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Kripto Mobile, which sells Dash-enabled smartphones, announced selling 66,000+ KRIP phones, along with a partnership with Dash Text for the KRIP K1 phone and the integration of the DiscoverDash.com app into their smartphones.

66,000 @KriptoMobile phones sold to retailers as Dash continues to dominate in LATAM. Expanding our partnership to include @Dash_Text and @DiscoverDash apps to bring #Dash to more people and make it easier to spend within the ecosystem https://t.co/slxDOG2qGR #Crypto #Venezuela — DASH (@Dashpay) December 18, 2018

“Our focus since the launch of our KRIP phones in August has been to make this incredible Dash ecosystem as complete and inclusive as possible”

The numbers come after 2.5 months of sales, which average around 26,500 phones per month, with 53,000 phones going to Venezuela specifically. Bradley Zastrow, Dash Core Group’s Global Head of Business Development discussed how these recent developments are “enhancing the user experience [and] making it easier than ever before for the Venezuela community to use and transact in Dash in their everyday lives.”

The Dash ecosystem becomes even more expansive with the Dash Text incorporation to cover the 59% of Venezuelans that do not have smartphones. The KRIP K1 phone will now be available at an even more affordable price and Dash will also give 1,500 K1 owners some free Dash to get started within the ecosystem.

Super Partnership! We are excited with this new alliance between Dash Text and @KriptoMobile 🙌 #EnablingDashToTheMasses pic.twitter.com/7Fm7qOtram — Dash Text (@dash_text) December 18, 2018

“The results to date have been exceptional, and we’re thrilled to now build on that success by expanding to now include Dash Text and DiscoverDash.com. What makes the KRIP phone so extraordinary, beyond its affordable price, is that it makes the road to mainstream adoption for cryptocurrencies like Dash much more accessible and attainable. These phones provide users around Latin America with an affordable way to acquire and use cryptocurrency for everyday transactions, like buying groceries or sharing money with family. Dash’s InstantSend feature and low transaction costs makes using cryptocurrency easy and efficient for users, and will help build momentum for cryptocurrency as a viable and stable alternative method of payment. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Dash as we build this ecosystem and see the incredible payments transition period throughout all of Latin America.”

The DiscoverDash.com app will now allow smartphone users to easily find where to spend their Dash, either online or in-store. KRIP Marketing Manager for Venezuela, Andrea Coll, highly praised the successful partnership and looks forward to more achievements in the future.

Dash and KRIP phones create an all-inclusive package

As Bradley eluded to in the press release and detailed more in his blog post, Dash has worked hard to make the consumer and merchant on-boarding process to cryptocurrency as easy as possible by eliminating adoption barriers. This has been done via exchange integrations for fiat on-ramps, wallets for easy storage, and merchants for spending on-ramps.

“Adoption can only be achieved through building the right payment foundation that is communicated in a meaningful way to a diverse set of users with different needs. Breaking down how money is used today, the most essential components are no different than what’s required of cryptocurrency. Therefore, the foundation for building a Dash-focused ecosystem rests in our ability to address the following: Ability to easily acquire Dash

to easily acquire Dash Store Dash securely

Dash securely Transact with Dash easily These three components need to be addressed simultaneously as this creates the conditions for a positive feedback loop to exist; no single element is sufficient in isolation.”

Bradley also emphasized that “the cryptocurrency market is stuck in an ‘If you build it, they will come’ mentality”, but having a great product/service does not necessarily mean people will use the product/service. Recognizing switching costs and catering to the consumers’ desires, known or unknown, is what motivates individuals to use a product/service.

Another successful day supporting customers with their first Krip phone, redeeming their paper wallets and teaching them all about Dash! @KriptoMobile @Dashpay pic.twitter.com/pqNvKh2CjS — Dash Merchant - Venezuela (@dashmerchant) December 16, 2018

The partnership with KRIP phones, which come pre-loaded with key Dash apps, such as Uphold for purchasing, the Dash wallet for storage, and Bitrefill for easy spending allows this all-inclusive crypto package to easily be given to customers. The integration of the DiscoverDash.com app will now allow consumers to conveniently locate one of the 2,500+ merchants in Venezuela or 4,400+ merchants around the world. Dash Text also ensures that a majority of individuals that do not use smartphones are not left behind and are also able to participate in the evolution of digital cash. Additionally, support teams like Dash Merchant – Venezuela and Dash Help have been able to ensure that the consumer on-boarding process is as seamless as possible to gain and maintain Dash users.

Dash is committed to growth to assist individuals



First time Dash wallet downloads in Venezuela increased by 23% for September and October from July and August and individuals retaining the wallet after 15 days had a net increase by 14%. Since the KRIP partnership in August, transaction and volume traffic to Bitrefill from Venezuela more than doubled and Uphold also saw payment volume from Venezuela increase by the low double digits. While there was only a 21% spend rate of Dash paper wallets included in phone purchases, the integration of the DiscoverDash.com app is projected to help increase this metric by better informing consumers of where Dash is accepted. Further, wallet downloads and net retention for neighboring Colombia, where many Venezuelans are immigrating to, has also been increasing. This corresponds with Dash Colombia implementing their own unique merchant-centric growth strategy, which has seen 300+ merchants adopt Dash in a few short months.

All sides are looking forward to enhancing and expanding the Dash ecosystem with new integrations and further market reach. As the network expands, users, businesses, and developers will be able to benefit from enhanced network effects. Dash and Kripto Mobile are achieving some of cryptocurrency’s original goals by enabling Venezuelans to escape 1.37 million percent annual inflation, which is predicted to get worse in 2019.