The era of true currency competition is upon us. Spearheaded by Bitcoin, cryptocurrency is poised to completely revolutionize the global financial system, wresting economic control away from the big banks and remanding it to the people. In this new world of competitive currency, in theory, the best will rise to the top. Dash, with a host of extra benefits such as increased privacy in transactions, a more democratic decision-making process, and a built-in system for funding components beyond just miners (such as developers), seems poised to rise to the top. However, there lies a massive gulf between that logical argument and the reality of the average business, and convincing real-world merchants to accept and use Dash is a whole other trick altogether.
Bitcoin Is Still Solidly Number One
Unfortunately, Bitcoin is significantly ahead of Dash in the adoption game. Being the first great cryptocurrency, more people use it than any other. Because of this, virtually all of cryptocurrency’s adoption efforts have focused exclusively around Bitcoin, which explains why Dash is accepted at only around 60 or so merchants worldwide, while those taking Bitcoin rank in the thousands, possibly the tens of thousands. Promoting Dash’s adoption by businesses feels almost like a waste, like starting from zero, negating all the progress digital currency has made with the general public. This is only compounded by the difficulty of convincing any business that isn’t tech-savvy to take anything other than Bitcoin.
Outside of the tech sector, good luck getting businesses on Dash
When approaching some businesses, such as IT consultants and online electronics retailers, Dash integration can be a relatively easy sell. They are likely to be very familiar with digital currency, and can find easy ways of integrating cryptocurrency payments for their business online. Many may even already take Bitcoin, and the addition of another similar option is relatively painless, well worth the effort if it generates any new sales at all. Physical point-of-sale businesses, however, especially those in completely non-technical sectors like food service, are a much, much tougher sell.
The reality is, at this point in time, virtually no regular business will accept Dash by itself. They haven’t heard of it, have only heard of Bitcoin, and will be about as likely to trust it as they will coins you minted in your own basement. Even if you’re personal friends with the business owner and somehow convince them that taking Dash is in their best interests, after a few months of the payment option gathering dust with virtually no use, you will have lost both trust in yourself, and in cryptocurrencies as a whole.
Sell Bitcoin, take Dash along for the ride
Instead, a savvy cryptocurrency advocate will promote a multi-coin platform, whether it’s a simple wallet setup or a full-fledged point-of-sale like BlockPay. Bitcoin is the main selling point, the reason for the season as it were. A merchant is sold on accepting Bitcoin, with the functionality to accept other cryptocurrencies, such as Dash, as an added feature. Then, when a Dash-using customer wishes to use it to pay, they simply request that the merchant access the Dash option on their payment system and proceed with the transaction. Over time, the competitive advantage of using Dash is felt first by consumers, then by merchants once those consumers begin changing their spending habits.
Currency competition is a wonderful thing. However, no one will let a better competitor into the market without significant effort. The only effective way to provide true competition is to allow consumers the choice of which currency to use without having to resort exclusively to the biggest player in the field. Dash’s best hope for adoption is to be sold to merchants along with Bitcoin. Only then can consumers pick the best digital money. May the best cryptocurrency win!
