The Jonathan LeVine Gallery, a fine art gallery in New York City that already accepts bitcoin for online art purchases, has begun accepting Dash, a cryptocurrency formerly known as Darkcoin. The move builds on the establishment’s reputation for being at the forefront of the cryptocurrency movement, so its clients have the best payment options available, according to Danielle Link, the gallery’s spokesperson.

“Accepting Dash will open us up to new markets, specifically to those who have cryptocurrency and are searching for places to spend it,” Link told CCN.com. “It is also the wave of the future and we want to be ahead of the game.”

The website uses the CoinPayments payment gateway for online cryptocurrency payments.

The gallery converts all bitcoin payments into Dash, Link said. It will consider accepting other cryptocurrencies if customers request it.

Gallery Helps Customers Set Up Wallets

Customers who want to pay with bitcoin or Dash in the gallery but don’t have the proper wallets are assisted in doing so. The Dash Core wallet is based on the Bitcoin Core QT wallet.

“Offering various payment options is always a good thing, and we are excited to educate those not familiar with this method,” Link said. “Many of our existing customers may not be familiar with Dash per se, but are becoming increasingly interested in the use of cryptocurrency in general.”

“Jonathan LeVine Gallery is synonymous with the cutting edge, regarding both the art we exhibit and our business practices,” Link added. “Jonathan was one of the first gallerists to begin selling fine art online; he similarly wants the gallery to be at the forefront of the cryptocurrency movement, so our clients have best payment options available to them.”

Future Uses For Crypto Coming?

Aside from accepting Dash and bitcoin payments from customers, the gallery is also considering paying its international artists with Dash. “We are open to use it in any and all ways as it becomes more commonly used,” Link said.

Node40, an Albany, N.Y. startup that is the premier Dash masternode hosting company, assisted the gallery in setting up a Dash digital wallet. Node40 also helped to integrate CoinPayments with the gallery’s Shopify site at https://shop.jonathanlevinegallery.com/.

Also read: Art Exhibition In Poland To Exclusively Accept Bitcoin As Payment

Dash as a Bitcoin Alternative

Dash was designed to offer more privacy to users than bitcoin. The Dash website notes that bitcoin transactions are published to the block chain “and you can prove who made them or to whom.” With Dash, the anonymization technology makes it impossible to trace the transactions.

This is important because the block chain is accessible to anyone with an internet connection – a significant drawback for those don’t wish their transaction history and balances to be publicly available. Dash does this through a mixing protocol utilizing an innovative decentralized network of servers called Masternodes, avoiding the need for a trusted third party that could compromise the integrity of the system.

Perry Woodin founded Node40 to remove technological hurdles in setting up Dash masternodes and giving users the opportunity to turn their Dash investment into a revenue stream. For information about Node40, visit node40.com. For information about Dash, visit www.dashpay.io.

Dash has a market cap of $19,672,432, a 24-hour volume of $87,235 and an available supply of 5,582,606, according to coinmarketcap.com as of July 17, 2015.