Dash has funded the creation of a blockchain research lab in Arizona.

In partnership with the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering at Arizona State University, Dash is sponsoring the creation of a new blockchain research lab. The initiative was funded by treasury proposal, and will focus on research into exploring the potential of blockchain technology as well as investigate issues and solutions presented by the technology.

The lab will research pertinent topics such as mass scaling

According to the proposal funded earlier this summer, this research lab is intended to bridge a large gap in research in an industry intensely focused on Bitcoin alone:

“Until now, the majority of blockchain research has been focused on Bitcoin, with minimal focus on other blockchain applications [1]. According to research conducted by Yli-Huumo, et al. (2016), approximately 80% of of all academic research is focused on Bitcoin and less than 20% on other blockchain applications including smart contracts and licensing [1]. Additionally, blockchain scalability related challenges such as throughput capacity and latency have been ignored by researchers.

Dash is focused on becoming the first digital currency capable of mass-market adoption. We believe our incentivized infrastructure model offers a viable path to providing the capacity required to operate at massive scale. Validating and improving our approach through rigorous research offers enormous potential benefits to users over the long-term.”

The research lab will cover pertinent topics such as the viability of various long-term scaling solutions, the mining hashrate required to properly secure a network, ways to avoid the centralization of crypocurrency mining, and more energy-efficient methods of running a blockchain network.

Thorough research can help prevent unintended consequences

The deployment of various research initiatives into different aspects of blockchain technology can ward off problems in implementation down the road. For example, a thorough exploration of the possibilities and consequences of various long-term scaling approaches can avoid running into network congestion issues as Bitcoin experienced without a ready solution, or as similarly happened to Ethereum before a gas limit readjustment. Proper exploration of governance structures and incentives could also have avoided a messy battle and chain split as happened to Bitcoin.

In addition to research into future implications of blockchain technology, Dash has also funded a bug bounty program to ferret out any issues that Dash may be facing presently. This would also include testing key features such as attempting to break PrivateSend’s privacy. By focusing on both present issues and potential future problems, Dash aims to maintain a stable platform for long-term growth from the present onward.