Dash - The Unstoppable Blockchain

In 2008 an unknown identity named Satoshi Nakamoto released a paper called Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. At the time not many realised it but this paper would forever change the world. Blockchain projects inspired by Satoshi’s original experiment “Bitcoin”, having been popping up left, right and centre. Many of these projects experiment with slight changes in bitcoins vision and protocol. Some of these projects succeed, however most fail. This kind of experimentation should be thought of as a very healthy aspect of the ecosystem. The reason that this is healthy, is because the more projects that are competing to offer blockchain based services, the more likely we are to see some succeed.

As an industry observer since early 2013, I have seen many ups and downs. I have watched coins such as Paycoin explode and then disappear or how about Auroracoin (Icelands airdropped cryptocurrency), that didn’t end well. After witnessing these crazy hyped projects or what some would call pump and dumps, I have become very wary of industry hype and crowds talking about how this coin is the new best thing. The benefit of having a wary eye is that you do tend to find real innovation and avoid the not so real. This real innovation has lead me to Dash and I will explain why.

People will tell you that “Dash is a privacy-centric digital currency with instant transactions”. Sounds interesting right? It is what first attracted me, however this is not at all why I am drawn to it. Dash’s best feature (in my opinion) is it’s decentralised governance/budgeting system.

This system allows Masternodes (fullnodes with 1000 Dash Collateral)  to vote on important issues and budgeting proposals which if passed are funded directly from the blockchain. Yes, that’s right, directly from the BLOCKCHAIN! This is executed through the splitting of the block rewards between Miners (45%), Masternodes (45%) and Budget Proposals (10%). This system is the first of its kind and is referred to as decentralised governance by blockchain. It is this system that makes Dash an unstoppable blockchain and I will explain why, as the magic may not be obvious to all.

I have viewed this Decentralised Governance/Budgeting system since it’s inception and boy have I seen a lot. At inception the 10% of the monthly block reward equated to approximately to 7,450 Dash per month. Dash had a value at the time of just over $2 so our monthly budget amount was approximately $15,000 U.S. per month. $15,000 a month at the time was like a Christmas that came every month. We did many things such as purchase the Dash.org domain ($20,000), fund our core team to go talk at leading blockchain conferences etc. Looking back at the early stages of our budgeting system, if I thought that was a Christmas that came every month, then I don’t even know what to call what we have now. Due to an increase in our market cap, each Dash is now worth $10.40 and we still have 7,450 Dash to spend every month, so now we have $77,480 each month to spend. With this increase in budget capacity, we have paid for many things but one notable contract was the one in which we hired Gitguild, (Ira Millers company) and built many tools which 3rd party blockchain services can use to easily integrate with us. The results are starting to show with Mycelium, Jaxx, Spectrocoin, Shakepay, Coinapult, Exodus, CryptoCapital, TigoCTM, Proton Mail and more coming onboard to support Dash.

The Gitguild contract is only one of many things being currently funded by our blockchain. We have also funded Amanda B Johnsons show Dash:Detailed, hired developers to help with core protocol development and evolution development, hired Wachsman PR as our public relations representative, hired a design team to design the UI/UX of evolution, paid for accounting/productivity software so that our core team can work well and collaborate effectively, paid translators to translate our promotional material, the list goes on but you get the idea.

So now with that said and done you may be thinking, wow that is pretty neat, however, this is still only scratching the surface. If you are still with me, then let’s explore how deep this rabbit hole goes…

The Rabbit Hole:

If you took note earlier, you would have realised that as the price of Dash increases, we have more funds available (in terms of dollars) to allocate in our monthly budget. Now lets think about this for a second and imagine the possibilities. If Dash’s market cap was at Litecoins current level then we would have a budget of approximately $195,300 per month to spend on whatever we may need to continue our growth. If our market cap was at Ethereums current level then we would have $1,133,300 to spend every month on continued growth and if we were at Bitcoins current market cap then that is what I would define as Christmas ($10,390,000 per month).

With this added budget capacity you may be wondering how would one spend that kind of money and still get returns? Well fortunately there are many ways and I will explain a couple now that will have serious consequences and solidify the idea that Dash is an unstoppable blockchain.

However before I explain any of these ideas it is important to realise that Dash Masternode owners are the decision making engine and also get rewarded for carrying out functions for the network (approximately 10% on their 1000 Dash per year). Now that we have explained that, lets delve into some potential future expenditures.

With an increase in monthly budget capacity (I am talking big increase remember), Dash can start looking into acquiring 3rd party blockchain services or strategically invest in some. For example if a company like Bitpay were to look for funding, we could strategically invest in them. An investment like this could benefit Dash for a number of reasons, first it means that Dash could tie into the terms of the deal that Bitpay will integrate Dash and second it means that any profit that Bitpay makes can then direct back to the Masternode network, further increasing the Masternodes (decision making engine/shareholders) profit.

Another example is that of an acquisition, such as what Kraken has done with some smaller exchanges. Kraken acquired these smaller exchanges both to fast track regulation in different juridical areas, as well as increase their customer base. An exchange might not be the best example of an acquisition for Dash, as it doesn’t have as many perks, other than profit of trading which could then be directed back to the Masternode network.

A better example of an acquisition would be Circle, imagine purchasing a payments app and then switching their backend to run on the Dash network rather than Bitcoin. This Dash from Bitcoin network switching could even be executed as a strategic investment rather than an acquisition (less costly).

Imagine if Bitcoin had a monthly marketing budget, it could fund huge Bitcoin awareness campaigns and actually start gaining some Mainstream traction. Well guess what, Bitcoin can’t and Dash can and will, no examples needed, you get the idea.

Dash has the ability to increase access points to it’s network by purchasing and deploying ATM’s worldwide, heck it could even acquire the Lamassu company and make it’s own ATM’s. Through spending part of Dash’s monthly budget these ATM’s could be deployed right around the world and make our network more useful and accessible. Though charging small ATM fee’s, Dash could then return the profits of this project to Masternode owners.

Another way to make Dash more user friendly is to allocate a portion of the monthly budget to financing Call Centres and Physical Dash Branches. This initiative will support with on boarding/retention of customers. In essence it will allow the end user to feel comfortable making the transition to Dash as they will have all the help that they need with getting started.

So remember when you are looking out for the newest, coolest, blockchain project, ask a couple questions. Does this blockchain pay for it’s growth and does it have a well built governance system. If either of those answers are “no”, then move on, as that project is not an unstoppable blockchain. It has taken me 3.5 years to get to the point of finding an unstoppable blockchain but I tell you, once your on, its super fun!

This article was inspired by the following video: