Dash trade volumes soar 282% in 2020 as commercial adoption grows

The blockchain network behind the Dash cryptocurrency posted impressive fourth-quarter and full-year results on Thursday.

Dash (DASH), a cryptocurrency analog for electronic cash, recorded impressive growth in 2020, as average daily trade volumes, users and retail payments grew considerably.

During its Q4 live stream on Thursday, Dash Core Group reported that average trade volumes jumped 282% year-over-year, from $9.8 million to $37.4 million. On a quarterly basis, average trade volumes increased by 48%.

The total volume of payments hit $916 million, up 80% from the previous year. Commercial payment values rose 37.3% year-over-year, exceeding 22,000 transactions per day, which is reportedly higher than Bitcoin (BTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

The quarterly report indicated that DASH is currently accepted as a payment method at thousands of stores, which is a reflection of growing mainstream adoption. “In January, Dash outperformed Bitcoin in terms of the number of brick-and-mortar retailers accepting digital payments in the United States,” Dash Core Group said.

Merchant adoption got a boost in January after Dash partnered with CrayPay, a U.S. loyalty program, to enable DASH spending at major retailers, including American Eagle, CVS, Domino’s Door Dash and GAP, among others.

Dash’s quarterly results follow a rare exchange delisting in January over the cryptocurrency’s alleged privacy features. DASH was grouped alongside Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) as a privacy coin that would no longer be tradable on Bittrex, the U.S.-based digital currency exchange.

Dash pushed back against the “privacy coin” label, arguing that, from a technical standpoint, the cryptocurrency’s “privacy functionality is no greater than Bitcoin’s.”

From a technical standpoint, Dash’s privacy functionality is no greater than Bitcoin’s, making the label of “privacy coin” a misnomer for Dash. We have reached out to @BittrexExchange to request a meeting with their compliance team. Hopefully this will be rectified soon. https://t.co/QA66OoshPn

— Dash (@Dashpay) January 1, 2021