Today I’m reviewing Dash, a governance/privacy focused coin. Dash forked off from Bitcoin with the name DarkCoin and later re-branded to Dash.

TL;DR: Dash is easy to use and has exciting governance/privacy features.

The Dash (DarkCoin) project launched January 2014 and was mostly ignored until the Bitcoin civil war made investors look to governance coins.

The DASH token has a market cap of $2.2 billion (1 DASH = $300). It processes around 5,000 transactions per day.

I usually write these reviews on the weekend. This one is different. The goals are many and time consuming. It took weeks to complete the review. Enjoy!

Max Keiser has been a Dash supporter for some time.

You can skip to the end of this 2,100 word review by searching this page for the word conclusion.

EDIT: Some HackerNews readers think gifs are used excessively. To remove them, type this in the browser console: document.querySelectorAll(‘img[src$=”gif”]’).forEach(_ => _.parentNode.parentNode.remove())

Goals for the Review

Compile and install Dash from source-code Download the Dash blockchain Buy DASH and send it to my node Install a mobile Dash wallet Send DASH to the mobile wallet Buy a product or service with DASH BONUS: Become a masternode BONUS: Vote with the masternode for a proposal BONUS: Create a proposal using the masternode

The Dash Landing Page

The Dash landing page has stock photos of business people and uses a “business blue” color. 😓

The Shake debit card looks interesting. It probably has low limits and high fees like all other cryptocurrency debit cards. Maybe I’ll look at it later. Or just go straight for the Misconduct Wine.

Compiling and installing Dash from source-code

I scroll to the bottom and find a link to the Github page.

That is one of the busiest footers I’ve ever seen. I also see a link to “Masternode”. I’ll look at that later.

The Dash Github Project

I notice a few things here. There are 13,337 commits. This reads as “elite” in leetspeak. I wonder if it’s a joke or accident.

The last commit to Dash was April 5th. That’s 172 days ago. I’ll see if there are other branches with more recent changes.

I look at the v0.12.2.x branch.

The Dash v0.12.2.x branch was changed only 4 hours ago! The Dash project must be actively developed.

Downloading the Dash node source-code

I go back to the master (latest stable) branch on Github and look for instructions.

I don’t see any install instructions in the README . I’ll look in the INSTALL file.

The INSTALL file asks me to look in the doc folder.

I check out build-unix.md .

Easy enough. I’ll use Amazon AWS to create a cloud computer.

I pick Ubuntu 16.04 as the operating system.

I choose a computer with 2 CPU cores and 8 GB ram. This will make compiling Dash from source-code and syncing the Dash blockchain fast.

My Linux machine is running. I go back to the Dash GitHub page to find a download link.

I copy the link and clone the project using git .

I realize I forgot to install the dependencies. I’ll do that now.

The dependencies install without any problems. 👍 Next I’ll build the Dash node binaries.

cd dash

./autogen.sh

./configure

make

make install

Building the Dash node from source-code takes around 20 minutes.

OBJECTIVE 1 SUCCESS!

Compile and install Dash from source-code

I start the Dash node.

The Dash node is downloading the blockchain. I’ll go have lunch. 🍔

The Dash blockchain is downloaded.

OBJECTIVE 2 SUCCESS!

Download the Dash blockchain

Buying DASH Tokens

To buy DASH tokens I need a wallet address. I’ll find one with terminal.

I forgot to set the RPC username and password in the Dash config.

Much better. I can now see my Dash address.

I use ShapeShift to buy a small amount of DASH like in my Monero review.