What is Dash (DASH)?
Dash was launched by Evan Duffield on 18 January 2014, first as XCoin and then as Darkcoin, before taking the name Dash, short for digital cash. It aims to be practical money for everyday payments, with features built around speed and optional privacy.
- Type
- Payment-focused layer-1 cryptocurrency
- Launched
- 2014
- Consensus
- Proof of Work (X11) with masternode ChainLocks
- Max supply
- Between 17.74 and 18.92 million DASH
- Swap network
- Dash
How Dash works
Miners secure Dash with X11 Proof of Work, targeting a block every two and a half minutes. A second tier of masternodes, each backed by 1,000 DASH, signs InstantSend locks that confirm payments within seconds and ChainLocks that protect against chain reorganizations. Evonodes, backed by 4,000 DASH, also run Dash Platform, a separate layer for usernames, data and, since 2025, tokens.
What DASH is used for
DASH is spent at merchants and through gift cards in the DashPay app, and masternode owners vote on which proposals the treasury funds. Optional CoinJoin mixing gives users more financial privacy.
DASH supply
Total supply will end up between 17.74 and 18.92 million DASH, as the block subsidy falls by about 7.14% each year. Twenty percent of every block subsidy goes to the treasury, and the rest is shared between miners and masternodes.
Before you swap DASH
Withdraw to a standard Dash address, which starts with X (or 7 for script addresses), rather than to a DashPay username. Dash blocks target two and a half minutes, so deposits usually confirm faster than on Bitcoin.