Steemit Crypto Academy - Season 2- Homework Post for @levycore

INTRODUCTION
This is my first assignment on cryptoacademy and I’m really hoping I do well and that I really understood what was taught.

OVERVIEW
Privacy coins
In general, these coins protect your privacy and Identity in crypto currency trades they're invlolved in and secure your transactions. Upon the inception of bitcoin, the world has been shifted attention to crypto currency and is showing a positive response to it. The problem with crypto currency like Bitcoin is that info about your transactions is seen by people and some people that really consider privacy a priority are not big fans of Bitcoin. It is for this privacy concerns that Privacy coins exist. All privacy coins ensure private transactions in their own way and some of them have a few plus features in addition.
Advanges of Privacy Coins

1. Your transactions are private
2. Your identity is safe,protected and shielded
3. You retain your rights to all trades done.

Disadvantages of Privacy Coins

1. They're often used by criminals for their privacy
2. People involved in big businesses might require a little background trade info before they trade with you and transparency will become an issue.
3. Because of the extra features some privacy coins have, they have added transaction fees for those features or services

Choose a Privacy Coin and perform a fundamental analysis of the coin in detail.

DASH
About Dash
I will start my assignment by telling you a little about the privacy coin I chose for this assignment. I chose Dash for my homework assignment. The name is coined from two words, Digital and Cash because DASH is a digital currency(cash) that can be used for transactions involving sending or receiving money
Dash is an improvement of the blockchain technology on which the Bitcoin is built with better privacy and faster transaction speed using models that incorporate masternode servers.

Some of Dash’s unique features
• Masternodes: The essential functions like PrivateSend and InstantSend of the Dash coin are performed by masternodes. Masternodes work to ensure and improve private and secure as well as quick transactions. They’re rewarded for their work which I’ll talk about in the later part of my assignment.
• InstantSend: The Dash coin provides superfast transactions beating bitcoin and a lot of other cryptocurrency in speed transaction with its InstantSend feature. For cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, transactions take minutes to process. With Dash on the other hand, transactions are processed in seconds by the masternode network. Who wants to wait minutes to pay for shopping at the supermarket?
• PrivateSend: With this feature, transactions amounts and identity of users make are untraceable. You can send and receive Dash without your identity or transaction details exposed like we see with other crypto currency.

How Do we Get Dash Coin?
We can get the dash in one of two ways. These are:

1. Mining: Just like Bitcoin and other crypto currency, we can mine the Dash coin. Rewards from mining Dash is split into three. Masternodes take 45% of the reward, Miners get 45% and the remaining 10% goes to fund future plans for improvement and growth.
2. Buying: Being a popular privacy coin, DASH can be bought on major crypto exchanges like Binance, Poloniex Indodax and Coinbase Pro. You can trade it for fiat currencies like USD if you like.

Fundamental Analysis of the Dash Coin
It is currently ranked 51 with a $1,964,911,058 market cap and diluted market cap of $3,654,736,238 hence it is under a microscope and is currently a top coin in high demand. It is also currently priced at $193.37 making it a good coin to invest in. Dash has had a high total volume of $548,572,464 in the last 24 hours. Being in great demand the Dash coin has a high supply circulation hitting the roofs with 10,161,154.42 Dash.

source

It’s performance in 2017 was off the charts. At launch, the DASH coin was worth less than $10 and took to the sky on 20th December, 2017 at a price of $1,480. Unbelievable right? Investors that made a $100 investment at the very start would’ve had close to$15000 by the year ending in December. This was a golden opportunity for early investors.

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However, over a 30day observational period, Dash price went from around $322.05 to $197.80 from opening May 2nd to closing May 31st 2021 respectively. A significant fall in price can be seen here. As of the last 24 hours,1 Dash is worth $193.37 and has a trading volume of $548,572,464 and a market cap of $1,964,911,058.

source

Unlike mining Bitcoin where miners get 100% if the reward, DASH coin mined by miners is split in this way: 45% to miners, 45% to masternodes and the remaining 10% goes to fund future improvement projects. This rewards miners and masternodes and helps Dash fund its own growth unlike Bitcoin.

Describe the steps in creating a wallet for the Privacy Coin of your choice.(Screenshot required)
Just like we need wallet to hold physical cash, we need wallets for our crypto currencies too and this is how I created my Dash Wallet.

1. I go to my web browser(chrome) and I search dash.org

1. When the site opens, I go to view all apps

1. I scroll down to desktop wallets and I selected the download option that matched my laptop device, Windows(64) bit.

1. I select the wallet type I want, Dash Core and I clicked on download installer. Then I hit start download from the internet downloader pop up

1. Once the download is complete, I go to downloads in my files to find and install the installer setup file following the instructions.

1. Then I click finish to complete the installation and open the wallet application.

1. I click save on the appearance setup page to save settings and proceed.

1. I click hide on the next page

1. I have successfully created my Dash wallet and can do transactions immediately

Explain the reason you chose the Privacy Coin. (State the advantages and disadvantages)
I chose the DASH coin for a variety of reasons. First it offers some very outstanding features like the InstantSend and PrivateSend which is a step into the future of crypto. Also it holds a high rank among the top privacy coins used in crypto and 52 among all other crypto currency as well. The Dash coin also wins my selection because it has the potential to fund its own growth with the 10% that goes into funding future growth plans and proposals. With all these the Dash Coin is sure to get to some very high price numbers.
ADVANTAGES OF USING THE DASH COIN
• You get fast transactions within seconds with its InstantSend feature.
• With its PrivateSend feature, your Dash transactions are private and your identity can not be traced back to you.
• The Dash Coin is fungible because even if people wouldn’t accept them for having being used in illegal transactions in the past, they wouldn’t even know in the first place because they can’t trace it.
• It provides a secure trade route without the interference or need for a third-party.
•Your transacations are not saved onto the blockchain like with Bitcoin.

DISADVANTAGES OF USING THE DASH COIN
• To enjoy a quick transaction(InstantSend feature), you will need to pay a service fee or your transaction may take minutes
• Some people consider the Dash blockchain to not be truly or completely decentralized, therefore calling for privacy concerns because masternodes perform a lot of its important funtions.
• It can be used for illegal purposes because of the privacy it offers.

CONCLUSION
We have learnt a lot about privacy coins, the privacy coin dash in particular in this assignment. It can be seen that the world is shifting attention from crypto currency like bitcoin where transactions done are not private. Privacy coins like the Dash Coin that come with improved features including transaction privacy and faster transactions have come to stay. The whole point of technology is to make life better and that is exactly what privacy coins are doing. Crypto currency is the future and privacy coins are the new faces of crypto. You can start investing in and using privacy coins now and you can start with the Dash Coin.

Thanks to @levycore for the lecture.