History Of DASH: Digital Cash - The First Year: DarkCoin!

Many people are somewhat familiar with Bitcoins origins but fewer are probably familiar with DASH's origins. I've put together this little piece dating back to early 2014 when DASH was officially launched:

The year was 2014 and the day was 18th January when web developer Evan Duffield released the code that would change the world! DASH, before being known as DASH was actually called ‘XCoin’ however it was renamed shortly after to Darkcoin.

Darkcoin was different to the rest right from the very beginning, Evan Duffield not only created a new coin but he also created a new hashing algorithm that separated Darkcoin from the two biggest algorithms, SHA-256 (Bitcoin) and Scrypt (Litecoin). This new algorithm was ‘X11’and it not only ensured Darkcoin would remain ASIC-proof for a long time but it also meant greatly reduced heat and power consumption for miners across the globe.

20th February 2014 - DarkSend Alpha (Now called PrivateSend) made available for testing. The first chance the Darkcoin community was able to see first hand this amazing new anonymizing technology.

3rd March 2014 – DarkSend Beta released. This more functional version had already started to show the world just what Evan Duffield was capable of.

6th March 2014 – 7th April 2014 – DarkSend Beta releases continued, each new Beta improving the code paving the way for the first official Release Candidate 1 (RC1). At the same time, Evan also created the ‘Masternode’ network. These Masternode servers which are operated all over the globe, allow for the anonymization of funds which no other crypto currency can offer.

Not only this, but they provide a completely new income stream for those wanting to invest in crypto currencies but who don’t have the ability or the capacity to run a mining PC or farm.

17th April 2014 – DarkSend RC1 released. Initially only 10 Darkcoins could be sent with DarkSend

20th June 2014 – The RC3 Hardfork was released which enabled the first payments to Masternode servers. Shortly after however, problems were found with the code which resulting in some unexpected forking of the Darkcoin network.

26th June 2014 – Evan quickly addresses the RC3 issues and releases the RC3 Softfork which would make Masternode payments optional until the code was improved.

13th August 2014 – RC4 Softfork released allowing for more than 10 DRK to be sent via DarkSend. This would now be known as DarkSend+

September 2014 - By this stage, Darkcoin had gained the attention of crypto coin enthusiasts all over the world. Kristov Atlas, one of the leading Bitcoin security and privacy researchers and writers, decided to review the Darkcoin code. He assisted Evan and the Darkcoin development team by finding some minor security vulnerabilities which Evan immediately addressed making the Darkcoin network even stronger.

Shortly after the Darkcoin code was officially made open source. A major milestone in Darkcoin’s history to date.

5th October 2014 – Payments to Masternodes were made mandatory, meaning all Darkcoin pool operators would need to give a percentage of mined Darkcoins to the Masternode operators to ensure a strong and secure network.

8th October 2014 – An attack on the Darkcoin network allowed a hacker to gain brief control of the Masternode list. Evan immediately addressed the issue by releasing a patch which corrected the simple exploit.

November 2014 – Evan announces ‘InstantX’. This technology allows for instantaneous transactions to occur much like what Visa and Mastercard offer. No other crypto currency, including Bitcoin can even come close to offering a service like this.
Darkcoin’s first year has been an exciting journey, with a bigger and better development team and supportive community; there is no telling what Darkcoin will achieve by its 2nd Birthday.

That draws us to the end of the first year in DASH's history. From small things, big things grow.

For a closer look at DASH's second year, please follow me and check back soon.