Dash was one of the main ‘altcoins’ created in 2014 after the success of major cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin in 2009. According to bitcoin.com, Dash is continuously climbing and reached the 9th position of the top ten currencies in the Volume Rankings Report of August 2018.

Image by Discover Dash, updated on September 3rd, 2018. Available: https://discoverdash.com/statistics/

Image by Discover Dash, updated on September 3rd, 2018. Available: https://discoverdash.com/statistics/

Image by Discover Dash, updated on September 3rd, 2018. Available: https://discoverdash.com/statistics/

Recently, Dash claimed that their coin was the most used cryptocurrency in Venezuela in day by day use, reaching a level that not even Bitcoin reached in the country.

Aspects leading to the current economic situation in Venezuela

The president Nicolás Maduro was elected after Hugo Chávez’s death in March 2013. The late Hugo Chávez started a political-strategic plan called “Bolivarian Revolution” in the 2000s, that imposed several foreigner and fiscal policies, followed by Maduro.

The nationalization of the main sectors of their economy, such as tourism, food, and energy, brought the reduction of productivity, aggravated by the fall in the price of oil barrels, main exportation product of the country. Oil is the main resource of Venezuela for purchasing materials for industries and basic products from abroad. The inflation in the country reached 68.5 %, the higher inflation in the world in 2013.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Venezuelan inflation until the end of 2018 is expected to reach 1 million percent a year . To fight back the hyperinflation rooted in the country, a new currency model was created in August of 2018.

The “Bolivar Soberano”( or “Sovereign Bolivar”) was created and pegged to the national oil-backed cryptocurrency Petro, an ERC-20 token launched in February of this year.

However, despite the hope for an economic growth and stability with the advent of the national crypto token, specialists are skeptical of the large-scale adoption, as the token is still backed by oil reserves, while the country is still lacking necessary supplies to maintain or increase the petroleum extraction. Hence, the implementation of the Petro currency remained insignificant.

Considering the traditional fiat system of governmental regulation failure, the role of cryptocurrencies took a special path in Venezuela. Particularly, the Dash is gaining attention.

How Dash was established as the most used cryptocurrency in Venezuela?

During the crisis, Bitcoin was being used in the country, but due to government regulations and the high transaction fees, merchants refrained from adopting the coin.

Dash entered the Venezuelan market in 2016, with low transaction fees and a system of fast confirmation that was better if compared to Bitcoin; soon, Dash became a huge success.

Furthermore, the Dash Core Group through the local Dash Caracas, invested in marketing and education, with seminars and other campaigns to educate general people and merchants about cryptocurrencies.

Through this design, the coin adoption increased rapidly, and nowadays more than 928 merchants accept Dash in Venezuela as payment. This number is nearly the number of traders Dash had in the entire world back in April.

Characteristics implemented by Dash

A solid network to finance projects

Dash has a 10% rate of the blocks rewards that it goes to a treasury fund, directing financial support to projects voted by master nodes. To become a master node, it is necessary to have at least 1,000 Dash available in their accounts. Once the requirement is fulfilled, master nodes operators will be able to vote on government, treasure and project decisions, an advantage that miners don’t have. This design allowed a network of stakeholders voting each month on how the funds will be managed.

Consequently, the Dash Core Group was able to invest their funding in promotional campaigns to raise general awareness of Dash in Venezuela, through billboard advertisements and sales representatives. Right after, Dash Caracas was in charge of educational programs and conferences in September 2017.

Investment in marketing

Considering the worldwide significance of Dash as a cryptocurrency, the coin is largely accepted in Venezuela. However, it is not in the rest of the world.

However, the crypto did reach this position by several marketing strategies associated with their funding treasury and projects. This marketing approach would not only allow educational conferences but also regular advertising such as ads in radio commercials, outdoors, and internet advertisement.

Dash billboard — Photo by Ryan Taylor/Dash Core Group

Billboard display - Photo by Ryan Taylor/Dash Core Group

As a consequence, the general awareness of what was the Dash coin associated with the benefits its use would bring to locals, the coin started to be accepted by merchants.

A Subway branch accepting Dash as payment - Photo by Dash Core Group

Dash has a supporting center in Venezuela and other community programs

As a successful outcome of the funding treasury and projects votes, the Dash community approved the funds and the launch of the Dash Help Venezuela, a support center of the cryptocurrency through different social-medias and messengers.

The organization provides easy channels to communicate with public interested or doubts, such as phone, live chats or any convenient method. They also provide a glossary of English terms translated into the official language (Spanish) to allow any person to understand.

Shortening the gap between the public and the complicated world of cryptocurrencies was a great advance to build confidence in the currency and adopted by merchants in a growing proportion.

This methodology, associated with the general lack of confidence in the government, encouraged the use of Dash in the country.

Conclusion

The success of Dash was observed by a group of interconnected aspects, such as government policies favoring high inflation, the high price of bitcoin fees and speed of transactions.

Not only, the structural architecture of the Dash network involves votes and projects created by the master nodes. The funding of massive marketing and support to public by those projects, as well as educative programs, were the main reason of the successful outcome of Dash in Venezuela.