Official Statement On Rebranding To Dash

h2zyOOT.png

http://imgur.com/h2zyOOT.png
 
Ok, I would like advice. It looks like DASH is going to stick.

I agree with rebranding and while I am not especially enthusiastic about DASH it will be OK.

Here is my puzzle. I am currently organizing a meetup in Makati, the financial capital of the Philippines, which has the second fastest growing economy in Asia, a population of 100 Million people, and a foreign remittance market of USD 23 Billion in 2014, which is anticipated to grow to USD 27 Billion this year. The Makati Digital Currency Meetup currently has 96 members and is growing rapidly. We shall soon have a larger membership than the local Bitcoin meetups. See http://www.meetup.com/Makati-Digital-Currency-Meetup/

Next March 28, approximately two weeks from today I had planned to present "Demos and usage of Bitcoin and Darkcoin". See http://www.meetup.com/Makati-Digital-Currency-Meetup/events/220819514/ Instead I shall revamp to use DASH. I will also discuss the rebranding before hand on the meetup website.

The presentation will have two components:
http://bit.ly/DASH_IN_CONTEXT
A Demo, ideally we will
1) DL a bitcoin client
2) buy some BTC at a local ATM (Yes we are meeting in a cafe with a BTC ATM)
3) DL a DASH client from darkcoin.io
4) Exchange some BTC for DRK on an exchange
5) Demo DASH, ideally both anonimity and InstanTX.

Now that is a lot of lifting both in preparation and during the meeting.

To top it off most of my income comes from a seriously difficult consulting effort that has a delivery deadline of March 24.

The help I seek is this. Can some one please provide a short summary of rebranding, a little of the controversy that arose and reasoning and motivation, then further motivate DASH. I am not looking for a whitewash or darkwash but rather a balanced but diplomatic presentation, no more than 5 minutes max, and perhaps a couple of slides.
TanteStefana said:
Sorry this isn't really written as a presentation, but it's basically everything I know:

Once upon a time, a young developer named Evan Duffield decided to create a cryptographic coin. He came to the conclusion that someone needed to make a new coin to protect privacy because it had recently been realized that Bitcoin was only pseudo-private, and that the developers and foundation for Bitcoin had no intentions of fixing this. So he realized that to start a new coin, he would need a slow build up of hashing from many people. He knew that ASICS which had just started shipping a month or two before, were going to make it very difficult to attract miners if he were to compete with all the other sha-256 algorithmic coins. At the same time, he realized, as well as many others, that a lot of equipment, such as cpu and gpu power had just been rendered obsolete. Just as Litecoin before, Evan decided to create a new hashing algorithm.

Before Evan created X11, a multi algorithmic chain for hashing, which combined 11 algortithms in a chain, another developer created a similar hash of 5 or 5 algorithms. I forgot it’s name. So the idea was there, but Evan thought adding all the algorithms he knew of into a chain would slow down the development of ASICS that much longer. Because he called his grouped algorithm X-11, he decided to call his coin XCOIN.

Soon it was realized that there was a site called xcoin.com which had just closed down. It was a scam site that stole coins from people. Since the community didn’t want to be associated with these people, they voted to name our coin Darkcoin. All was well until we began getting complaints that the name Darkcoin sounded like the coin was made for nefarious purposes. The community tried and tried to explain that the name was 1. A play against the #2 coin, Litecoin, and 2. the saying “keep ‘em in the dark” which means don’t tell anyone, it’s a secret. Even so, some of the community decided it would be best for Darkcoin to concentrate on the “underworld” and “dark markets” etc… Unfortunately, Evan never wanted to create a coin meant for the dark markets, he wanted to create something closer to cash, something that protected people’s right to privacy. Although Evan has been against a name change for most of this first year of Darkcoin's life, he finally realized that it was not just a few people who have been approached about working with Darkcoin (Merchants, investors, etc…) but pretty much all of them. Even those that accepted DRK at their stores, such as BigCanadar, complained that customers just laughed at the thought of a coin named Darkcoin, and never became interested enough to inquire further about it. So this past week, it seems Evan has changed his mind. But why so abruptly?

As it happened, the last time the community was arguing over the name, the tide seemed to have swung in the direction of a name change. However, as you can see by this past week, we were at each other’s throats, yelling and screaming and designing and coming up with names, etc… In all that chaos, someone had mentioned Dashcoin because InstantX had just been invented. Most of the community rallied behind that name, and so apparently, Evan made a note of it. But to us, he wanted to stop all the arguments, so he said that there would be no name change, which I'm sure he meant. That was that, and the community settled back into it’s normal banter.

So apparently since then, Evan and the foundation members, of which I am not one, have been discussing the need for a new name. They also concluded Dash may be the best alternative, especially if we want to keep the logo that was incredibly difficult to get consensus on as well. But there were complications. There was already a dashcoin. So they had to figure out if the idea could even take hold. I believe we have a European and an American Lawyer in the Darkcoin Foundation, and they have been clearing the way for the right to use the name, DASH. But why did Evan drop this “bomb” on us so abruptly?

It was due to a silly little mistake. Evan had made a deal with the old “Dashcoin” developer (who had abandoned the project a while back). I don’t know what the deal was, but the Dashcoin developer gave Evan the “keys” to the old Dashcoin account on github. Evan simply closed it down, or “locked the door”. The coin could still be forked, it could continue as a fork, but it would be a new project if it were forked.
And while “inside” that Dashcoin account at github, Evan commented on the Darkcoin github thread. By doing so, he posted as the Dashcoin Developer, and it was obvious it was Evan. Anyone could see what happened so there were a lot of questions. Why was Evan in possession of a Dashcoin Developer account?

So to clarify everything to everyone, he decided to announce that the foundation was planning on changing the name of Darkcoin, and because Dashcoin was a favorite a few months ago, they were looking into the feasibility of acquiring the name Dashcoin. I believe, but am not sure, that the trademark “dash” for a coin was not being pursued by the Dashcoin that Evan acquired but is the name another company is attempting to trademark, and in such a way that Darkcoin would want it used. (There are many trademarks for Dash, just not as a currency or payment system, at least not at this time).
So, the lawyers are saying it looks like we can trademark the name DASH, and that there isn’t much the old dash community can do about their abandoned coin, not legally. They can fork it and make it a new project, but the old name goes with the old project, which is dead and the Darkcoin Foundation is in the process of trademarking the name.

The rest is just everyone arguing.
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Thanks TanteStefana.

I will use this as a starting point and boil it down. This was a classic, even archetypal example, of an Internet Flareup. It might almost be used as a Case for MBA students to study. Here is a theme, though applied to a very different situation, which may fit DASH. https://hbr.org/2013/09/first-make-it-work-then-rebrand-it

BobLQ
 
boblq said:
I will use this as a starting point and boil it down. This was a classic, even archetypal example, of an Internet Flareup. It might almost be used as a Case for MBA students to study. Here is a theme, though applied to a very different situation, which may fit DASH. https://hbr.org/2013/09/first-make-it-work-then-rebrand-it

BobLQ
Click to expand...

First, sorry I couldn't do a better job, but my mind is kind of flitty and it was easier just to "spill" what I remember of this past year. Writing a presentation takes a lot of thought and my days are unholy busy in ways that make me too exhausted to think. Anyway regarding that link above, WOW! Looks like we may have finally done something right even so we have chaos going on outside, LOL. We can't avoid the chaos unfortunately, as this is a public project. But very interesting article! Thank you so much for posting it :D
 
darkstrike420 said:
The name still has a lot of - "are you on drugs?" to it, though. :(

Hope we wont regret the Dash name.

Normal people think the "*coin" name is retarded like "Bitcoin". They are used to dollars and euros. Imagine if dollar was named "Dollarcoin" and euro was "Eurocoin". Sounds retarded ya?
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I'm going to take money out of the ATM MACHINE.
 
Red-Shinobi said:
What!?!?!? my darkcoins are getting Dashed?!!?

And great logo, the guys at VISA deserve some props for it. I didnt know their branding was open source!
Lets use a familiar byline too, how bout "Dash...Anywhere you want to go"

This logo says "visa", not dash, you guys can read that right? this is a credit card logo. Nobody likes to dash, and nobody like having their stuff dashed.
I guess i'll know im wrong when we see the sudden market adoption the darkness was holding back.

Good bye cool ninja stealthy tech stuff..... you've been dashed..
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The Really cool ninjas never advertise the fact that that they are ninjas--only wanna-bees do that.

... Just saying.:cool:
 
I think overall the name change is going to be a positive long term move for us. I unfortunate got involved with Dark/Dash at its peaking value. Back when a single master-node cost $10k. I could see the value in what this venture had to offer and through it all continue to stick it out because of the BEST community and DEV TEAM out there. This is a LONG TERM INVESTMENT. 2 to 4 years and we will see amazing things and it wont matter that I bought in at $10 instead of pennies because $10 will be considered a steal of a deal. I do like the prevailing popular logo but also considered it hard to recognize the D at times. I found a different font with the C backwards that looks more like a D and added a "D " inside it and used a 2nd font for the ASH as the original did not look good. Just 1 more idea out there for people to see.
DASH.jpg
DASH.jpg DASH.jpg
 
Howdy! Interesting news, sounds like its a better fit for the community and the technology, particularly the direction that it is taking.

I can get an article about this out on CoinTelegraph asap or whenever, I'd like to wait until the graphic design side of things is settled and add a link to download the logo and a picture or two. Let me know what you think.

Speaking of the direction that DASH is going in, it seems like this tech is best fit for retail right now, particularly because of iTX, as well as general use, since instant transactions don't make much of a difference in online commerce and do not seem designed for high frequency trading.

Is this a fair overview of the vision? who is your target market in the short to mid term?

I could use the opportunity to update the CT audience about DASH, so pm me for any other key information that might fit in. Cheers!
 
JuanSGalt said:
Howdy! Interesting news, sounds like its a better fit for the community and the technology, particularly the direction that it is taking.

I can get an article about this out on CoinTelegraph asap or whenever, I'd like to wait until the graphic design side of things is settled and add a link to download the logo and a picture or two. Let me know what you think.

Speaking of the direction that DASH is going in, it seems like this tech is best fit for retail right now, particularly because of iTX, as well as general use, since instant transactions don't make much of a difference in online commerce and do not seem designed for high frequency trading.

Is this a fair overview of the vision? who is your target market in the short to mid term?

I could use the opportunity to update the CT audience about DASH, so pm me for any other key information that might fit in. Cheers!
Click to expand...

You're totally spot on!
Please contact tungfa, he's our PR guy and I'm sure he has some tasty links for you.
Also, Evan was recently interviewed by LetsTalkBitcoin, and we think it will come out tomorrow, give or take, that should be interesting too.

.
 
yidakee said:
You're totally spot on!
Please contact tungfa, he's our PR guy and I'm sure he has some tasty links for you.
Also, Evan was recently interviewed by LetsTalkBitcoin, and we think it will come out tomorrow, give or take, that should be interesting too.

.
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Great! Thank you, will do.
 
JuanSGalt said:
who is your target market in the short to mid term?
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We are waiting for official announcements about DASH soon. :)

My unofficial opinion about "target market in the short to mid term" - All current Bitcoin users, especially:
1. Investors looking for the Next Big Thing.
2. Users who already understand importance of anonymity.

There are some ideas for them:
1. for first: https://darkcointalk.org/threads/darkcoin-an-assessment-of-investment-potential.4140/
2. for second: https://darkcointalk.org/threads/anonymous-payments-darkcoin-or-bitcoin-mixers.4190/
Feel free to produce your own articles (preliminary bombardment) using this info before the Main Show will start! :).
 
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alex-ru said:
We are waiting for official announcements about DASH soon. :)

My unofficial opinion about "target market in the short to mid term" - All current Bitcoin users, especially:
1. Investors looking for the Next Big Thing.
2. Users who already understand importance of anonymity.

There are some ideas for them:
1. for first: https://darkcointalk.org/threads/darkcoin-an-assessment-of-investment-potential.4140/
2. for second: https://darkcointalk.org/threads/anonymous-payments-darkcoin-or-bitcoin-mixers.4190/
Feel free to produce your own articles using this info.
Click to expand...

Sure, anyone can. No harm at all. Free speech for all.
But more serious journalism might consider approaching the official channels, especially in such sensitive times as these, for more a more accurate story of whats going on here, which is what I think Juan is looking for.

.
 
yidakee said:
Sure, anyone can. No harm at all. Free speech for all.
But more serious journalism might consider approaching the official channels, especially in such sensitive times as these, for more a more accurate story of whats going on here, which is what I think Juan is looking for.

.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I do want official info. Though getting a feel for the community matters as well. Hence why I posted here.
 
JuanSGalt said:
Speaking of the direction that DASH is going in, it seems like this tech is best fit for retail right now, particularly because of iTX, as well as general use, since instant transactions don't make much of a difference in online commerce and do not seem designed for high frequency trading.
Click to expand...

I've been wondering about this retail angle: It sure seems attractive to pursue, but how will this work without mobile wallets? Maybe I'm missing something, but AFAICT there is only an Android wallet which is a ported Bitcoin wallet that doesn't support InstantX or DarkSend. Plus, its development pace seems really glacial.

So I'm wondering: Does the foundation and/or dev team intend to do something about this, like hiring someone or setting a bounty?
 
the-baker said:
I've been wondering about this retail angle: It sure seems attractive to pursue, but how will this work without mobile wallets? Maybe I'm missing something, but AFAICT there is only an Android wallet which is a ported Bitcoin wallet that doesn't support InstantX or DarkSend. Plus, its development pace seems really glacial.

So I'm wondering: Does the foundation and/or dev team intend to do something about this, like hiring someone or setting a bounty?
Click to expand...

All mobile projects that we know of are from independent devs.
Certainly in the horizon, its obviously one of the functions Masternodes will provide as full node - light wallets.

We have an android dev actively trying to figure out how to implement IX and DS.

https://darkcointalk.org/threads/android-wallet-v4.3899/page-2#post-45314

No iOS wallet that I know of.
The recent Ubuntu Phone (Aquaris 4.5) should in theory run both the QT and the daemon, trying to grab my hands on one to test...

tbh, I'm not the most qualified to answer, but it seems some basic functionalities are still being prep'ed. We only just recently forked from bitcoin 0.9.3, we used to be a litecoin fork. So I *think* it should be easier, but core team is focusing on what they do best... core dev. So no official side project for now.

.
 
the-baker said:
I've been wondering about this retail angle: It sure seems attractive to pursue, but how will this work without mobile wallets? Maybe I'm missing something, but AFAICT there is only an Android wallet which is a ported Bitcoin wallet that doesn't support InstantX or DarkSend. Plus, its development pace seems really glacial.

So I'm wondering: Does the foundation and/or dev team intend to do something about this, like hiring someone or setting a bounty?
Click to expand...

This is important!. I am selling some dash to someone tomorrow. I will have to use my ipad and teamview into one of my rigs to do it..

What I would like to happen is blockchain.info adapt to alternative currencies. I have been using the blockchain iphone app since before it was banned from the app store.. my original app from 3 years ago is still working. Never had the slightest problem with it. The only downside of this model is an 'online' wallet. That being said, we DO need an iphone solution.
 
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