SALT, the popular cryptocurrency lending platform, is now expanding on their previous Dash integration with a partnership with NODE40, the blockchain masternode hosting and monitoring provider.

This new partnership with NODE40 “will provide expanded loan options for DASH masternode owners in tandem with the Dash community’s first masternode hosting service”, according to the press release. Rob Odell, VP of Product and Marketing at SALT, discussed how their “development team has made a technological breakthrough and has advanced [their] mission by unlocking value and liquidity in cryptocurrency assets through collateralizing the Dash connected to masternodes”.

“Dash has quickly become our second most popular collateral option behind bitcoin and the community has reacted positively with a high volume of loan applications. We’re excited to work with NODE40 to increase our support for the Dash community and provide innovative solutions and services for masternode holders to get the most out of their assets.”

Perry Woodin, Co-Founder and CEO of NODE40 and a Dash Trust Protector also discussed the factors that lead to the partnership and why they believe it will lead to success.

“Our companies’ shared dedication to customer service naturally brought us together when a mutual client wanted to take out a fiat loan using their masternode’s Dash. What attracted us to SALT was the caution with which things are done; they have a solid reputation of doing things by the books. Having been a part of Dash from early on, we tend to do things conservatively, and that was important to us when evaluating how a loan is backed and if our customers would be protected in the case of an audit. With SALT we share the vision of being cutting edge while playing by the rules not only to protect ourselves, but to bring legitimacy to the industry.”

Consumer applications of Dash’s blockchain innovations

SALT previously integrated Dash this past April and a key innovative feature was allowing masternode operators to post their masternodes as collateral while the owner still retained the rewards and voting rights of the masternode as long as the scheduled payments on the loan were made.

“The key to this software integration comes from a recent Dash update, DIP3, which introduces pro registration transactions. Instead of referring to another transaction from the network to sign a message as proof, a “proreg tx” refers to an output produced by the transaction itself, which in turn acts as proof of ownership. Users can now collateralize the Dash connected to their masternodes by parking their funds in SALT’s insured cold storage—the signature used to move those funds validates ownership, allowing users to continue participating in the network.”

DIP 3 is also commonly known as Deterministic Masternode Lists (DML), which enable masternode operators to split their keys into three keys; one for voting rights, one for operating, and one for proof of fund ownership. This development enables MNOs to be able to delegate tasks to specialized parties without having to entrust those same parties with access to their 1,000 Dash collateral funds. As Dash Core Group developer, Codablock, describes in his DML blog update, ProRegTx is a special transaction that “contains the necessary metadata (IP, public keys, reward addresses, …) and also moves the 1000 Dash collateral to a new address”. Then, “[a]fter this transaction is mined, the masternode is added to the masternode list and is immediately expected to be functioning”.

Dash lending helps supplement usability thresholds

While Dash is finding new merchant adoption and usage around the world, currently around 5,000 merchants, real world usage is still limited in most areas when compared to fiat, as with most cryptocurrencies. So some masternode owners may become financial strapped and be force to gain some liquidity, but rather than selling a masternode, they can now take out a loan and still gain the rewards of the masternode. Thus, not only do they not have to completely divest from their investment, but they will still have access to its rewards to help pay back the loan. This also keeps masternodes in the hands of early investors that saw the potential of Dash early on. This innovation and partnership helps illustrate the financial potential of Dash and how a new economy is forming around the attributes of digital cash.