What makes Dash special?

Welcome to the cryptohunt jam where we spend one minute a day to explain crypto. In plain english.

Today, let’s talk about Dash, another crypto currency that was built with privacy in mind.

Dash was invented as an alternative to Bitcoin and Litecoin, and is based on a modification of their original computer program. The name Dash is a word mix of “digital” and “cash”. Live since early 2014, it is one of the oldest altcoins.

To ensure privacy, dash uses a mechanism that is often referred to as a “tumbler”.

Imagine your friend wants to pay you $5 dollars, and she drops the amount into a bucket, but does that by first putting $2 dollars in, and a few minutes later $3 dollars.

Meanwhile, other people have also put money into the bucket for their own transactions. Now, you pull out your $5 dollars, but at five separate times for $1 each. At this point, the money has been mixed up with everyone else's: It has been tumbled.

If there are enough transactions, it becomes impossible to say who sent what to whom and how much exactly, thus making the system more private – and that’s exactly how  Dash works.

But Dash isn’t just used for privacy reasons. Despite being an older altcoin, it’s actually quite useful in real life. The makers have an app, for example, where you can get discounts at a ton of big retailers. It works by buying a discounted gift card with Dash first, and then using that at the counter. A little clunky :), but it works with thousands of stores and still beats most other cryptocurrencies that have near zero real-world application.

Disclaimer: This podcast references our opinion and is for information purposes only. It is not intended to be investment advice. Do your own research and seek a duly licensed professional for investment advice.