ForkLog: Evan Duffield about Dash Evolution, Crippled ICO, and Lack of Competitors
There are quite a number of people in the cryptocommunity eagerly anticipating the upcoming Dash Evolution, the new phase of Dash. However, even Dash’s lead developer, Evan Duffield, seems to be unaware of when it’s going to happen.
In his exclusive interview, Duffield told ForkLog things that should be of interest to Dash fans, still he kept silent about when Dash Evolution launch could be expected.
FL: It’s been almost a year since you announced Dash Evolution. How’s the new system’s development going?
Evan Duffield: Development is ongoing and we’re currently implementing the foundation layers upon which we will build the rest of the required components.
FL: What are Dash Evolution’s main advantages for average users? When do you expect it to launch?
Evan Duffield: Average users will enjoy an experience like they would with a centralized application, like PayPal. The goal is offer something people are used to dealing with, lower fees, higher transactional throughput and better analytical tools for growth and expansion of the project.
FL: What about the global community of Dash users? In which countries has it developed the most?
Evan Duffield: We’re currently in development and most of the growth we’re experiencing is from investors. I think as with any project, they are looking at the possible upside and growth if we have significant adoption. The model we use will reward investors in ways that other projects can’t. For instance, Dash investors are rewarded not just by appreciation of their investment, but they also receive monthly dividends in the form of masternode payments.
FL: These days, many people wait for Zcash to go online. What do you think about the project? Do you consider ZCash and Monero competitors to Dash?
Evan Duffield: Neither Monero or Zcash are competitors to Dash, although many in both communities love to compare those projects to us. Dash is about mass adoption and building the bridges that will allow us to achieve it. Monero and Zcash are about providing a completely anonymous record of transactional data. Anonymity was a core offering of our early strategy, and while we still retain and continue development on our PrivateSend feature, the scope of our project has grown greatly. We now provide much more than just anonymity, including instant transactions, an effective governance system, self-funded development, and are working on Evolution, which will provide much greater ease-of-use.
FL: Recently, Cryptobuyer, a payment processor popular in South America, started supporting Dash. Is Dash really so popular down there?
Evan Duffield: I’ve had reports of people in South America getting into Dash and it seems to be an obvious choice considering our goal of providing a decentralized banking experience, which would be well-suited for that region.
FL: Do you think the current price of Dash is fair? Do you expect it to grow?
Evan Duffield: The price of Dash has grown from $0.00 in Jan 2014, to over $10 as of present, I think this is great return for a project our size. We have enough capital to continue development and year-over-year returns have been great for investors. We expect each release to cause significant growth as our vision is realized. It’s hard to see all of the work taking place behind the scenes, but I think in time people will be surprised how fast we move.
FL: In your opinion, does bitcoin have prospects now? Will there be any solution to the scalability issues? What could bitcoin’s price be by the end of the year?
Evan Duffield: No matter what Bitcoin comes up with, it doesn’t have a multi-tiered network. I think a multi-tier network is absolutely necessary to allow network capacity to scale with transaction growth. All the solutions they’ve presented have lacked the necessary economic incentives–incentives that Dash has built and deployed on its network.
FL: It’s a general trend for companies to hold an ICO in order to get funded. What do you think about this phenomenon? Have you ever participated in any ICO?
Evan Duffield: ICOs are an interesting concept, mixing venture capital funding and decentralized technology. I have never participated in one due to the issue with who actually owns the collateral — I don’t really like the idea of selling part of a centralized company, which then controls a decentralized project. It seems to be crippled from the start.
FL: Last April, two China-based manufacturers, DualMiner and Pinidea, announced they were developing ASIC’s for Dash. Have these been released yet?
Evan Duffield: The development of ASIC miners is positive in the sense that they provide greater network security.
FL: Back then you said you were afraid of centralization of mining that had already occurred with Bitcoin and Litecoin. How do intend to avoid it? Or you are more about a hands-off approach?
Evan Duffield: DASH The main concern I have about ASICs is the increasing economies of scale when purchasing and deploying many of them. Such economies of scale can bring about greater centralization, which is definitely to be avoided if at all possible. Fortunately, this is something that happens very gradually, and I think we have plenty of time to address it before it becomes a serious issue. We do have a strategy to address such concerns, but would like to wait after Evolution to deploy it. We’re not in a hurry.
FL: Thanks, Evan, we’re looking forward to updates on Dash Evolution.