Dash is ready for point-of-sale integration

Bitcoin has always been far ahead of other virtual currencies in terms of adoption by merchants, stores, and other "real world" applications. However, recently, some competing coins have begun to make progress in commercial applications (such as Scotcoin). Dash, currently ranked fifth in the virtual currency, launched the Dash N' Drink vending machine for the first time at the 2016 North American Bitcoin Conference, demonstrating Dash's high-speed and secure InstantX (instant payment) function. The release of the WooCommerce Dash payment plugin last month also adds more possibilities for the application of Dash.

The following is an interview with Dash N' Drink developer Moocowmoo about the cryptocurrency market application:

CoinTelegraph: What was the original intention of making the Dash N'Drink vending machine?

Moocowmoo: [Dash developer] Solarminer is the promoter of the project. He asked me how long it would take to make something like this, and I spent a few weeks making a prototype. I am very excited about the role of InstantX (instant payment) in point-of-sale transactions.

CT: What has the response been like?

MCM: Everyone I talked to was very interested in how Dash solves the trust problem of zero-confirmation transactions. After I spent a few minutes explaining how the masternode mechanism ensures the stability of the network and how the arbitration chain is formed and locks transactions, most people were very excited! Some people were skeptical, but it is difficult to understand how the network works in five or ten minutes. The speed at which the masternode network reaches consensus is amazing, usually within a second. After this meeting, one exchange platform Exmo has begun using InstantX for deposits and withdrawals.

CT: I believe that one second confirmation is very different from the current Bitcoin experience. Do you find that many people are dissatisfied with the slower confirmation speed of Bitcoin?

MCM: I think it depends on the situation. When the Bitcoin network is not backlogged, waiting an hour for a transaction to be fully confirmed is fine for purchasing shipped products. But it is not convenient if you need to move funds between fiat currency channels and exchanges, and physical operations cannot be used. Even if the merchant chooses to accept single-party confirmed transactions, the recent backlog of unconfirmed transactions in Bitcoin can make this confirmation take up to several hours. Even ignoring this, the average ten-minute delay to complete the purchase is not feasible in the real world. InstantX is designed to solve this problem.

CT: How well do you think merchants understand Dash in general?

MCM: I think merchants in general are pretty much clueless about the whole cryptocurrency landscape, including Dash. Most online businesses that accept cryptocurrencies use turnkey payment rails that instantly convert submitted cryptocurrencies into fiat currency. I suspect a significant number of merchants don’t even know (or care) what coin is being used in a transaction. To better integrate with merchants, Dash is currently working with financial services providers Crypto Capital and Vogogo to develop open source integration libraries for Coinapult, Shapeshift, Deglet, and Copay. All of these services will make it easy for merchants to manage their crypto revenue.

CT: In other words, the solution for developing merchants is multi-currency?

MCM: No specific currency, although conversion is an expected need. The original intention of developing the merchant solution is to have a structure that can be used for management. The service created now will be a transparent part of Evolution. Our goal is to separate a durable and easy-to-use tool set from a convenient interface. The biggest difference from the current channel model is that the merchant will have full control over all his funds, regardless of the currency type (fiat currency/cryptocurrency) and the type of currency.

CT: How does Dash compare to other cryptocurrencies in terms of real-life usage?

MCM: In addition to being a store of value, Dash offers a 10% annual interest rate for users who own one or more masternodes. Masternodes are the backbone of the network, powering advanced Dash features like InstantX and PrivacyProtect (transaction history purging). As of now, there are 3,772 (a recent high) masternodes, each consisting of 1,000 Dash. The 1,000 Dash that make up a masternode can be moved freely at any time, but if less than 1,000 Dash are moved, the masternode automatically leaves the masternode network and interest payments stop. The number of Dash full nodes is a little over half of the number of Bitcoins (3,772 Dash/6,689 Bitcoin), and the existence of this incentive model is one of the many reasons that the number of nodes has increased. Removing these masternodes from the total market value of Dash leaves a remaining $18 million "liquid" (i.e., interest-free) market, most of which is likely in trade orders. So even with the on-ramps that accept Dash, I think the amount of Dash used by merchants is still very small.