIC miner<\/a> instead. There&#8217;s no shortage of mining pools available for you to join.<\/p>\n<p>Remember, to <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.dash.org\/en\/stable\/masternodes\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">become a masternode<\/a>, you need to stake 1000 DASH. Once you do, you can either run your own server for your masternode or set up a hosted masternode. The latter option is preferable if you&#8217;re part of the non-technical camp.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"where-to-store-dash\">Where to Store DASH<\/h2>\n<p>Wallet, wallets, and more wallets. The number of DASH <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/wallets\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wallets<\/a> is seemingly infinite. You&#8217;ve got the Core wallet for Windows, OSX, and Linux systems. The <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/exodus-wallet-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Exodus<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/jaxx-wallet-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jaxx<\/a> software wallets also support the coin.<\/p>\n<p>Maybe you&#8217;re more of a hardware guy (or girl). Ledger, Trezor, and KeepKey all support DASH as well. Finally, you can kick it old school with the <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.dash.org\/en\/stable\/wallets\/paper.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">official paper wallet<\/a>. Your options are endless<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"conclusion\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Dash has a strong track record and incredible community. Over the course of the past four years, the project\u2019s decentralized governance has produced impressive improvements to the unique two-tier architecture of the network. As a result, Dash has seen steady, consistent growth that has kept it near the top of the pack of many altcoins. Keep an eye on this coin over the coming years, and expect consistent growth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Editor\u2019s Note: This article was updated by <a href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/author\/stevenbuchko\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Steven Buchko<\/a> on 1.9.2019 to reflect the recent changes of the project.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h2 id=\"additional-dash-resources\">Additional Resources<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dash.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Website<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/dash_chat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Telegram<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/dashpay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reddit<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dashpay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/dashpay\/dash\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Github<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":4990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"iawp_total_views":14,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5712],"tags":[5763,5784,9265],"class_list":{"0":"post-4939","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-guides","8":"tag-dash","9":"tag-forks","10":"tag-privacy-coins"},"wppr_data":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What is Dash? Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CoinCentral\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-09T20:30:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-09T21:36:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bennett Garner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bennettgarner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bennett Garner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"11 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/\",\"name\":\"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-09T20:30:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-09T21:36:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f25f619861434a4978e9331821e31fd5\"},\"description\":\"What is Dash? Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png\",\"width\":2000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"Dash logo\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/\",\"name\":\"CoinCentral\",\"description\":\"Your Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other Cryptocurrency HQ\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f25f619861434a4978e9331821e31fd5\",\"name\":\"Bennett Garner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/74c436bc232818e77dcd4eb94547fdf8de07bb1d1aeb26787fb41ba3e54efaff?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/74c436bc232818e77dcd4eb94547fdf8de07bb1d1aeb26787fb41ba3e54efaff?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Bennett Garner\"},\"description\":\"Bennett is an editor at Coin Central and freelance technology writer specializing in blockchain, software development, and AI writing. Visit Bennett's personal website to learn more about him and read more of his writing.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.bennettgarner.com\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/bennettgarner\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/author\/bennett-garner\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency","description":"What is Dash? Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency","og_description":"&nbsp;","og_url":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/","og_site_name":"CoinCentral","article_published_time":"2019-01-09T20:30:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-09T21:36:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2000,"height":1000,"url":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Bennett Garner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency","twitter_description":"Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.","twitter_creator":"@bennettgarner","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bennett Garner","Est. reading time":"11 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/","url":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/","name":"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png","datePublished":"2019-01-09T20:30:44+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-09T21:36:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f25f619861434a4978e9331821e31fd5"},"description":"What is Dash? Learn everything you need to know about the private cryptocurrency with a focus on speed, usability, and real-world adoption.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Dash-logo.png","width":2000,"height":1000,"caption":"Dash logo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/what-is-dash\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Is Dash? | A Guide to the Instant, Private Cryptocurrency"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/","name":"CoinCentral","description":"Your Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other Cryptocurrency HQ","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f25f619861434a4978e9331821e31fd5","name":"Bennett Garner","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/74c436bc232818e77dcd4eb94547fdf8de07bb1d1aeb26787fb41ba3e54efaff?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/74c436bc232818e77dcd4eb94547fdf8de07bb1d1aeb26787fb41ba3e54efaff?s=96&r=g","caption":"Bennett Garner"},"description":"Bennett is an editor at Coin Central and freelance technology writer specializing in blockchain, software development, and AI writing. Visit Bennett's personal website to learn more about him and read more of his writing.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.bennettgarner.com","https:\/\/x.com\/bennettgarner"],"url":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/author\/bennett-garner\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4939"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4939\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}