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Recently the Dash Core Group (DCG) held its quarterly recap conference call, which is included above. Here are my key takeaways from the call.

1: Dash Platform on Testnet Late 2019, DashPay Wide Release 2020, Other Technical News

Dash Platform, broadly known as Evolution, is slated for testnet by December. For technical reasons the platform will need to be released before DApps are released, including DashPay with blockchain usernames and contact lists. When Dash Platform is on testnet partners will be able to spin up their own devnet, test the testnet DashPay, build their own DApps on testnet, and register test identities using the DPNS (Dash Platform Naming Service). Proper documentation will be supplied for this. Wide DashPay release is expected for next year.

Version 0.14 is fully rolled out, with default InstantSend causing some masternodes to crash during recent apparent stress tests. Quorum flagging/banning implementations for malicious behavior appear to be successful.

Chained InstantSend is a prerequisite to making PrivateSend work on mobile devices, and now that it has been implemented it will become more doable to enable advanced privacy features to be added. However, even though this is a very important feature for the community it isn’t as high a priority as getting DashPay features out the door and isn’t on the immediate roadmap. The same is true for trustless masternode shares/savings accounts, which are still on the roadmap but not for some time, likely later than mobile PrivateSend.

2: Regulatory Objections Hindering Exchanges Addressed, Especially PrivateSend

Most DCG activity towards compliance etc. focused previously on defining Dash as not a security, and on PrivateSend education. The former seems to be laid to rest, DCG is now aggressively pursuing the latter. Dash maintains a commitment to privacy, but there is no good argument as to why it should legally be held to a higher standard than other coins. PrivateSend is identical to Bitcoin mixing, and DCG is coming up with a very aggressive messaging strategy for regulators to treat both networks the same, as well as explaining the legitimate reasons why you’d want privacy. To this end, Ryan released a post on PrivateSend and compliance.

eToro had issues with their regulator for listing Dash, but those concerns have subsided now that sufficient education has happened around PrivateSend. Coinbase has been clear in the past that saying they’re “exploring” means they want to put out a message to the coin’s development team to communicate with them, and DCG is actively doing this. It doesn’t, however, guarantee a listing, and may also represent a change in public communication after the Bitcoin Cash listing issues and accusations of insider trading.

3: Dash’s Focus on Gaming Platforms, Mexico Remittance Focus Expanded to All Latin America

Quite a few gaming platforms have listed Dash, with Dash being listed as the fastest deposit method on a surprisingly high number of them. Both of these come as a bit of a surprise, and Dash may see this as a strong emerging use case potentially above others.

DCG is expanding remittance approach from focusing mainly on the US-Mexico remittance corridor to approaching Latin America more broadly. This is because of the adoption gains in Venezuela and Colombia, making remittances easier since recipients can directly spend Dash rather than have to convert. Some key integrations, such as the Daexs exchange, have dual use cases for remittances for Venezuelans and Colombians.

Africa is a good opportunity as well, however DCG is stretched thin with only two business development employees, and remain Venezuela/LatAm-focused.

A strategy shift has occurred towards targeting larger/scale merchants that can onboard many businesses in one go over individual small merchants.

Alt36 is finishing up its live, invite-only beta, with a public release to be announced soon.

4: Marketing to Focus on Messaging, Details in the September Marketing Call

DCG Marketing will be focusing on messaging and Dash-controlled channels, then earned channels where they work with other partners. This will be elaborated on during the September marketing call, and DCG will lay out ways to empower the community to participate in driving marketing forward. No official Dash conference planned until the DashPay launch.

5: Finances

DCG has built back buffers and will submit a new multi-month proposal this week. DCG has also taken out loans in order to build up a credit score.