Chances are, you’ve never heard of Darkcoin. Chances are you didn’t know that Darkcoin is now called Dash.

Darkcoin is primarily designed to ensure user privacy and anonymity. You can make several transactions on the blockchain without being traced.

Although Dash is an open-source, decentralized blockchain token, it has a strong encryption protocol.

Before it was renamed Dash, experts believed that Darkcoin was used in the black market due to its anonymity. It is widely believed that virtual tokens of this nature are used for money laundering and financing terrorism.

Due to these controversies, Darkcoin suffered a major setback. The coin was delisted from multiple trading platforms and the crypto market became cautious about transactions involving Darkcoin.

Darkcoin is an Anonymity Enhanced Cryptocurrency (AEC) similar to Monero and Zcash. These tokens help to scale through anti-money laundering mechanisms and bypass the Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) regulations.

On March 25, 2015, Xcoin’s name was changed from Darkcoin to Dash, a major move that changed the philosophy behind Xcoin’s launch and the public’s understanding of cryptocurrency.

Dash is no longer an anonymous token, but a medium for everyday transactions. In order to eliminate the disputes of the past, Dash has established a scalable digital payment system.

This payment system is cheap and easy to use. For example, in Venezuela, Dash payment system is one of the viable alternatives for their transactions.

Due to ongoing civil unrest and hyperinflation, Venezuelan currency is worthless. Citizens are now using Dash as a means of "survival" (buying what they need).

Another huge step forward for the cryptocurrency’s developers is their investment in research. Dash is funding a blockchain research lab at Arizona State University (ASU).

The collaboration between Dash and ASU is expected to improve blockchain advancement research, as well as corporate social responsibility programs that provide scholarships for undergraduate and graduate research fellowships.

Experts say Dash developers’ efforts to iron out past controversies are bearing fruit and the “Darkcoin era” is over.