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It has been a very eventful week for Dash with plenty of news and network developments so make sure to continue reading to get a summary of the week.

Dash Network Developments of the Week:

My Big Takeaways from Dash Core Team Q2 2019 Conference Call: Joel summarizes his biggest impressions from this quarter’s Dash Core Team conference call. First, Dash Platform, a.k.a. Evolution, is planned for testnet release by December and this will enable developers to spin up their own devnet and start building DApps and register test identities with the DPNS (Dash Platform Naming Service). As a secondary technical goal, the team is also working on PrivateSend for mobile and trustless masternode shares/savings accounts. Dash Core Team will also begin focusing more on educating exchanges and regulators that Dash PrivateSend is no different, regulatory-wise, than mixing Bitcoin transactions and thus their is no valid reason to exclude Dash from services that Bitcoin has been integrated into. Dash has also seen significant progress with being integrated into gaming platforms and usage in the US-Mexico remittance corridor.

Ryan Taylor – Dash’s PrivateSend Identical to Bitcoin Coin Mixing: Ryan Taylor and the Dash Core Team released a detailed educational document that explains how Dash PrivateSend is no different than mixing Bitcoin transactions. The document aims to educate exchanges and regulators of these technical facts so there is no longer the incorrect assumption that Dash should be treated differently with integrations than Bitcoin. It also explains that cryptocurrency transaction privacy is needed for future growth since businesses and consumers currently demand financial privacy (e.g. how much you pay employees, what you charge others for services, what political parties you support, etc).

New Ecommerce Data: Dash Nearing Bitcoin As Top Cryptocurrency Payment Option: On travel website, Travala, Dash is the third most used coin, comprising 11% of payments, which is only behind the website’s native coin and Bitcoin and ahead of Ethereum and Litecoin. Then on Germany-based e-commerce retailer ShopinBit.de, Dash has become the second-most popular payment option on the platform, behind Bitcoin and ahead of Bitcoin Lightning and Bitcoin Cash. Despite Dash having a relatively smaller market cap than the top cryptocurrencies, Dash has consistently performed as a cryptocurrency used in actual transactions, as seen on the Cryptobuyer exchange and POS platform, SALT lending, AnyPay, and other platforms and merchants.

Dash Integrations of the Week:

SwapSpace Instant Cryptocurrency Exchange Marketplace Adds Dash: SwapSpace connects several instant swap exchange services, such as Changelly and Flyp.me, which allow the instant and seamless conversion from one cryptocurrency to another. This enables consumers to easily move between a large selection of cryptocurrencies without having to worry about creating accounts and KYC/AML verification or moving funds to platforms outside of their control. The integration will further help individuals live off cryptocurrency since they can now more easily move between cryptocurrencies that are not easily spendable in stores into Dash.

Cryptocurrency Exchange Bitoffer Adds Dash With InstantSend Support: BitOffer is available in over 100 countries and has over 100,000 users in total and will now be listing Dash with BTC, ETH, and USDT pairs, in addition to Dash deposits and withdrawals. Additionally, the exchange will be supporting InstantSend so the platform will recognize Dash’s transaction security within seconds, which is not only a big convenience for consumers, but also necessary for traders looking for arbitrage opportunities.

Mexican Exchange Cubobit Adds Dash Enabling Key Remittance Corridor: Cubobit is a Mexico-based cryptocurrency exchange that services Latin America with both cryptocurrency and fiat trading pairs. Among Dash’s trading pairs will be a direct pair with the Mexican peso, which will enable easier purchasing of Dash and further open up a key remittance corridor. The exchange joins a growing list of platforms in Latin America, such as Kamoney in Brazil, that enable more people to acquire and use Dash.

Dash Integration Updates of the Week:

Bitnovo Adds 2,000+ Stores in Portugal To Buy Dash, Facilitating Cryptocurrency Remittances: Bitnovo enables consumers to easily purchase cryptocurrency via vouchers bought in physical stores and redeemed online. Bitnovo previously integrated Dash last year and even forged a specific Dash Text partnership to further facilitate remittances to Latin America where a sizable majority (60% of Venezuelans and 59% of Colombians) do not own smartphones. They have now integrated their vouchers into over 2,000 stores in Portugal, which adds to their 30,000+ store total that spans across Spain, Italy, and France.

Cobo Wallet Operates 30 Pooled Dash Masternodes Boosting Network Decentralization: Cobo is a multi-cryptocurrency wallet that provides a single wallet solution for proof-of-stake, proof-of-work, and masternode rewards. Cobo previously integrated Dash and started hosting Dash masternodes last year and now hosts 30 Dash Masternodes. Combined with Crowdnode’s 23 pooled masternode service and Neptune Dash’s peak of 4 bring the total share of fractional masternodes to 1.15% of the entire masternode network.

Dash Core Group Project Updates of the Week:

Here’s an update from Liz Robuck, Chief Product Owner, of what’s going on at Dash Core Group this week.

👨‍🎨 The Dash Platform team deployed Query Syntax on the latest devnet, which will provide application developers with an easier way to request data from Drive. For example, this simplified query syntax will allow the DashPay app to more easily retrieve pending contact requests and user profile information, among other things. In addition, this change prevents against potential attacks whereby an attacker could flood DAPI with requests.

📱 DashPay implemented a story for Account Activity for when a transaction is received. Users will see activity on their home screen, and when a new transaction is received, a card will display showing the incoming transaction.

🍻 The ability to log out of Uphold was implemented on DashWallet (Android), along with a UI update for the entry screen when the app is freshly installed and a fix for a bug related to sweeping paper wallets.

Dash Community Outreach of the Week:

Dash Force Meetup Contest Winners – July 2019: In July, there were 65 wallets set up and 92 attendees at 5 Dash meetups held in in West Africa, Iran and Russia. Check out the article to see who won some Dash and find out how you can also win some Dash by hosting a local Dash meetup.

General News of the Week:

Leaked Developer Messages: “Litecoin Has Zero Active Development” As Dusting Attack Hits: Leaked messages from a Litecoin development chat show no evidence of active development of the coin and that they are struggling to find anyone technically competent that wants to work on the coin. This comes as Litecoin users are under dusting attack, which attempts to identify address ownership by sending many small “dust” transactions. The issue highlights the advantages of Dash both in its DAO treasury system to pay for developers and its active and motivated community.

New Goldman Sachs Apple Credit Card Bans Cryptocurrency Purchases: Apple is releasing a new credit card in a partnership with Goldman Sachs, but the terms of service reveal that it explicitly restricts cryptocurrencies and other cash alternatives. While the card is supposed to be innovative with no 16 digital card number nor CVV code, it reiterates previous examples that many banks, and even Apple with their app store, want to maintain the status quo and prevent the usage of cryptocurrencies.

Dash Media of the Week:

Dash News Video Recap – Cryptocurrency Payment Processors, Latin America Metrics, Blockchain Analysis & More!: If you missed any of last week’s Dash News, make sure to catch up with Heidi’s recap video.

Dash Podcast 116 – AMA with Joel & Mark & Thoughts on DCG Q2 Summary Call 2019: This week, Joel and Mark kick it old school by discussing between the two of them the Dash conference call, other recent news, and field your questions. They also talk about the upcoming Dash conference, which will be held during Dashtoberfest. Make sure to tune in to get this fun and insightful knowledge!

As seen above, this week has been a very eventful week for Dash developments and news! As Dash gets closer to the release of Dash Platform on testnet, expect more news and integrations so be sure to follow Dash News to get these updates!