At the moment, cryptocurrencies are extremely popular.
Everywhere, you see headlines with impressive thousand percent gains for “coins” like bitcoin. However, what makes them valuable? Have you ever used bitcoin?
The fact is that it isn’t currently feasible, primarily because of how long it takes to complete a transaction. But there are other coins out there that are posing as serious contenders to unseat bitcoin as the No. 1 cryptocurrency.
There is a lot to learn about the complexities of cryptocurrencies, but the focus of this article is on finding an investment opportunity rather than delving into their underlying mathematics.
A Bubble in Bitcoin?
One thing that’s important to know is the concept of “mining.” Cryptocurrencies are built on top of this. New bitcoins are created in this manner.
In simple terms, the “miner,” through special software, solves a complex math problem and is rewarded with new bitcoins as a result. The transaction is then recorded in the blockchain, making the new bitcoins available for use.
As more bitcoins are in use, mining them becomes more difficult, time-consuming, and less profitable. The final bitcoin won’t be created until 2140, despite the fact that about 80% of the total supply is currently in use.
As the majority of people are now aware, this year has seen a huge rally in the price of bitcoin. Since it has increased by about 1,200% in the last year, many people believe it to be in a bubble.
Over $150 billion worth of bitcoins are currently in existence. Bitcoin would rank among the top 50 largest companies in the US if it were a corporation.
Personally, I think that the only reason bitcoin is worth so much more than any other cryptocurrency is because it was the first to gain acceptance in the general public. But even so, that’s significant. It at least gives other coin creators something to get better at.
There are many other cryptocurrencies available, which is good news if you feel like you missed the boat with bitcoin. There are scams, of course, but there are also opportunities.
Dash is one of the ones that I think has genuine, useful applications.
Dash: Digital Cash
In terms of convenience, Dash is a leader in the industry. Currently, the average time for a bitcoin transaction is between 10 and 1 hour. Dash aims to become the leading cryptocurrency with instant (less than one second) transfers between parties, making it much more useful for online and in-person purchases.
The Dash DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) receives 10% of the newly mined coins, which is one of its most appealing features. The DAO is, to put it simply, Dash’s bank account. That is $4 million per month that it can use, given the current price of more than $600 per coin.
Knowing that no other coin has this kind of ongoing funding is crucial. The Dash DAO will use this funding to create and promote the cryptocurrency.
Additionally, anyone can submit a project idea to raise the value of Dash. Following that, thousands of Dash developers vote on the project. An illustration would be collaborating with retailers to make Dash a workable method of purchasing their goods.
It goes without saying that these developers profit from Dash, so anything that advances and advertises the digital currency will be appealing.
Due to better funding and marketing, the value of the currency increases, which allows the DAO to increase its marketing efforts for Dash.
A Breakthrough for Dash
Currently, Dash can be used to make purchases at more than 300 real-world retailers and more than 100 online merchants. But the marijuana industry might provide the solution.
Currently, banks are not permitted to handle any marijuana-related transactions; all payments must be made in cash. Even the proceeds of their sales cannot be deposited in a bank by vendors.
These businesses must pay for the storage and transportation of cash on top of the risk of robbery that this poses. That adds up quickly.
For these vendors, being able to use Dash would be crucial. The price of Dash would benefit greatly as well.
The good news is that it has already begun to move in the right direction. In April, Dash teamed up with Alt Thirty Six, a digital payment platform that has agreements with some of the top dispensary business management software providers in the nation.
For hundreds of dispensaries and delivery services, these software companies keep track of transactions. Dash users therefore have a huge variety of ways to use the currency at their disposal.
Dash’s price has increased by 118% since it was made available as a payment option on Alt Thirty Six on October 11. That won’t happen for another month and a half.
Just the Beginning
In my opinion, Dash still has a lot of room to grow in the future with a market cap of only $4.8 billion as opposed to bitcoin’s $156 billion.
Dash is just getting started, but it’s a great start. Around $7 billion in legal sales were made in 2016. On the black market, another $46 billion is thought to have been traded.
And that legal amount is anticipated to be $23 billion by 2021 and $50 billion by 2026 as more stores open and marijuana is legalized in more states.
Once more, Dash is only at the start of his journey. It has an advantage over other cryptocurrencies like bitcoin because of its special instant transaction feature, which makes it an attractive cash substitute.