{"id":15080,"date":"2017-12-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-16T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www2019.dash.org\/2017\/12\/17\/interview-as-dash-cracks-1000-we-ask-whats-the-appeal\/"},"modified":"2021-09-18T11:38:46","modified_gmt":"2021-09-18T11:38:46","slug":"cracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.dash.org\/news\/cracks\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: As Dash Cracks $1000, We Ask: What\u2019s the Appeal?"},"content":{"rendered":"
You could have picked up one DASH for around $15 USD in January 2017 \u2014 but today, a single unit will cost you $1,060 \u2014 an all-time high. Sure, that\u2019s a familiar story in the 2017 crypto gold rush, but Dash has a tendency to stand out. It\u2019s the first non-Bitcoin cryptocurrency to crack $1,000 USD per unit. Its ecosystem includes slick branding and strong grassroots community support \u2014 on top of several compelling technological innovations like privacy, instant payments, a \u201cmasternodes\u201d tier and its own \u201ctreasury\u201d.\u00a0Bitsonline<\/em>\u00a0spoke to Dash Core CEO Ryan Taylor about what makes it popular, and what the community has coming in 2018.<\/p>\n Also read:\u00a0Anonymous Donor Gives $1 Million in Bitcoin to Anti-Aging Research<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Join the\u00a0Bitsonline Telegram channel<\/a>\u00a0to get the latest Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, and tech news updates:\u00a0https:\/\/t.me\/bitsonline<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n Dash launched in January 2014, known first as XCoin and then Darkcoin, with a primary focus on privacy and anonymity. A year later though, it adopted its current name (digital+cash), with a broader mission to become a fast and feature-rich payments ecosystem. Though still grouped among the \u201cprivacy coins\u201d with Zcash and Monero, masked transactions are optional on the Dash network.<\/p>\n Its community and formalized governance structure have led some to refer to the Dash ecosystem as\u00a0actually a DAO<\/a>\u00a0(distributed autonomous organization) with defined roles, rather than a simple cryptocurrency community. It certainly displays many attributes of such an entity.<\/p>\n Even other projects have paid attention to this \u2014 Zcoin recently announced it would\u00a0implement its own version<\/a>\u00a0of a masternode structure, and other lesser-known cryptocoins have done the same.<\/p>\n Bitsonline<\/em>\u00a0spoke recently to Ryan Taylor, CEO of main protocol software developer, Dash Core. He talked to us about new software features, launch of the upcoming \u201cEvolution\u201d payments network, and how (and where) the organization plans to expand in the coming years.<\/p>\n JS: What\u2019s causing the current price run, and why does Dash often soar while everything else\u00a0is plunging<\/a>? It\u2019s an odd discrepancy.<\/p>\n RT:\u00a0The other week we saw Bitcoin\u2019s bullish price surge\u00a0only to be met with a steep fall<\/a>. While bitcoin\u2019s value is typically a good indicator of the entire cryptocurrency market, Dash has historically been a much more stable, less volatile digital currency and actually soared to record highs then.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dash Core CEO Ryan Taylor<\/p>\n Dash\u2019s price surge has been a result of many things; first, we have migrated to the latest software version, 12.2, which has enhanced scaling efforts and network stability. The Dash network is now able to handle eight times the amount of transactions per second Bitcoin currently handles, and the fees for transactions have been cut by a factor of ten.<\/p>\n For a Dash InstantSend transaction, the user would pay about $0.06, compared to Bitcoin\u2019s\u00a0$10+ USD fees<\/a>, and the verification is instantaneous. Regular transactions are under one U.S. cent. Secondly, Dash has shown tremendous value in its ability to provide people an alternative store of value or payment method against their normal fiat.<\/p>\n This is especially important in parts of Africa, Venezuela and Argentina, where hyperinflation is rife. We just announced a joint venture with KuvaCash where Dash aims to become a currency of choice for residents in Zimbabwe.<\/p>\n Thirdly, we are relatively close to rolling out our revolutionary new decentralized payments system, Dash Evolution. Due for release next year, Dash Evolution will bring digital currency to the mainstream in a way we have not seen before.<\/p>\n Finally, Dash was the first blockchain project to introduce a true, sustainable, well functioning governance and treasury model, whereby 10 percent of newly mined Dash goes towards proposals that will help develop and improve the Dash network. It\u2019s my opinion that people have begun to see the real value in this approach.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n JS: Who invented Dash\u2019s governance system and what role does it play in increasing the user base?<\/p>\n RT:\u00a0The founder of Dash, Evan Duffield, was the person who created this model, and users have completely embraced it. Anyone with a certain collateral of Dash can become a masternode owner, and similar to a shareholder, vote on proposals put forward by the community.<\/p>\n The masternode owners also make decisions to determine the leadership team and funding allocation for its development.<\/p>\n The masternodes play two critical roles in the growth of the userbase and ecosystem of services on the network. First, they act as stewards over the allocation of funding to proposals, and ensure the funding is allocated toward projects that will benefit Dash\u2019s growth. Second, because they are paid to provide high-quality server capacity to the network, they ensure that Dash can scale to large transaction volumes to serve mass-market number of users.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dash\u2019s name pops up in some unexpected places<\/p>\n JS: Where\u2019s the best place to look at Dash data & statistics? (e.g. info on masternodes, transactions, bandwidth and block size, etc.)<\/p>\n RT:\u00a0The best resource for Dash data and statistics is the\u00a0Masternodes Monitoring page<\/a>\u00a0on Dash Ninja.<\/p>\nA Community \u2013 or a Distributed Organization?<\/h2>\n
Interview: Dash Core CEO Ryan Taylor<\/h2>\n