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How to Buy Dash Cryptocurrency: The Complete Guide

By:
Colin First

DASH has been a popular coin and succeed to remain one of the top leading cryptocurrencies. In this guide, we will bring you all the required information to buy DASH, best exchanges, digital wallets, and more DASH info.

DASH Coin

Dash coin is a next-generation digital currency based on Bitcoin. Dash has been instrumental in solving many problems that are inherently present in bitcoin by speeding up transactions, offering enhanced financial privacy and developing a decentralized governance and funding system.

How to Buy Dash?

Unlike other altcoins that can be bought only with Bitcoin or Ethereum, DASH can be purchased with fiat currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, etc.) as well as with other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Step 1 – Create a Dash Wallet 

Before buying Dash a trader needs to get a Dash wallet. Like bitcoin, there are different kinds of Dash wallets such as hardware wallet, desktop wallets, and mobile wallets. One thing to note is, traders should opt for wallets depending on their requirements.

In this page, you can find all the supported DASH official wallets. Follow the instructions in order to open DASH digital wallet.

Apart from that, there are different wallets that a user can opt for to store DashCoins such as Dash Wallet by Hash engineering, Coinomi, Jaxx, that are primarily Android apps. Jaxx and Dash Core are Apple apps. Hardware wallets to store dash include KeepKey hardware wallet, Ledger Nano S, and Trezor. Dash Core Paper Wallet is a form of cold wallets.

Step 2 – Buy Dash Cryptocurrency 

Buying Dash with Fiat Currencies

In the absence of cryptocurrencies, traders can buy Dash through credit cards, wire transfers or cash. The last option may not be feasible as Dash ATMs are in very few parts of America and extremely expensive.

If you want to buy DASH with fiat currencies, there are some exchanges that provide the option to buy DASH with currencies such as USD or EUR.

HitBTC allows a trader to purchase DASH with fiat currencies. Another exchange that provides DASH with USD is Exmo.

Buying Dash with other Cryptocurrencies

For people who already own Bitcoin, it’s easier. They have the option of exchanging Bitcoin or Ethereum for Dash on any cryptocurrency exchange websites such as Binance.

If you do not own Bitcoin or Ethereum and prefer to trade DASH with other cryptocurrencies as the trading and exchanges allow you better fees and terms, you can buy Bitcoin or Ethereum via Coinbase.

What is Dash Coin?

Formerly known as Darkcoin and Xcoin, Dash is an open source peer-to-peer cryptocurrencies that offer instant transactions (InstantSend), private transaction (PrivateSend) and token fungibility. The cryptocurrency is the first among its contemporaries to operate decentralized governance and budgeting system.

It uses a chained hashtag algorithm called X11 for the proof of work.

Why is Dash better than Bitcoin?

The developers of Dash wanted to introduce a new blockchain that would not have these weaknesses and be completely ‘bullet-proof.’ Here are some key additions that Dash incorporated:

  • Masternodes: Masternodes were introduced to incentivize users with payments to secure the network and added cool transactional features such as InstaSend. Masternode operators invest 1,000 DASH to host a Masternode. Masternode operators get 45% of the reward for every Dash block that’s mined. Each operator receives their reward of around 7 DASH each month.
  • PrivateSend: While Bitcoin transactions are pseudonymous and can be traced to their users, Dash introduced PrivateSend transactions that allow Dash users to opt for full privacy in their transactions.
  • InstantSend: Instasend uses the instantX Masternode feature to send and confirm transactions in seconds. Bitcoin’s block propagation takes an average of 10 minutes, and 6 typical conformations for large purchases could even take an hour.
  • Self-Sustainable Decentralized Governance: While Masternodes are incentivized and can govern the blockchain with 1 vote per Masternode, the Dash blockchain is also self-funded. A portion of each block—currently 10%–is allocated to the Network Development and Promotion Budget. This means Dash developers and promoters receive payments for their contributions, unlike on Bitcoin where contributions are voluntary and unincentivized.

Exchanges that Support Dash

There are several exchanges where an interested investor will find Dash. Some of them are listed below:

Exchange Accept Fiat Currencies Pair
Hitbtc Yes DASH/USD
 Bittrex  No  DASH/BTC
 Bitfinex  Yes  DASH/USD
 Binance  No DASH/BTC, DASH/ETH
 Kraken  Yes DASH/EUR

Trade Dash Coin through CFD’s

If a trader does not wish to go through exchanges to buy Dash coin, there are different options they can use to trade Dash Coins. For instance, Contracts for difference (CFD), gives access to all of the profit potentials of investing in Dash coins, for pennies on the dollar.

eToro is a broker that provides Dash coin CFD’s with the option to leverage your position. The one thing that a trader should take into account is that there is no physical delivery of the dash coin to the wallet of the user which means that he does not own the dash per se and hence would not be able to send it to others as a form of payment. However, trading with eToro via CFD’s allow you to take advantage of Dash price fluctuations.

How to Store and Spend Dash?

To store DASH is easy. But knowing which wallet to opt for is also important. There are some Dash wallets which are better than others. Some of them are KeepKey, Exodus, Trezor, DASHcore, Uberpay, Electrum, etc. which help to keep Dash secure from hacking. The user has to make sure that he/she creates the wallet and stores the details in a safe place and also at a place from where he can retrieve it.

DASH, as a cryptocurrency, is much more secure as compared to Bitcoin. There are numerous businesses scattered across the globe that accept DASH coin as payment. For instance, Dash combines with “BitCart” – a service that exclusively supports Dash to allow customers to buy Amazon.com, Inc gift cards at a 15% discount. This avenue makes Dash one of the most usable and practical cryptocurrencies in existence.

Some businesses such as Yipptee, a designer boutique, Cycles Etc., a cycling company, Praxeum, a Taekwondo club, etc. have been open about accepting dash as a mode of payment.

DASH Credit/Debit Card

There is also a dash card which works as a great alternative to credit or debit cards. The dash card is accepted at more than 40 million physical and online retailers around the world. And although currency exchanges happen behind the scenes, the dash app even reports the local currency wherever purchases are made. Some Dash debit cards are ShakePay, SpectroCoin, Uquid, Bitwala, and Wirex.

Not just that, in September 2017, the Dash team announced an integration with a Bitcoin debit card provider that will allow Dash to be used at any retailer that accepts Visa, both in-store and online. This effectively allows Dash to be spent at over 40 million merchants worldwide. Also, owners of Dash will be able to withdraw their funds, in cash, at any ATM in 210 countries around the world.


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Pros and Cons of Using Dash

There are several pros to using dash and fewer cons which makes it ideal for utility.

Pros

  • The network funds itself from the new coin emission. That, in turn, pays for software development, business development, integrations, marketing and whatever other real-world activities benefit the network.
  • Dash has decentralized governance by blockchain, where Masternodes vote on how to spend the budget. Anyone can submit proposals to increase the value of a network, and it can be funded if the idea is good.
  • The core team is focusing on making Dash extremely easy to use and they have a roadmap that is starting to be delivered on.
  • Since Masternodes are incentivized, Dash network can scale on the chain without worrying about a declining full-node count.
  • The difficulty adjustment algorithm (Dark Gravity Wave) beats Bitcoin Cash‘s.

Apart from that, as mentioned above features such as PrivateSend and InstaSend sets it apart from other cryptocurrencies.

Cons

  • Still uses the Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm, which is really a waste of computing energy and electricity. It will bring along problems as the network grows(increased blocksize and transactions per second bog down the system)
  • There is a scalability problem. Like Bitcoin, Dash’s block size is also 1MB currently. This means only a small number of transactions can be processed per block. It states that the block size can be increased in the future followed by a higher transaction fee. However, this does not solve issues such as insufficient storage capacity if the network keeps growing with the same block growth rate and an increased block size, revealing that this is not a long-term solution.
  • A large number of tokens are locked up (It is said that the amount of locked tokens is more than the transferrable total token amount). The reason behind is: In order to be a “Masternode”(a node that its owner has a vote for the project changes and can be rewarded about half of the mining reward by performing services such as InstantSend and PrivateSend). A trader also needs to have 1000 DASH deposited. This shows that a large proportion of the current market cap is not the money that is circulating and being used in the network.
  • The PrivateSend service has some skeptical reviews and concerns. The coin mixing strategy of PrivateSend depends a lot on the number of active users, and many of the users complain about the slow mixing process.

Conclusion

There is a lot of debate as to whether DASH is worth the investment or not. It’s pitted against Bitcoin on a regular basis, for reasons that are good as well as bad. It seems a little unfair considering that bitcoin was already in the market since 2008 whereas dash was created in 2014. It has done considerably well for itself in the short time that it has been in the market space.

Dash’s privacy features are one of the best, which is important for traders who do not wish their transactions to be made public. Another salient point is, Dash is accepted by around 40 million merchants across the world, which makes it globally accepted. This also makes dash one of the potential candidates that could rise to the top run of the crypto world with a proper understanding of how it works and what it can do for the merchants and traders around the world. After all, it only requires one spark to light a fire and it is this spark that the dash makers would be expecting from somewhere.

About the Author

Colin specializes in developing trading strategies and analyze financial instruments both technically and fundamentally. Colin holds a Bachelor of Engineering From Milwaukee University.

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