thedesertlynx
Active member
As many of you are surely aware, Dash has had a rough few years, up until the last couple where Quantum and team managed to get development back on track and finally release Evolution. I've made good progress this year rebuilding our partnerships and getting our marketing ready to put us back on the map. However, even after Evolution actives, we can't rest. We have work to do.
The following is a path back to the top of the crypto market rankings where we belong, including current progress and actionable steps.
Fixing Dash's Identity Crisis
Dash is currently in a bit of an identity crisis, where we don't know exactly what we do or who we're for. In the Darkcoin days, it was simple: Dash was a privacy coin, perfect for cypherpunks and freedom advocates seeking radical financial sovereignty. With the rebrand to Dash, however, we pivoted to a more general-purpose digital cash for the masses. A big part of that was Evolution, and we've been so laser-focused on delivering it that we haven't focused on much else over the years.
Now, most of Dash's development and attention has focused on Evolution for the past 9 years, and we've built something that goes far beyond simple usability features for Dash. So now, Dash is sort of advanced data contract platform, sort of digital cash, and doesn't yet do either of them as well as the competition. Yes, moving forward Dash will have to be more than one thing, but with a common theme: you own your money, you own your data.
But first, we have to fix the payments side of things. Dash is in an awkward position where it's digital cash, but doesn't serve any customer particularly well.
There's two main payment customer types:
The second type is the "normie" user, someone new to crypto, wanting to save on fees and friction caused by banks, or unbanked/underbanked. This user type wants everything that Dash offers (speed, security, usability, low fees), except one thing: the ability to transact in a stable unit of account. They want to send digital payments denominated in dollars, euros, etc. We've seen Ethereum L2s, Tron, Solana, and other networks make significant inroads serving this user type.
Dash currently serves neither of these two main payment groups! We're not currently ideal or any payment market, so it isn't an understatement that the situation is critical for a payment coin. Two big steps we can do to remedy this:
Privacy Overhaul
In order to compete in the digital cash space, we need a privacy overhaul of some sort, particularly for the user experience to remove the need for (or dramatically speed up the process of) mixing. There are a few ways we can do this, and I'm currently engaging with a developer and Core to draft up DIPs so we can at least evaluate some of the options on the table, current research, difficulty and trade-offs vs. benefits of integrating into Dash, and so on.
Additionally, I have secured a verbal commitment from an external nonprofit to fund the development of privacy improvements on Dash. This means that we may very well be able to bring in new developers to bring extra functionality to the Dash network at little or no cost to the DAO, which is especially promising since this kind of development can otherwise prove costly.
One final side note: having more advanced privacy functions will likely be the base requirement before even competing in any segment of the payments space moving forward. Even PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin, one of the most mainstream and regulated payment products in the world (and one of the very few assets on the New York Department of Financial Services greenlist), actively promotes a privacy feature which hides amounts (page 8):
"Allows merchants to keep transaction amounts confidential for their consumers while maintaining visibility for regulatory purposes. This is not dissimilar from today’s commerce—for instance, you cannot see the financial statements of your neighborhood coffee shop just because you buy from the shop daily."
Stablecoins
In order to compete in the more normalized everyday commerce segments of the payments space, we need stablecoin support. We would probably need support for one or both of the top centralized stablecoins (USDC and USDT) in order to provide real payments utility for the unbanked, remittance users, etc.
In order to implement this, we would first need token support activated on Evolution, and then to work with issuing companies to get their stablecoin active on our network. I am already speaking to several major stablecoin issuers so that we can have our options on the table before the functionality is shipped.
Additionally, if we ever want a true decentralized stablecoin, we would probably need smart contracts. This may even be a requirement for some centralized stablecoin types.
Fixing Regulatory Issues
Dash has faced issues from regulators and their second-order effects over the years, and these have significantly held back Dash adoption as well as price. Some delistings are unavoidable for any project with a privacy reputation past or present, but other issues are definitely inside our control. We're actively working to address these blockages in Europe and the US.
BitLicense
The biggest issue is the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) BitLicense. NYDFS currently greenlists only a handful of assets that any New York-licensed company can support without explicit permission, and companies have to explicitly apply for permission to offer any other crypto asset to their customers. Dash is currently unavailable in New York. As a result, no New York-based company can support the buying and selling of Dash in New York. As a result, we've been blocked out of many crucial integrations int he US.
In order to solve this problem, all we need is for a BitLicensed exchange to self-certify that Dash is able to be used in a manner compliant with New York law, and that they wish to offer it to their customers. If successful, this would likely lead to Dash being easily available in the whole of New York, but even if not, a single exchange would be worth it.
I'm actively seeking conversations with the top BitLicensed exchanges to solve this issue. I have a few promising leads, but if anyone else has direct contacts that can lead to decision-makers at the major BitLicensed exchanges, I would appreciate any and every contact.
MiCA
European regulations concerning cryptocurrencies, in particular the usage of privacy coins, have kept Dash unavailable at a few different exchanges in a few select countries. This is a country-by-country issue, as some regulators interpret the regulations more strictly. Our ability to solve these issues is not guaranteed, however we can potentially convince key exchanges and regulators that Dash can be supported in a fully-compliant way.
I have engaged with a lawyer and we are ready to proceed with drawing up a legal opinion that we can then take to regulators and exchanges, however this is on pause for the moment until we tackle more pressing issues such as the BitLicense.
Completing Missing Integrations
We are also targeting several key integrations which would significantly boost Dash's utility and adoption. First would be a BitLicensed exchange to provide access to Dash for New York-based customers. A prerequisite of this would of course be successfully self-certifying that Dash is able to be listed in a compliant manner, and an exchange seeking to add Dash would do this. Coinbase, which already supports Dash in 49/50 states, could also do this. One of the major integrations we unlock once we attain this exchange is Flexa, a payment rail that allows crypto to be easily spent in thousands of merchants around the US. Flexa awarded a grant to Dash to integrate its SDK into the wallet, however Dash is unable to capitalize on this grant because of BitLicense-related issues. If we solve them, we get Flexa. In addition, other payment processors like BitPay could potentially list Dash easily as well at that point.
In Europe, CoinGate and Coinify are two of the major crypto payment processors, and both have removed Dash due to regulatory concerns. If we were to solve our issues in Europe, we could be re-listed, significantly increasing the number of Dash-accepting merchants. We could also get relisted on major European exchanges that have either removed Dash or never added it to begin with.
Finally, we are missing a couple of key integrations for Web3 services, namely the WalletConnect protocol and the CTRL (formerly XDEFI) wallet. Achieving Dash support in these would significantly facilitate our utility in DeFi front-ends such as those supporting the Maya Protocol, as well as many modern noncustodial payment processors. Thankfully, the Dash Incubator is already working on solving this.
(continued...)
The following is a path back to the top of the crypto market rankings where we belong, including current progress and actionable steps.
Fixing Dash's Identity Crisis
Dash is currently in a bit of an identity crisis, where we don't know exactly what we do or who we're for. In the Darkcoin days, it was simple: Dash was a privacy coin, perfect for cypherpunks and freedom advocates seeking radical financial sovereignty. With the rebrand to Dash, however, we pivoted to a more general-purpose digital cash for the masses. A big part of that was Evolution, and we've been so laser-focused on delivering it that we haven't focused on much else over the years.
Now, most of Dash's development and attention has focused on Evolution for the past 9 years, and we've built something that goes far beyond simple usability features for Dash. So now, Dash is sort of advanced data contract platform, sort of digital cash, and doesn't yet do either of them as well as the competition. Yes, moving forward Dash will have to be more than one thing, but with a common theme: you own your money, you own your data.
But first, we have to fix the payments side of things. Dash is in an awkward position where it's digital cash, but doesn't serve any customer particularly well.
There's two main payment customer types:
- "Freedom money" users
- Regular payment users
The second type is the "normie" user, someone new to crypto, wanting to save on fees and friction caused by banks, or unbanked/underbanked. This user type wants everything that Dash offers (speed, security, usability, low fees), except one thing: the ability to transact in a stable unit of account. They want to send digital payments denominated in dollars, euros, etc. We've seen Ethereum L2s, Tron, Solana, and other networks make significant inroads serving this user type.
Dash currently serves neither of these two main payment groups! We're not currently ideal or any payment market, so it isn't an understatement that the situation is critical for a payment coin. Two big steps we can do to remedy this:
Privacy Overhaul
In order to compete in the digital cash space, we need a privacy overhaul of some sort, particularly for the user experience to remove the need for (or dramatically speed up the process of) mixing. There are a few ways we can do this, and I'm currently engaging with a developer and Core to draft up DIPs so we can at least evaluate some of the options on the table, current research, difficulty and trade-offs vs. benefits of integrating into Dash, and so on.
Additionally, I have secured a verbal commitment from an external nonprofit to fund the development of privacy improvements on Dash. This means that we may very well be able to bring in new developers to bring extra functionality to the Dash network at little or no cost to the DAO, which is especially promising since this kind of development can otherwise prove costly.
One final side note: having more advanced privacy functions will likely be the base requirement before even competing in any segment of the payments space moving forward. Even PayPal's PYUSD stablecoin, one of the most mainstream and regulated payment products in the world (and one of the very few assets on the New York Department of Financial Services greenlist), actively promotes a privacy feature which hides amounts (page 8):
"Allows merchants to keep transaction amounts confidential for their consumers while maintaining visibility for regulatory purposes. This is not dissimilar from today’s commerce—for instance, you cannot see the financial statements of your neighborhood coffee shop just because you buy from the shop daily."
Stablecoins
In order to compete in the more normalized everyday commerce segments of the payments space, we need stablecoin support. We would probably need support for one or both of the top centralized stablecoins (USDC and USDT) in order to provide real payments utility for the unbanked, remittance users, etc.
In order to implement this, we would first need token support activated on Evolution, and then to work with issuing companies to get their stablecoin active on our network. I am already speaking to several major stablecoin issuers so that we can have our options on the table before the functionality is shipped.
Additionally, if we ever want a true decentralized stablecoin, we would probably need smart contracts. This may even be a requirement for some centralized stablecoin types.
Fixing Regulatory Issues
Dash has faced issues from regulators and their second-order effects over the years, and these have significantly held back Dash adoption as well as price. Some delistings are unavoidable for any project with a privacy reputation past or present, but other issues are definitely inside our control. We're actively working to address these blockages in Europe and the US.
BitLicense
The biggest issue is the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) BitLicense. NYDFS currently greenlists only a handful of assets that any New York-licensed company can support without explicit permission, and companies have to explicitly apply for permission to offer any other crypto asset to their customers. Dash is currently unavailable in New York. As a result, no New York-based company can support the buying and selling of Dash in New York. As a result, we've been blocked out of many crucial integrations int he US.
In order to solve this problem, all we need is for a BitLicensed exchange to self-certify that Dash is able to be used in a manner compliant with New York law, and that they wish to offer it to their customers. If successful, this would likely lead to Dash being easily available in the whole of New York, but even if not, a single exchange would be worth it.
I'm actively seeking conversations with the top BitLicensed exchanges to solve this issue. I have a few promising leads, but if anyone else has direct contacts that can lead to decision-makers at the major BitLicensed exchanges, I would appreciate any and every contact.
MiCA
European regulations concerning cryptocurrencies, in particular the usage of privacy coins, have kept Dash unavailable at a few different exchanges in a few select countries. This is a country-by-country issue, as some regulators interpret the regulations more strictly. Our ability to solve these issues is not guaranteed, however we can potentially convince key exchanges and regulators that Dash can be supported in a fully-compliant way.
I have engaged with a lawyer and we are ready to proceed with drawing up a legal opinion that we can then take to regulators and exchanges, however this is on pause for the moment until we tackle more pressing issues such as the BitLicense.
Completing Missing Integrations
We are also targeting several key integrations which would significantly boost Dash's utility and adoption. First would be a BitLicensed exchange to provide access to Dash for New York-based customers. A prerequisite of this would of course be successfully self-certifying that Dash is able to be listed in a compliant manner, and an exchange seeking to add Dash would do this. Coinbase, which already supports Dash in 49/50 states, could also do this. One of the major integrations we unlock once we attain this exchange is Flexa, a payment rail that allows crypto to be easily spent in thousands of merchants around the US. Flexa awarded a grant to Dash to integrate its SDK into the wallet, however Dash is unable to capitalize on this grant because of BitLicense-related issues. If we solve them, we get Flexa. In addition, other payment processors like BitPay could potentially list Dash easily as well at that point.
In Europe, CoinGate and Coinify are two of the major crypto payment processors, and both have removed Dash due to regulatory concerns. If we were to solve our issues in Europe, we could be re-listed, significantly increasing the number of Dash-accepting merchants. We could also get relisted on major European exchanges that have either removed Dash or never added it to begin with.
Finally, we are missing a couple of key integrations for Web3 services, namely the WalletConnect protocol and the CTRL (formerly XDEFI) wallet. Achieving Dash support in these would significantly facilitate our utility in DeFi front-ends such as those supporting the Maya Protocol, as well as many modern noncustodial payment processors. Thankfully, the Dash Incubator is already working on solving this.
(continued...)
