Now that Bitcoin prices are rounding the corner on $8,000, it is hard to imagine that any currency can replace it on the world stage. However, there are 1,000 hyenas nipping at Bitcoin’s heels—and Dash is leading the pack. No wonder its price exploded 4,938% in 2017.

With that insanely profitable number in mind, we have compiled a report on the Dash cryptocurrency. It will provide you with a basic understanding of Dash, as well as some insight as to where this explosive currency is headed in 2018.

This report contains a complete overview of Dash, including:

A subsection on Dash vs. Bitcoin

Dash and Bitcoin price history

How to buy Dash coins

How to choose a Dash coin wallet

A Dash price prediction for 2018

But before we get too deep into the weeds, let’s start at the very beginning…




What Is Dash?

Dash is a decentralized cryptocurrency, much like Bitcoin and Litecoin. The first thing to know, though, is the difference between Dashcoin and Dash. Investors often confuse the two, because the names are so similar.

But when you dig beneath the surface, these two currencies have almost nothing in common.

Dashcoin—traded under the symbol “DSH”—has a market cap of near $543,724 and investors only swap around $2,850 worth of it every day. In other words, Dashcoin is a no-name cryptocurrency.

Dash, on the other hand, rolls with the big boys like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin. It trades under the symbol “DASH,” costs about $558.65 per DASH token, and has a market cap of $4.8 billion.

Put another way, Dash is to Dashcoin what the National Football League is to the Canadian Football League. As a result, we at Profit Confidential are only concerned with Dash, because it could replace Bitcoin in the future. The near future.

Here’s why.

Dash vs Bitcoin: The Difference

Dash and Bitcoin are both decentralized cryptocurrencies, but that doesn’t mean the two are identical. There are subtle nuances that affect the speed of transactions, payments costs, and privacy.

For example, here are three major differences between Dash and Bitcoin:

Dash owns itself. If money is influence, then Bitcoin is steered by a lot of competing forces, including MIT Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative; Blockstream; Chaincode Labs Inc.; Ciphrex; the Chinese exchange, BTCC; and others. By contrast, Dash is an independent entity that funds itself. A certain amount of Dash is unlocked each year to pay for the development team and masternodes, though masternodes must keep a minimum of 1,000 DASH coins in their accounts in order to keep their voting power. Dash has (much) lower fees than Bitcoin. Obviously, you can reduce your Bitcoin transaction cost by extending your time preference, but it might take days to process your transaction. Dash is much faster, and cheaper.

Dash offers greater privacy than Bitcoin. Using a feature called “PrivateSend,” Dash users can encrypt their transactions with an additional layer of secrecy. This feature is optional, which is a nice touch given the rampant state surveillance of a post-9/11 world. Bitcoin has no such feature. Dash has an active, functional community. If you follow crypto news at all, you’ll know that Bitcoin has had several “forks” this year. This is because various groups within the Bitcoin community disagree on how best to reduce transaction costs and processing times. Every time there is a dispute, Bitcoin is at risk of being torn apart. Dash, on the other hand, has a voting system where its masternodes can resolve disputes. This helps the currency achieve a smooth and successful scaling process.

Some of you may be thinking, “Okay, if Dash is so great, how come Bitcoin’s market cap is about 32-times bigger?”

That’s a reasonable question. And I have no great answer for it, except to say that humans are irrational. We are more likely to pick up brand names we know than ones we don’t. And digital currencies are no different in this respect.

Put another way, Bitcoin is better known than Dash. That helped it in the early years of cryptocurrencies, but sooner or later, money finds its level at truth (at least in most cases).

Over time, consumers who want to use cryptocurrencies for daily use could switch to Dash for its faster transaction times and greater privacy. The result: Dash prices could soar. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean Bitcoin prices will crash.

BTC behaves more like a digital version of gold—an asset that cryptocurrency investors can flock to in times of trouble—than it does a digital currency.

Dash Price Chart: A Closer Look

Now let’s zoom out to the 10,000-foot perspective. How does the Dash price chart look compared to the Bitcoin price chart? Here’s the Bitcoin chart:

As you can see, the trend lines look pretty good. Despite tons of obstacles and negative press, BTC prices advanced 756% since the start of 2017.

However, here’s the Dash price chart:

Dash prices grew 4,938% in 2017. The trend lines aren’t as smooth as Bitcoin’s, but they are steep. And that is exactly what you want to see on these kinds of charts (so long as the line is moving “up and to the right”).

It bodes extremely well for our Dash price forecast for 2018.

How to Buy Dash Coins

There are three ways to purchase Dash coins.

Through a regular cryptocurrency exchange. In the same way that you can buy Bitcoin or Ethereum on Coinbase, you can find exchanges that trade DASH to USD pairs. Here’s a list that includes some, though not all, exchanges that trade Dash: Poloniex

Bittrex

Bitfinex

Kraken Through an instant exchange. These exchanges are meant for uber-casual traders that are hesitant about creating an account. Instant exchanges enable them to trade anonymously, though there might be restrictions on how much they can trade. Directly from someone else. Peer-to-peer transactions are far less common than those conducted on exchanges, but they allow users to haggle over the price. After hammering out an agreement, the buyer can put money into an escrow account that will only unlock after the coins are transferred. This prevents cheating. Below are some of the leading direct purchase websites: Changelly

WeSellCrypto

BitPanda

WallofCoins

In this writer’s humble opinion, the first option is the best. Exchanges are user-friendly and liquid, meaning that you’ll be able to sell your holdings whenever you want to (barring exceptional circumstances, of course).

How to Choose a Dash Coin Wallet

At present, the cryptocurrency market is untamed by regulation. This will eventually change, but until then, investors should understand that they are operating in the Wild West. Security is of paramount importance.

As such, we have compiled a list of ways to protect yourself. Follow the links for further instructions on how to download and install each wallet.

DashCore: This desktop Dash coin wallet is available for “Linux,” “Raspberry Pi,” and “Windows.” Fair warning, though, it will force you to download the entire Dash blockchain each time you open the program, which will take several hours. But you will have access to the PrivateSend and “InstantSend” features, both of which are important security features for the safety-conscious investor. ElectrumWallet: Lightweight wallets can help users pressed for time since these wallets do not need to download the entire blockchain. Electrum is one such example. Although external servers are used to host the blockchain, DASH transactions are still confirmed on the network via a technique called Secure Payment Verification (SPV). PrivateSend and InstantSend are not compatible with this Dash coin wallet. Mobile Wallets: Users that want to send Dash from their smartphone can use either an “Android” wallet or an “iPhone” wallet, depending on the make of their device. InstantSend works with both of these wallets. Hardware Wallets: If you feel more comfortable with an analog device holding your money, then try out one of these hardware wallets: “TREZOR,” “KeepKey,” “Ledger.”

There are other options, such as paper wallets and third-party wallets, but the above options should be enough to get you started with Dash.

Dash Coin Mining: How to Get Started

“Mining” is typically associated with picks, shovels, and some sort of precious metal. But cryptocurrencies give new definition to the word.

You can “mine” Dash coins by dedicating a computer to the network that runs the Dash blockchain.

The computer will solve complex mathematical puzzles that are necessary to validate transactions. In exchange for this service, the owner of the computer is awarded some amount of Dash coin.

The simplest way to start Dash coin mining is through CPU mining. This enables your computer (likely the one on which you are reading this article) to start solving those puzzles almost immediately.

Your inputs are the computer and the electricity costs, your reward is Dash.

There are several other ways of Dash coin mining, including:

GPUs are more powerful and dynamic than CPUs, making them more economical in most situations. And ASIC mining rigs are even better. They often run CPU and GPUs out of the market, but their downside is that they can be quite expensive.

Dash Price Prediction 2018

As previously stated, Dash has had an improbable run this year. It rose from just $11.21 to $578.85, at the time of writing. We believe there is still much more upside potential for this currency, particularly as it attracts the attention of Wall Street.

To be sure, we could see Dash price growth decelerate, but that is only a testament to the success of its 2017 rally. Just because its incline in 2018 is likely to be shallower doesn’t mean that its growth has stalled. We still see triple-digit upside in Dash’s future.

Analyst Take:

As such, we are initiating a $2,500 Dash price prediction for 2018.