Let me start by going over the fundamental differences between these coins.
Gold is physical so you don't need to prove that is duplicated. You need to prove an electronic coin has not been duplicated or infinitely mined to prove its rarity and value. Most of the other privacy systems can't prove this and fail as a store of value. The big benefit of Bitcoin when it was released was the ability to show how many coins are available in a trust-less way and therefore prove its value.
Gold bars and rounds have been, and still are, being counterfeited with false cores and thick plating. Even an X-Ray Resonance Machines can't detect them. The only way to know is to cut it into pieces, or melt it down. For rounds with collectible value, authenticity is unverifiable. No way to ever really know...
Even Gold can't be trusted anymore.
Transparent-chain cryptocurrencies are the only thing you can be sure of now.
The only cryptocurrency with a transparent chain and privacy, is DASH.
InstantSend also makes DASH the only vendor-friendly cryptocurrency. Unfortunately, nothing has been done with it since it was created...
As can be seen even in this example, competition is raising money and moving to fill the vacuum that DASH has failed to fill, even though it has the ideal features to do it.... If a "close enough" coin gains a foothold, being slightly better won't make a difference and DASH will have squandered it's own perfect scenario.
Running a node to facilitate InstantSend recognition is being treated like pre-mature overkill by the developers who only see it their way... The vendor relationships and support need to be forged LAST YEAR, even though Evolution is not here.
The "user experience" is being grossly mis-managed in a very single-minded self-absorbed way. Vendors are users, too! But since the self-absorption of crypto in general centers around neo-soviet do-nothings, this continues to be neglected even though InstantSend was created to fill this very crack in the process....
DASH has created the needed features that the rest of crypto has neglected. But then, follows suit and continues to neglect just because that's what everybody else does... They fail to execute by saying "Evolution will handle it better, so why do this now?"
Why get a job at minimum wage when you can wait until you're 40 and make a lot more in your "career?" Duh, because if you don't start, there won't be a career, and you will be living on welfare when you're 40...
The technical analysis that
@Solarminer provided is true, but it doesn't tell the whole story. DASH has severe problems when it comes to failing to execute on it's feature set. The core team just doesn't comprehend the situation, or know how to handle it.
@babygiraffe and
@Minotaur seem to get it, and the first move is finally being made... But, I fear it may be too little, too late.
