Any altcoin ecosystem undergoes changes and improvements. One currency often overlooked is dash.

Despite focusing on privacy and payments, it appears that this altcoin isn’t getting too much love. The string of recent developments might may people rethink their position, however.

Demelza Hays is on Board

Running a cryptocurrency on the scale of dash is no easy feat. Attracting the right members to strengthen the team’s vision is crucial. Filling the role of Fund Manager for the Dash Investment Foundation is Demelza Hays. She is on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in European finance, making her a very prominent addition to this altcoin’s ecosystem.

Hays’ job primarily consists of managing funds for the Dash Investment Foundation. There is still plenty of work to be done for this altcoin. Allocating the funds properly and outlining the upcoming activities will prove crucial. Unlike other ecosystems, the DIF derives a reserve of assets from the protocol itself.

RightBTC and Dash Next

One of the dash-oriented initiatives to pay attention to is Dash next. It is designed to drive merchant and consumer activation, as well as partnerships across Asia. One core partnership has been forged already. Dash next has successfully partnered RightBTC, a South Korean cryptocurrency trading platform.

As part of the agreement, RightBTC added two trading markets. Users can exchange this altcoin for bitcoin and USDT on the platform. RightbTC is one of the top 25 exchanges based on overall market liquidity.

Bullish Santiment Sentiment

In a perfect world, altcoins no longer derive value from bitcoin’s momentum. Very few currencies effectively succeed in ever doing so. According to Santiment, dash is one of the few to begin decoupling itself from bitcoin.

$DASH @Dashpay has started to decouple from @Bitcoin and has seen its price rise 6% in the last couple hours. According to our development activity tracking, its Github submission rate also peaked at a 3-month high shortly before the spike. Check us out! https://t.co/C30goBmiL3 pic.twitter.com/gCqd2TecHW — Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 4, 2020

There also appears to be an abundance of GitHub activity for the altcoin. That in itself is often a very healthy sign. While not an official indicator of market value, this statistic often tells a big part of any project’s story.

Burger King in Venezuela

The biggest news this week is the achievement by Cryptobuyer. This cryptocurrency company struck a deal with Burger King in Venezuela. The fast food giant will trial cryptocurrency payments in the Sambil Caracas shopping mall. Eventually, crypto payments should come to all of its locations across the country.

What makes this announcement special is how dash is the first supported currency. Over time, additional currencies, such as bitcoin and litecoin, will be supported as well. Being the exclusive payment option for this new system is a pretty big deal. It also validates the team’s efforts to venture into the payments sector.

Dash Platform Testnet

A lot of work is taking place behind the scenes. Core Group developers confirmed they are in the process of publicly testing the Dash Platform. This upcoming upgrade will introduce DApp support and lay the foundation for a new type of cryptocurrency wallet.

Furthermore, the upgrade will act as a decentralized storage layer and name service. This will make it easier for users to create readable wallet usernames. Data contracts can be utilized through a decentralized API to store identities, names, and other metadata.

JP Buntinx JP Buntinx is passionate about cryptocurrencies, fintech, blockchain, and finance. He currently resides in Belgium. See author's posts