816: Crypto: With $1b+ Cap, DASH Wants to be a Better Venmo

Ryan Taylor. He's currently the CEO of the Dash Core Team. Dash is an innovative digital currency that offers a number of improvements over bitcoin. Ryan is an expert in the payments industry with over 15 years of experience in financial services and technology.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? – Mastering Bitcoin
• What CEO do you follow? – Jack Welch
• Favorite online tool? — BitInfoCharts
• How many hours of sleep do you get?— 5
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? – "Don't worry about what everyone else has to say, follow what you really want to do"

Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 01:41 – Nathan introduces Ryan to the show
• 02:21 – Dash is based on the bitcoin code base and operates with the same level of security
• 02:28 – Dash has improved in 3 areas:
  • 02:31 – First is governance that allows people to vote on changes
  • 02:49 – Second area is that it's self-funded
    • 03:14 – Dash has incentives for people to contribute to the network
    • 03:25 – Dash received its own funding from the network itself to operate
    • 03:44 – There are masternode owners in Dash
  • 05:48 – Team size is 50
    • 05:55 – Dash currently has 15 open positions
  • 06:44 – Dash has a more sophisticated economic system than the early coins
  • 07:00 – Getting donations for funds is what is primarily happening in the bitcoin world
    • 07:46 – Alot of them are ICOs that don't have an ongoing source of revenue to sustain themselves
  • 08:15 – Ryan's opinion on Civic's model
  • 09:00 – Dash currently has 4500-4600 masternodes, which is a marketplace
  • 09:39 – An owner can own more than 1 masternode
    • 09:52 – There's no way to know the number of masternode owners
  • 11:22 – The outcome of a vote
    • 11:30 – There are people who don't vote, but there's a minimum threshold
  • 12:30 – Utility-wise, Dash is aiming to create a world-class payment system
    • 12:39 – Some tokens are focused on smart contracts while Dash focuses on the payment
    • 13:05 – Dash is launching their landmark product next year called Evolution
    • 13:42 – Dash is aiming to make payments as convenient and secure as possible
  • 14:31 – The treasury is where they allocate transaction fees and block rewards that all cryptocurrency collect
    • 14:55 – With Dash, 45% goes to miners, 45% to infrastructure or masternode owners and 10% is set aside to the treasury
    • 15:33 – The treasury pot currently has $1.2M and the network is extremely well-funded
    • 16:20 – Dash incentivises each component of the network for it to remain functional
  • 16:44 – Dash has integrations that they've funded
    • 17:00 – Charlie Shrem just gave them a proposal to create a US debit card
    • 17:14 – Dash has worked with Alt36
    • 17:36 – Dash has funded cards
  • 18:00 – Dash's miner plus masternode combo allows things to be done instantly
  • 19:42 – Ryan left his job at a multi-million dollar hedge fund to start Dash
    • 19:50 – Ryan believes that there's monetary and non-monetary rewards at stake with Dash
    • 20:10 – Dash has the potential to bring cryptocurrency to a whole new audience
    • 20:30 – Most of those involved have put their own stake into the network
  • 21:29 – "My incentives are perfectly aligned with the network, the way it should be"
  • 22:18 – The Famous Five

3 Key Points:

1. A blockchain company that uses its own network to fund itself remains self-sustaining and self-functioning.
2. Most ICOs rely on donations for funds, which can be unstable.
3. Ignore the noise—do what YOU want to do.

Resources Mentioned:

• Simplero – The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
• The Top Inbox – The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
• Klipfolio – Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• Hotjar – Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you're doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
• Acuity Scheduling – Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Host Gator– The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
• Audible– Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives