One of the most popular cryptocurrencies, Dash was built for instantaneous and private transactions. Originally a fork of the Litecoin protocol, it emerged as an attempt to correct what its creators saw as its weaknesses in terms of transaction speed, privacy protection and governance handling.
“Dash” is the word we associate with speed, but this platform and its coin (DASH) use it as a short form for “digital cash”. This is no coincidence, as Dash wants to become the platform of choice for fast digital payments. This means removing at least some of the key obstacles to this goal: speed of transactions and their high fees. In order to make its coins usable for smaller transactions, such as those at grocery stores or gas stations, the whole operation needs to be both instantaneous and cheap, with an anonymity option as an added bonus.
Evan Duffield, the creator of Dash, launched the platform in 2014 with the idea to resolve these issues with the help of innovative architecture. Back then, Dash was known as “Xcoin”, followed by being renamed to “Darkcoin”. In order to avoid associations with unsavory transactions, it changed its name in 2015.
In any case, its underlying technology uses two-tier architecture, relying on the combination of Proof of Work (PoW)/Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanisms.