CrowdNode, the popular Masternode sharing service recently added their 11th pooled Dash Masternode to their service, which enables more individuals to get involved in the Dash Masternode ecosystem.

Peter Vesborg, co-founder of CrowdNode, discussed how they have rapidly grown despite the exchange price declines and still have not had any issues with scaling.

“We didn’t set a firm target for how fast we expected to scale, but net deposits of around 100 DASH/day, as we have seen since launch, is at least as good as we hoped for. The practicalities of scaling have not presented any serious problems.”

He added that they are actually witnessing more confidence in Dash despite recent market conditions.

“It’s worth noting, given the massive price drop, that it is very encouraging that only a small handful of CrowdNode members have withdrawn in order to sell. Quite the opposite is the trend – many are regularly increasing their deposit size, and one member who withdrew his balance did so in order to launch a full MN of his own! Thus, it seems that the majority of CrowdNode members are die-hard DASH holders.”

Overall, the increase in their client base is helping them accomplish their goals, which aligns with the Dash network of improving its security and reputation.

“CrowdNode’s mission is to provide access to MN rewards and influence to everyone (not just “whales”). One of our hopes is that this will help undermine argument, sometimes made by trolls, that DASH is a plutocracy designed only to benefit the rich.”

Exciting developments on the horizon

Peter also started to discuss some further implementations that CrowdNode has planned to enhance customer experience, such as shared Masternode voting in Dash Treasury proposals.

“We have started work on implementing CrowdNode member voting on proposals. We are currently evaluating several different “models” for how to vote with CrowdNode MNs based on member votes.”

Each Dash Masternode is able to vote for Dash Treasury proposals, but since it is one vote per Masternode, a solution has yet to be revealed that will allow pooled owners to vote within the Masternode pool and then cast a collective vote. However, Deterministic Masternode Lists have been announced by Dash Core Group, which will allow Masternode owners to delegate their voting keys to another party without handing over the 1,000 Dash collateral key. Not only is CrowdNode excited for this since it will make their “internal procedures much easier”, but also BLS signatures since it “will enable a massive boost in security – not just in our work-flow, but for all other DASH handling businesses (exchanges, etc.)”.

Additionally, to celebrate the holidays, CrowdNode has been organizing a riddle contest that started on December 1st and they are interested to see how many individuals play along. The instructions tell participants that each riddle solution leads to “one of the five fragments of a 3-of-5 Shamir Secret Sharing collection” and the first finder will be able to sweep the wallet’s private keys. The “next 19 DASHers to find the solution will get an honourable mention on their hall of fame (website!) and probably a Christmas beer”.

Overall, CrowdNode is excited about the work they are doing, but also anxious for the bear market to end so they can have more leeway in building cool products and services.

“We are excited at the prospect of the DASH price getting back up (well)above $100 hopefully soon, since with the present prices our fees barely cover the marginal costs we have for operating a marginal MN, not to mention any kind of salary for anyone on the team. Right now, everyone in crypto must hunker down and work for free to build stuff. We are no different, and we are in it for the long term.”

Dash is focused on consumer inclusion

Dash is focused on being a global, peer-to-peer, decentralized, digital currency, which partly requires more equality between all users. As Peter mentioned, some people often argue that Dash is too centralized because of its Masternode system, but there are around 5,000 Masternodes. This is not a small number and with CrowdNode and Neptune Dash offering pooling services, securing the network and getting paid for doing so is now available to nearly all Dash holders since CrowdNode accepts deposited as low as 1 Dash.

Additionally, Dash has one of the better wealth distributions of all the top cryptocurrencies. The addition of pooled Masternode services now allows more individuals to gain a percentage of the 6.7% per annum return Dash pays to Masternode owners in exchange for securing the network, which further prevents centralization of coin supply.