It may be easy to overlook Dash. It is not as flashy as some of the other altcoins out there, standing at fifteenth among cryptocurrencies by total capitalization. However, Dash is one of the most technically advanced bitcoin forks still in operation. Here’s how to buy it, step-by-step.
Like most altcoins, buying Dash is a three-step process:
- Set-up an appropriate wallet.
- Buy the coin from a participating exchange.
- Transfer the coins to the wallet.
Setting up the wallet:
- For this example, we will be using Coinomi. You can download the desktop client from https://www.coinomi.com/en/downloads/. Download and install the app. Other wallets you can use are Jaxx, the Dash client, and Exodus.
- Open the app. Either sign in to your wallet or set up a new wallet account (you can check out how to do this from our “How to Buy Tether” explainer.
- Click on “Wallet.” Click on “+ Add Coins” in the bottom-left corner. On the pop-up menu, find Dash and select. Press “Add.” Unlock your wallet by entering the password you entered during setup.
- Click the Dash logo at the top. Click “Receive” to the right to get your wallet’s address. Make a note of it.
Buying Dash:
- Dash can be bought from several exchanges, including Kraken, Poloniex, BTC-E, and Bitfinex. BMJ offers tutorials on how to use these exchanges. The key would be to find the trading pair you are looking for (BTC/DASH, ETH/DASH. USD/DASH, LTC/DASH, or some other pair) and to conduct the trade accordingly. Use the address to transfer the coins to your Coinomi account.
Using Dash:
- To use Dash, click “Send” on the Coinomi dashboard. Enter the recipient address and the amount of Dash to send and click “Send.” Confirm the transaction and you are all done.
Thoughts on Dash’s Reputation
It is unclear why the community dismisses Dash currently, considering its innovative superiority. Despite having a block size of only two megabytes, for example, the use of masternodes – or servers that have staked significant collateral in exchange of governance and budgeting rights – allows the network to send transactions nearly instantly at a low fee and to facilitate private transactions.
It is thought that the Dash network is capable of handling as much as eight times the transactions that the Bitcoin network can. Dash developers believe that the network will soon be able to compete with major payment networks like PayPal, a goal that has, so far, eluded the major coins.
Dash is also one of the first coins to effectively eliminate the threat of the 51% mining attack. A 51% attack is a rewriting of established blocks through the dominance of a proof-of-work network’s hashing power by a single party. As crypto protocols recognize the blockchain that has the most “work” behind it, if a single party could monopolize the majority of the computing power on a network, a fraudulent blockchain can be recognized as legitimate on a network, allowing double spending, denial of access to the blocks, and the possible deletion of ownership claims to mined coins. The introduction of LLMQ-based ChainLocks gives Dash nodes the ability to identify attempts to fraudulently fork the blockchain and block suspect blocks.
Recent scaling tests also show that the Dash network is capable of being scaled in an unlimited way. Theoretically, the sixth-highest valued cryptocurrency by coin price could eventually surpass even bitcoin, begging the question of why it is not better received.
It may be that Dash received a healthy amount of criticism for the number of pre-mined coins the DAO claimed. It may also be that because network governance is controlled by masternodes that have a minimum of 1000 Dash, the network can be argued to be a plutocracy. There is also the uncomfortable fact that Dash started as Darkcoin and Xcoin, which both had their problems. This has given some the feel that Dash is a scam.
Despite this, Dash is an essential part of the crypto economy. It is up to the individual investor to weigh if the risks are worth the investment, or even if the risks are real.
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