How to Buy Dash – A Beginner’s Guide
By: Alexander Reed | Last updated: 2/21/24
Dash has become one of the more popular cryptocurrencies around due to the anonymity it provides its users.
In this guide, I’ll give you a short overview of the currency and explain how you can buy Dash online and even offline.
How to Buy Dash Summary
To buy Dash, follow these steps:
- Get a Dash Wallet (Ledger Nano X, Edge)
- Find your Dash address
- Sign up to CEX.IO
- Buy Dash via the brokerage service/trading platform
- Withdraw your Dash coins to your wallet.
If CEX doesn’t work out for you, here are some additional recommended options for buying Dash:
Binance
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Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2 mins to learn moreThat’s how to buy Dash in a nutshell. If you want a detailed review of Dash and additional buying options, keep on reading. Here’s what I’ll cover:
1. What is Dash?
Dash is a popular open source, peer-to-peer (P2P) decentralized cryptocurrency that focuses on anonymity, ease-of-use and fast transactions. It aims to be a true form of digital cash, hence its name. Dash forked out of Bitcoin’s protocol back in 2014 and has been growing ever since.
The Dash Core team consists of just under 40 employees who are continually improving the protocol.
Dash promotes anonymity by enabling a feature called PrivateSend. This feature allows users to make completely anonymous transactions by mixing coins through computers called masternodes in order to make it nearly impossible to track a transaction from start to finish.
Dash also has a feature called InstantSend, which allows for payment confirmation in less than a second, while avoiding the double spend problem that is a common concern with other cryptocurrencies.
In addition, Dash is secure, as transactions are confirmed by thousands of miners around the world. As you can see, Dash has a number of advantages over Bitcoin, as it ensures nearly instantaneous, private transactions. This addresses the main problems with Bitcoin as Bitcoin isn’t completely anonymous and transactions on average take a lot longer.
For a deeper explanation about Dash, watch this excellent video by Box Mining:
2. How to buy Dash in 3 Simple Steps
Step 1 – Get a Dash Wallet
Before starting the process of buying Dash, you’ll need to get a Dash wallet. Much like Bitcoin wallets, there are different types of Dash wallets.
For large amounts of Dash, always use a hardware wallet. If you’re just “playing” with the currency, a mobile or desktop wallet will do just fine.
Dash Hardware Wallets
Hardware wallets keep your private key (i.e. your funds) offline and are nearly impossible to hack. However, unlike software wallets, they have a price tag.
Most popular hardware wallets support Dash, so you can choose from either Ledger, TREZOR or KeepKey.
Personally I think that the Ledger Nano X or the TREZOR Model T are the best ones around today. You can read my Nano X review here, and the Model T review here.
Dash Desktop Wallets
One of the best desktop wallets to store and use Dash would be Exodus, an intuitive and easy to use wallet available on Windows, Mac and Linux as well as iOS and Android. Exodus lets you send, receive and exchange Dash along with over 180 other cryptocurrencies.
Anyone looking for all the benefits of Dash, like PrivateSend and InstantSend, should use the Dash Core wallet available for Mac, Linux, and Windows.
Dash Mobile Wallets
There are a few mobile Dash wallets available for both Android and iOS. Edge is the most popular choice for both platforms. Additional options include the Dash Core wallet for iOS and Android. Coinomi is also a good option if you’re looking for a trusted mobile wallet, Coinomi is available on iOS and Android as well as having a desktop version for Windows, Mac and Linux.
For a complete list of compatible Dash wallets, visit the official Dash site.
Finding your Dash address
Once you have your Dash wallet, you will need to get your Dash address. A Dash address is a long string of numbers and letters (case sensitive) that starts with an “X”. Here’s an example:
Xf9RGJcz2vRS6Pv79rYjUHrGUE7CYtJ3Xa
Step 2 – Find a Dash Exchange
Purchasing Dash or any cryptocurrency, including Bitcoin, is often far trickier than it should be for anyone who is new to this industry. Here are the top options for buying Dash with a credit/debit card or wire transfer.
Purchase Dash through CEX.io
CEX.io, established in 2013, is one of the oldest companies in the game. You can buy Dash through their brokerage service or use their trading platform.
If you know your way around trading platforms (i.e. market orders, limit orders, etc.), it’s best to use these as you’ll save a substantial amount on fees. If you’re a beginner, however, it might be easier to use the brokerage service (“Buy/sell” on the nav bar).
Deposits can be made with credit card, debit card, wire transfer or SEPA transfer. You can read my complete CEX.io review here.
Purchase Dash through Bitpanda
BitPanda allows you to buy Dash using your credit/debit card, Skrill account, SEPA transfer, SOFORT transfer, NETELLER or GIROPAY/EPS. Buying on Bitpanda requires verification and buying limits are relatively low.
BitPanda is available in Europe and the UAE only, and for now they only offer a brokerage service. This means the company will sell you Dash directly for a premium. You can read my complete Bitpanda review here.
Purchase Dash through Binance
Binance is a crypto exchange that lets you buy Dash using a credit/debit card, SEPA transfer or bank transfer. Fiat deposit fees are competitive and their trading platform offers some of the lowest trading fees on the market.
Alternatively, if you already own Bitcoin, Ether or one of the 500 other coins supported on Binance, you can quickly and simply trade it for Dash as well. You can read my complete Binance review here.
Purchase Dash through Kraken
Kraken allows you to fund your account with USD or EUR through a wire transfer, or you can use a credit or debit card to buy Dash directly. Depositing funds into your account will take longer and may possibly require additional verification, however it will probably have lower fees when compared to using a bank card to buy Dash directly. You can read my complete Kraken review here.
Buy Dash Directly With Cash
Dash ATMs – Can be found across three locations in the United States: Oregon, Florida, and New York. While the fees are high, this is one of the easiest ways to acquire Dash.
ATM locations to purchase BTC and other cryptocurrencies can be found at CoinATMRadar.
Step 3 – Move the Dash Coins to Your Wallet
Once you finish buying Dash, don’t forget to move the coins into your personal wallet. Never leave coins on an exchange as they can be lost or stolen.
Once the coins reach your wallet you officially own Dash.
3. Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Price of Dash?
The current price for 1 Dash is 25 USD.
Is Dash Mining Profitable?
No. As of the time of writing, surging energy prices mean Dash mining is not profitable even with a dedicated setup and hardware. It’s best to use a Dash mining calculator to estimate profitability based on your personal electricity cost, however when using the average residential electricity rate in the US we found Dash mining to not be profitable, even when using a dedicated Antminer D3.
What does Dash Stand for?
Dash stands for Digital Cash.
4. Conclusion
Dash is one of the main contenders when it comes to anonymous cryptocurrencies (other alternatives include Zcash and Monero).
As one of the earlier cryptocurrencies out there, Dash has continuously held one of the top 100 positions in terms of market cap. Whether or not Dash will be the preferred method for anonymous transactions in the future, remains to be seen.
Have you had any experience with Dash yourself? I’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
Trying to buy dash. I joined coin base and made a deposit. Then attempted to purchase it but I think NYERS aren’t allowed.
To buy Dash, like other alts, I use changenow.io, buying coins using a bank card. This is very convenient, given the good rate.
Hello there,
That’s very good content. Thank you for your awesome explaination. In Malaysia also we developed Dash Wallet exchanger. Here is the link slithex.com. Hopefully you guys can have a look and give some feedback to us 🙂
Cheers!
Hi Rose,
Thanks, glad you liked it. I checked out your page and it looks good. I did notice it 404’d when I went to the Dash wallet link from the p/Cryptocurrency page.
Hi Steven,
Thank you for notice the error of Dash Wallet page. I already fixed the link : https://slithex.com/p/Dash-Wallet/ 🙂
apparently CEX.IO services are not supported in my state of Virginia… any advice
Hi Anthony,
Well, Dash is supported by a lot of other exchanges, both fiat and crypto-only. I’d suggest you try Kraken but here is the full list:
https://www.dash.org/exchanges/
At the start of this article, the hover text over FIAT, has a spelling error. It should say “example” instead of “exmaple”. Just thought I would help 🙂
Thanks! fixed..
HI,
btw. check the link of BTC-e it´s down for ever you can better remove it 😉
Thanks for the suggestion, I’ve removed it.