Cryptocurrency has taken the financial world by storm with its innovative features and huge profit potential. It has assuaged the thirst people had for a cash system that is perfect for the digital era. Ethereum and Bitcoin have been a mainstay in the crypto market, with Bitcoin creating quite a stir with its rising prices and the recent “hard-fork.”

Meanwhile Dash, the latest cryptocurrency on the block, is creating quite a stir of its own with its promise of anonymity and security.

Is the hype surrounding Dash true? Let us have a closer look at the cryptocurrency and its promising potential.

Origins of Dash

Kyle Hagan and Evan Duffield are behind the creation of Dash.

The private cryptocurrency uses the blockchain database to coordinate value updates among untrusted individuals.

Initially, when it was introduced in 2014, the coin was referred to as Xcoin which was later changed to Darkcoin and then to the present name, Dash (DASH is the trading symbol for the coin).

However Dash and DashCoin are different entities and should not be confused (DashCoin is traded as DSH and is a cryptonote with different mining methods and functions).

Although not yet fully embraced by retailers, Dash still lures people because of its high selling points. The focus on increased anonymity is a huge advantage that many cryptocurrency enthusiasts would welcome, as lack of anonymity has been a big contention point among users.

Evan Duffield is developing the new currency, actively tweaking it to meet user requirements. Dash aims to usurp the dominance held by other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum.

With the value of Dash being the highest now and the fact that a decentralized community controls it, it looks like the currency will certainly hold its own in the highly segmented market.

What makes Dash unique?

With Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies already having a popular following, it takes really innovative features for any new cryptocurrency to hold its own. Dash manages it effortlessly. It utilizes technology to the maximum resulting in highly innovative features. Here are few important feature highlights of Dash:

Privacy focused transactions;

Instant payments;

Controlled by user community;

Sustainable and self-funding design.

The cryptocurrency is open-source and private currency boasting of instant transactions. Your finances will be kept private while you perform the transactions and there is no waiting time just like when you make cash transactions.

Anonymity is provided by system features like multiple rounds of mixing, “Masternode” monitoring and the absence of a ledger system available to the public.

Transactions done cannot be traced back to the users as exclusive computers named “Masternodes” are used for collection and execution of multiple transactions simultaneously. Thus, the buyer and seller cannot be identified.

All the above measures make it really hard for any third party looking to calculate your assets or evaluate your transactions. Although no system is immune to attackers with technically replete resources, Dash ranks high in the privacy factor among cryptocurrencies in use now.

Energy efficient X11 algorithm

As opposed to algorithms such as SHA 256 and Scrypt, used by cryptocurrencies now, Dash uses X11; this algorithm is unique because of its potential to empower users with weak hardware to verify transactions and mine Dash coins.

At a time when expensive and custom hardware rules the roost among coin miners and users, Dash strives to be more simplistic.

For instance, X11 consumes less power and does not demand much from its hardware, making it the most energy efficient cryptocurrency substitute now.

Will users benefit from this new currency?

It is natural for users to look at Dash with suspicion and question its advantages over Bitcoin which has been here longer and more stable. Dash has several positive points in its favor that can very well make it a highly dominant currency in future.

Active community

The community is a democratic one that envisions a globally used and accepted monetary system. While some members are looking solely for the profit potential, others participate for ethical and sociopolitical reasons.

Powerful marketing

The high value, treasury system and expert marketing team present in-house make way for a powerful marketing campaign. Since developers and users are behind the promotion, there is less of a conflict that you see with SegWit and Bitcoin miners. More stability and focus are thus present enabling better value for the system.

Promising stats

The price of Dash has been rising steadily in the past few weeks – it is priced at $285 as of October 10, 2017. This is indeed a significant spike in the price of Dash, which stood at $46 a few months back. The low fees, inbuilt tumbler, fast confirmation and Masternodes governance are responsible for this increase.

What are the exchanges that Dash is traded on?

At present more than 30 exchanges allow Dash trading. Dash wallets can be purchased from the Dash official website so users can easily store and use the currency. Keepkey and Trezor have included Dash compatibility to their wallets as well. Exchanges like CEX.IO have added the coin for trading.

CEX.IO, is a UK based exchange dealing with alt-coin and Bitcoin, known for its safety, user-friendly platform and legal compliance standards. It has started Dash trading from September 24.

CEX.IO users can trade the alt-coin with fiat currencies like USD, GBP and EUR and with Bitcoin at present.

Vitaliy Kedyk the executive director of the UK division has said: “Dash and CEX.IO have much in common. Both aim at a massive contribution to crypto adoption. So, it was only a matter of time before we joined forces and implemented Dash trading on our platform.”

While Dash does have its share of drawbacks like DDoS attack susceptibility, fewer transactions as compared to other cryptocurrencies and stiff competition from other cryptocurrencies, its advantages tip the scales in its favor.

With more and more reputed exchanges like CEX.IO starting to trade the alt-coin, it is definitely a high potential investment for users.

Despite being a speculative asset, which is still in the development stage, Dash has rallied well against other cryptocurrencies in recent months making it user-friendly and profitable investment.

* Mary Ann Callahan is an expert on Bitcoin-related topics, and has found herself as a journalist at Cex.io – cryptocurrency exchange. She’s working on articles related to blockchain security, Bitcoin purchase guides, or Bitcoin regulations in different countries.