Popular Dash masternode pooling services are now approaching a total of 10 pooled masternodes, increasing Dash’s usefulness as a store of value.

CrowdNode, a pooled masternode service allowing users to earn recurring rewards on a minimum deposit of 1 Dash, has recently increased their total number of pooled masternodes to five, according to founder and CEO Andreas Rud. Half of Dash’s block reward, excluding the 10% treasury to pay for development and other projects, goes to miners, while the other half goes to masternodes, which require proof of ownership of 1,000 Dash in order to run. Pooled masternodes are run in the same way as all other masternodes back-end, however are run by leveraging funds from several different users together, which alone would not be enough to run a node.

Neptune Dash, a publicly-traded Dash masternode company currently operating 21 total masternodes, recently launched a masternode pooling service similar to that of CrowdNode. According to recent reports, Neptune Dash’s total of pooled masternodes has reached three, potentially as high as five at time of writing:

CrowdNode and Neptune Dash are the two most commonly-known and trusted Dash masternode pooling services, though other services, including those not open to the general public, may exist as well.

Pooled masternodes make Dash the superior store-of-value coin

The implementation and popularization of polling services for masternodes has the potential to significantly increase Dash’s prospects as a store of value. One of the key value propositions of cryptocurrency is its public transparency, its inability to be tampered with without broad network consensus, and its fixed supply in the case of most major coins. This leads to a more reliable store of value long-term than fiat currencies which can be more easily inflated or otherwise manipulated in theory, and the store-of-value proposition has become more popular for Bitcoin recently with network congestion issues diminishing its value as a payment system. Market speculation, however, can introduce volatility as users attempt to make profits not through long-term holding, but through buying and selling for profit on margins, which can impact usefulness as a stable store of value.

The addition of more easily accessible masternode pooling services, however, increase Dash’s usefulness as a store of value. Holders of a certain minimum amount of the coin can put their funds into what essentially serves as a savings account, earning passive income on their savings. The introduction of guaranteed returns both discourages the risk introduced by speculative trading and increases the value of holding Dash, thereby increasing its store-of-value proposition beyond that of other coins such as Bitcoin.

Upcoming network overhaul will make group masternode participation even easier

While masternode pooling services already exist for Dash, they are presently purely custodial in that customers must trust a service entirely with their funds. Upcoming releases, however, may change, or lessen, the trusted nature of this proposition. With the upcoming 12.4 network overhaul, the entire structure of masternodes will be changed. With the introduction of deterministic masternode lists, masternode keys will be split in three, with one for an operator, one for the collateral-holder, and one for voting. Additionally, Dash will be experimenting with using BLS signatures, which could greatly facilitate expanded use of multisignature, including potentially for masternode keys. These together could facilitate the diffusion of trust in setting up pooled masternodes by splitting control over specific keys across several individuals.