This week has been another amazing week in Dash with plenty of announcements, integrations, and media! Continue reading to get a brief summary of the week.

Dash Growth of the Week:

Dash Version 0.13 DIP Locked In, Split-Key Masternodes to Be Activated Next Week: Dash Improvement Proposal 0003 (DIP 3) will launch Deterministic Masternode Lists enabling masternodes to delegate their operating and voting responsibilities without having to trust access of their funds to a third party. The lock-in comes after 80% of the Dash network upgraded to ensure that a vast majority of the network had upgraded before instituting a major change and the additional week will enable time for the rest of the network to upgrade. This upgrade will be followed by version 0.14 featuring ChainLocks and then Evolution version 1.0.

Dash Leads Cryptocurrency Growth on Uphold: During the 2018 crypto bear market, Uphold saw their users increase to over 1 million and Dash had the largest holdings growth with 281% followed by BAT (up 183%), ETH (up 70%), BTG (up 54%), BTC (up 41%) and LTC (up 24%). The large Dash growth follows previous analyses that show Dash users have the strongest convictions of all cryptocurrency users on Uphold since they buy the most and sell the least. The cryptocurrency exchange growth mimics the growth being seen by real-world merchant adopting Dash around the world, currently over 4,800, making it usable as digital cash.

Dash Technical News of the Week:

What is a Bloom Filter and What are They Good For? Check out this new piece by Dash ASU researcher, Darren Tapp, explaining Bloom Filters and how they are used to identify information, the possible false positives they generate, and how to modify them to be more accurate. The Bitcoin Unlimited team uses these to help identify information unknown to a node and the Dash team utilizes them for SPV wallets to allow for some increased privacy.

Dash Integrations of the Week:

GigaLayer Web Services Integrates Dash Expanding Usability Options in Africa: Dash Nigeria has recently integrated a web domain name and hosting service in Nigeria that services 13 countries across Africa and 6,000 businesses. Their Dash acceptance highlights the importance of gaining adoption among businesses that provide services that consumers are already using in everyday life rather than only novelty products that consumers don’t always purchase. Dash has been growing along these lines by gaining adoption in department stores, grocery stores, gift cards, and other key services.

DynX Decentralized Exchange Integrates Dash, Poll to Decide Fourth Base Currency: The decentralized cryptocurrency exchange built on the BitShares platform and currently in testnet will be integrating Dash, which will expand Dash’s market reach. DynX will also determine the fourth base currency pair on the platform via a community poll that will last until the platform launches on mainnet later this month. The integration highlights the importance of decentralized exchanges, including the many that offer Dash, so consumers can easily purchase, sell, and trade cryptocurrency no matter the location of their jurisdiction.

General News of the Week:

eToro Survey Shows Millennials Favor Cryptocurrency Over Traditional Assets, Traditional Institutions Still Have a Role: An eToro survey reveled that 43% of millennial online traders trust crypto exchanges more than the U.S. stock exchanges, but that number increases to 93% when cryptocurrency is sold by consumer friendly businesses. However, the survey also highlighted millennials distrust for larger financial institutions that had a major role in the last economic recession. Dash is able to utilize its DAO to offer guidance to new cryptocurrency users, but still needs to focus on not having its DAO structure confused with a corporate structure.

Samsung Follows Dash-Supporting Kripto Mobile With Cryptocurrency-Enabled Phones: Samsung’s new phones will feature Samsung Knox, the the ability to store private keys, and is rumored to have a cryptocurrency wallet and DApp integrations on the way. However, last year, Dash and Kripto Mobile teamed up to provide phones with pre-downloaded Dash apps in Venezuela and neighboring countries. The much lower cost of Dash-enabled KRIP phones makes it easier to market towards more individuals with lower income and those that can see the greatest monetary and financial benefits from cryptocurrencies.

Credit and Debit Cards Raising Fees on Merchants, Highlights Comparative Advantage of Cryptocurrencies: Visa, Mastercard, and other debit/credit cards announced plans to raise fees that they charge merchants, which demonstrates the need for alternative payment solutions. Typically, merchants raise product prices 1%-2.5% to cover these fees and have totaled over $64 billion in 2018, rising 77% since 2012. Thus, merchants have started to push back with their recent lawsuit that awarded them over $6.2 billion for forcing them to pay swipe fees and not allowing them to suggest alternative payment methods.

Dash Media of the Week:

BlockTV Fireside Chat With Ryan Taylor: Ryan Taylor made an appearance on the cryptocurrency show to talk about Dash’s upcoming Evolution release, but also discussed how Dash is already achieving real world adoption as a digital currency despite the 2018 bear market. He also touched on Dash’s upcoming version 0.14 release that will feature ChainLocks to make Dash even more secure against 51% attacks than any other coin.

Isabel pays with Dash Digital Cash at Mazal Gourmet in Caracas, Venezuela: Come see Isabel purchase some delicious banana cake at Mazal Gourmet in Caracas, Venezuela. The purchase helps illustrate how Dash is giving Venezuelans the option of monetary and financial freedom at the 2,546 merchants that accept Dash in the country.

Dash Podcast Episode 92 with Rodrigo Ambrissi of Dash Brazil: This week, the three amigos chat with Rodrigo of Dash Brazil about his experiences of documenting Dash adoption throughout Latin America and what he believes is the best way to achieve even more adoption. They also chatted about his EletroPay POS device and how merchants need a reliable way to accept cryptocurrencies.

This week has brought plenty of amazing Dash developments and news that helps show how Dash is achieving its goals of becoming everyday digital cash. While the bear market is putting pressure on all coins, Dash is finding ways to innovate and stay lean to continue delivering results to consumers. Even more news is expected soon, so make sure to follow Dash News on all our social media outlets to get the breaking news first!