Dash is accepted at over 500 locations listed on merchant listing DiscoverDash.

A project of Dash Force, DiscoverDash is a merchant listing and resource for businesses and customers seeking to use Dash. Announced in late May of 2017, the site now lists over 500 merchants around the world who will accept Dash as payment for goods and services. This number is up from 100 listed late June, and 300 listed late August as Dash’s use spreads across the world.

In some parts of the world it’s becoming increasingly possible to live entirely off of Dash

The use of Dash is now widespread enough that it is possible to use it exclusively for large portions of expenses in certain locations. The small US state of New Hampshire presently lists 37 Dash-accepting locations, 16 of those in Portsmouth, a seaside town of about 20,000 people with a downtown area heavy with cryptocurrency-accepting merchants. A resort in Nicaragua accepts Dash for all offerings, including rooms, meals, activities, and of course unlimited drink packages. Finally, the Three Sisters 5-star hotel in Tallinn, Estonia accepts Dash, as does its in-house restaurant and its bar. Numerous other locations around the world take Dash as well, concentrated in certain areas.

Finally, Dash-exclusive service BitCart allows customers to buy Amazon.com gift cards at a 15% discount. In addition to opening up one of the largest online marketplace in existence to Dash users, it also facilitates all manner of other services, such as hotels and airfare,.

Dash’s use is rapidly expanding

With a recent surge of interest and a series of projects coming closer to fruition, Dash has hit an unprecedented rate of expansion. The price took off close to the $600 range, entering the coin into the top 5 rankings, after the release of a report from the Palm Beach Research Group. Among other fundamentals, the report outlined Dash’s partnership with payment processor Alt Thirty Six to bring payment support to the legal marijuana industry, setting up a launch to wide use similar to how PayPal rose based on its usefulness to the online auction industry, notably becoming the payment method of choice for eBay. With wide release and integrations into payment processors early next year, Dash could see a large spike in use as a payment system in Q1 of 2018.

Beyond integrations for commerce in large industries and the first world, however, Dash is also growing at a fast pace in the third world as well. In addition to an already impressive group of promotional teams around Africa, Nigeria recently gained a second team to help with outreach. Additionally, the DashDirect project has made its debut in northern Ghana, using private Dash donations to provide a basic income to families living in extreme poverty, who will then use their Dash to purchase basic goods at a local storefront. This will have the dual effect of both helping the needy feed their families, and of setting up local Dash economies in areas of the world underserved by banking.