Dash was first released in January 2014 by Evan Duffield as XCoin(XCO), and later relaunched as Darkcoin, via a fork of the Litecoin code. Duffield’s intention was a create a more private, decentralized cryptocurrency capable of processing faster transactions.
Throughout 2014, Dash, then known as Darkcoin, was mired in controversy over its use in dark web markets which was encouraged by its superior anonymity. This hampered the coin’s progress until it was rebranded as Dash in March 2015.
Dash has a total supply of 18 million coins, with 8 million coins currently in supply. Dash reduces its coin emission rate by roughly 7% every 210240 blocks(roughly 1 year).
A block is mined every 2.6 minutes. All 18 million coins will be in circulation by the year 2477.
Dash ecosystem is a unique two-tiered network comprised of miners and masternodes, which are full nodes. Miners perform network functions by validating transactions and creating new blocks, while masternodes enforce rules and perform governance functions.
The X11 hashing algorithm is used for mining Dash via a proof-of-work consensus protocol. X11 is energy efficient and highly ASIC resistant. The second layer of masternodes network uses a consensus model known as proof-of-service.
Anyone can run a masternode by making a commitment of 1000 Dash. The reward for running a masternode is contingent on the number of masternodes in the network as 45% of block reward is shared amongst all masternodes. Miners also receive 45% of the block reward, while 10% is reserved for the Dash maintenance fund or the treasury system.
InstantSend and PrivateSend are functions performed by the secondary layer of masternodes. Masternodes can instantly verify a transaction through consensus and broadcast to the network, which will then be included in next block mined. Once verified by masternodes, the transaction inputs are locked and conflicting transactions are rejected by the network.
