First published 5 August 2020. The chain had been live since 18 January 2014. Expanded in October 2026 so a masternode is not described as a savings account, and so Dash is not described as a split of Bitcoin. Evan Duffield launched it as Xcoin. It was renamed Darkcoin, and it took the name Dash in 2015. The software started from Bitcoin’s. The ledger did not. Holders of bitcoin did not receive DASH. What is Bitcoin, in plain language? is the chain this one borrowed code from. What is Bitcoin Cash (BCH)? is an actual holder split. Dash is neither of those coins.
There was no premine. The subsidy falls by 7.14 percent a year. The project’s own docs put the eventual supply in a band between about 17.7 million and 18.9 million. That is not Bitcoin’s 21 million. The hash is a different algorithm. This page will not describe how to mine it.
A second set of servers, with a collateral
Miners still make blocks. A second set of servers, masternodes, lock 1,000 DASH and do other jobs: a lock that lets a receiver treat a payment as settled in seconds, a signature on the newest block so a competing miner does not quietly replace it, and a vote on how a share of the subsidy is spent. Spending the 1,000 DASH drops the server out of the reward queue. The collateral is a lock. It is not a deposit account. Staking is a lock and a queue, not a savings account. This page will not walk through hosting one.
The docs now put a fifth of the subsidy in that treasury, a fifth to miners, and three fifths to masternodes. An older page that says a tenth to the treasury is the earlier rule. A vote can change the split again. A proposal that passes is not a dividend of your coins.
CoinJoin is an optional mix. This page will not walk through it. A mixed coin is still DASH. What is Monero (XMR)? is a coin that is private by default. Dash is not. A Dash address is not a Bitcoin address. The wrong network is still the wrong city. Nothing here is an instruction to mine, to run a masternode, or to buy DASH.
