The Dash Core team recently released their quarterly summary call, linked above. It’s approximately an hour and a half, and while I’d recommend the hardcore Dash fan/investor to listen to the entire thing, it is kind of long and has some audio issues. So, in the interest in providing a TL;DR for the less patient members of the community (myself included), here’s a few big announcements that jumped out at me from the call.

1: New legal structures for the Dash network

Dash will be looking at setting up new legal structures more appropriate for the decentralized network that it has become. This will involve the creation of a Swiss trust, which will legally give all of Core’s assets etc. to the masternode owners directly, rather than to a single corporate entity. This will allow masternode owners to, among other things, “line-item” remove Core members if appropriate, rather than simply voting against a funding proposal and therefore defunding the entire team just to get rid of one bad apple. The trust can take possession of any legal entity wishing to be owned by the network if they so choose.

Additionally, the trust can also take equity/debt ownership in projects it funds. In the past, the Dash network purely gave away grants, for example to companies for integration. Now, the Dash network can pursue partial ownership in projects it helps fund, again without giving ownership to any one corporate entity, but rather to masternode owners and the Dash network as a whole. Also, contractors seeking funding can voluntarily enter into legal agreements with entities in the network, for example contracts to deliver on proposed work. Damages from breach of contract would then go to the Dash network, to be used at the discretion of the network.

2: Anti-patent troll measures

Dash Core remains committed to producing open-source code. At present, Dash Evolution is being developed in closed repositories, but will be made open-source once released for public use. In order to protect the future of Dash, Core is working on securing patents in order to shield Dash from becoming victims to patent trolls, who could claim patents and shut Dash out of using its own technology. The end goal is to keep Dash open-source, and securing these patents is a purely defensive measure to ensure Dash stays open-source. Details pending.

3: Hiring a marketing firm

In Q3 of this year, Dash Core will pursue the hiring of a marketing firm. The idea of an official marketing branch has been a hotly debated subject in the community, and this move puts the question to rest.

4: Dash conferences in England and China

Dash will hold a series of dedicated conferences. The first will take place in London this September, and the second one will be in China.

5: Proposal fees will be reduced

The fees to submit proposals to the masternode network will be reduced. To what extent has not been made clear, but this will be addressed soon. Two previous proposals to lower the fee to 1 Dash and to 0.1 Dash were soundly rejected by the network.

Misc.

Core has hired a new human resources director, Kelly Kopp-Schuetz, who will assist the organization in the onboarding of new staff.

Business development priorities will focus on establishing more ramps/accessibility to Dash to establish its independence from Bitcoin and the rest of the cryptocurrency world.

Core sees communication with the Dash community as a priority, and will stick to current channels of providing updates to the rest of the Dash community. The rapid growth of Core spurred by the recent price spikes has made one-on-one communication more difficult.