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Dash deposits have been added to Coinbase Pro, which recognizes them as confirmed and secure after two confirmations, or 12 times faster than Bitcoin.

Our DASH/USD and DASH/BTC order books will soon enter transfer-only mode, accepting inbound transfers of DASH in supported regions. Orders cannot be placed or filled. Order book will be in transfer-only mode for a minimum of 12 hours. https://t.co/GsOi6nMMjf — Coinbase Pro (@CoinbasePro) September 16, 2019

Announced last week, Coinbase Pro, the major US-based cryptocurrency exchange behind the popular app Coinbase, has enabled Dash deposits and withdrawals, with trading set to begin this week once enough liquidity has been established. Most notably, Dash deposits to the platform are accepted after only two blockchain confirmations, significantly fewer than what the platform requires of other competing cryptocurrencies. This is likely due to the recent activation of ChainLocks, a method to protect the network against 51% attacks.

This acceptance of Dash after only two confirmations means that Dash deposits are considered as secure by the platform far faster than Bitcoin. Coinbase currently requires six confirmations for a Bitcoin transaction to be considered as confirmed, which under the network’s 10-minute block time interval consists of about a 60-minute delay, possibly more during times of significant network congestion. Dash has a 2.5-minute block interval, meaning for a Dash transaction to be considered confirmed Coinbase requires roughly a five-minute wait. Put head-to-head, this means a Dash deposit will be confirmed over 12 times faster than a Bitcoin transaction.

Exchanges and other similar services typically require confirmations for deposits to be accepted in order to prevent a double-spend from happening, where a transaction is broadcast to two separate addresses, while only one can be settled with finality. Requiring a high number of confirmations, rather than protecting against simple double-spends, is meant to prevent chain reorganizations resulting from 51% mining attacks. Requiring fewer confirmations on an exchange means that the exchange considers the network to be more secure against attack. Dash’s low confirmation requirement indicates that Coinbase has recognized ChainLocks and its ability to secure the network.

Thanks to Chainlocks, it looks like only two confirmations required for deposit processing on Dash deposits. Nice! https://t.co/bzIN7AtA21 pic.twitter.com/97cwyXCAif — Ryan Taylor (@RTaylor05) September 16, 2019

Dash’s speed-to-security far surpasses most competitors

Since early after its inception, Dash has featured one of the fastest confirmation times because of InstantSend transaction locking, rendering a payment secure at a basic level instantly, offering a significant improvement in the immediate security of a transaction over that of Bitcoin, Litecoin, or other similar competitor. In terms of long-term security, however, Bitcoin long held a higher position due to a higher overall network hashrate. This led to comparisons between speed to a basic level of security and speed to higher levels of security, with Dash arguably winning the former and Bitcoin arguably winning the later. Since the establishment of ChainLocks, however, Dash may have taken the lead in both of those categories now, particularly since Dash’s security infrastructure is much more diversified geographically, and not heavily centralized in China such as that of Bitcoin.

When comparing to competitors other than Bitcoin as far as Coinbase confirmation times, Dash fares even better. For Bitcoin Cash, a frequent competitor in the payments space, 12 confirmations are required, or roughly two hours or 24 times longer than Dash, while Bitcoin SV requires 1,008, or a week’s worth of confirmations. Ethereum Classic, which itself suffered a 51% attack, requires 5,676.

In addition to solving network security, Dash’s ChainLocks has mitigated several smaller issues and inefficiencies including secret and selfish mining. This has led to recognition and acclaim outside of the Dash ecosystem. For example, notable cryptocurrency educator Andreas Antonopoulos praised ChainLocks as an innovative way of solving security issues when a network has a lower hashrate than that of Bitcoin.

BTC requires 6 confirms. I think it’s clear they consider Dash transactions secure much faster. Without ChainLocks, I don’t think that would be the case. — Ryan Taylor (@RTaylor05) September 16, 2019

Dash deposits are instantly-confirmed on a growing list of exchanges

In addition to Coinbase Pro requiring very few network confirmations, Dash is available to deposit even faster on a growing list of exchanges. To date, exchanges including 3xbit, Bitbns, Bvnex, DigiFinex, IDAX, Kraken, Okex, and PandaExchange all explicitly support InstantSend recognition for Dash deposits, as well as brokers Changelly, CoinCola, and Uphold. The addition of further exchanges and services solidifies Dash’s utility as a fast and efficient payment method, providing significant advantages over of cryptocurrencies without the same two-layer system as Dash with protection against both double-spends and 51% attacks, resulting in faster security both in a limited sense and long-term as well.