I’m undertaking a project that might end up costing me my job.

I helped start Dash Force News because there was a large coverage gap for Dash in the crypto news world. I joined up to get the truth out, and I’m very proud of our work so far. I’m not satisfied, though. Our coverage has been great, but surface-level. Positive. Safe. Most of the time, this is exactly what’s needed. Sometimes, we need to go deep and uncover some ugly stuff. To that end, I will begin doing deep investigative journalism pieces about the Dash ecosystem, usually focused on treasury proposals and the various organizations in the network that they help fund.

This will get uncomfortable fast, as true accountability means asking the toughest questions and uncovering the deepest secrets, some of whom may have the end result of making someone lose their funding, and therefore potentially their livelihood. This opens us up to counterattack, and in the Dash network you never know who could be a masternode owner, just itching to downvote your proposal to oblivion if you dare to cross theirs. I might make a lot of enemies, some out of former friends. That might mean that, down the line, my ability to work full-time for Dash may be put at risk. That’s fine. I think this service is crucially needed, for several reasons.

The Dash community is “too nice,” defensive against outside attacks

From my time working for, and defending, Dash I’ve noticed two key things. First, the community is very nice, sweet, positive, and patient. This is because of many factors, but I think it’s fair to say that it’s partly a reaction to the outright hostility prevalent in the Bitcoin world and throughout much of the cryptospace. This is one of Dash’s defining features, but as a drawback you get a lot of people who are afraid to rock the boat. 90% of the time, the “Dash way” of relentless positivity is absolutely the right move. I’m here to help deliver some much-needed scrutiny for the other 10% of times.

Second, almost since its inception, Dash has been under constant attack from communities of rival coins. I’ve personally spent countless hours online, countering lies and misconceptions, educating, and straight up calling out trolls. I’ve seen the network survive DDoS attacks, as well as several sites I’ve written for. I see how every single Dash article that shows up in the Cryptocurrency subreddit gets downvoted to zero by jealous trolls. This has made the community very wary of outside attacks, and very protective over any weakness, shortcoming, or vulnerability in the Dash ecosystem. The time for that level of defensiveness, in my opinion, is over. Dash is strong enough to have near inevitable success, and we need not fear a little accountability. It will only make us stronger. Dash stands on its own merits.

Masternodes have little info, even less time, to go on

There are potentially thousands of masternode operators who must vote on scores of proposals every month. None of them have the necessary information to do their due diligence in researching all the various arms of the Dash network, asking hard questions, cross-referencing, and coming to an accurate conclusion. In many cases, this much work isn’t needed, as many proposal owners are forthcoming and straightforward, and some projects such as Dash Force have a very public record of work and simple bookkeeping. However, there are plenty of cases where some very good projects can avoid disclosing invaluable information, and terrible projects are free to scam the network as long as their pitch, figures, and pictures sound good at first glance. Masternodes need a bulldog to do their dirty work and hunt down the truth no matter how distasteful. In truth, the masternodes need many such individuals, but we might as well start with one.

This will ultimately help Dash go #tothemoon

The best movement is battle-hardened, the best product is rigorously tested and broken over and over, and the best organizations are those that live under constant threat of their darkest secrets being exposed to the general public. Dash is doing great right now. Imagine how well it’ll do when it truly puts its best foot forward.

I will do my best. Yes, there is personal risk to reputation and finances involved, but I’m not worried. Ultimately, this will make the Dash network a more thriving, accountable, and airtight movement, the likes of which cannot be stopped. That’s something the world needs far more than I need my job stability.