Since the last few years, the adoption of cryptocurrencies by the general population has been steadily increasing. However, a high technical barrier to entry remains for the average user to successfully and securely conduct transactions. In order to continue to drive the mass adoption of cryptocurrencies, it is necessary to offer a simpler and more fail-safe way to conduct transactions than is currently possible via ordinary wallets.

The blockchain project Dash is currently developing Dash Platform, an approach for realizing decentralized applications. In contrast to better-known projects such as Ethereum, in which smart contracts are realized through program code on the blockchain, Dash relies on a data-oriented approach (data contracts). This means that the application logic is outsourced to the clients, while the application data is stored in a separate blockchain.

In this paper, the technology behind Dash Platform is presented on the basis of DashPay. It also covers the basic building blocks that make DashPay possible, such as identities and the Dash Platform Name Service (DPNS). DashPay is a data contract in which users can uniquely identify themselves via a username and send contact requests to each other. Contacts can thus establish bidirectional, direct payment channels between each other. DashPay thus enables simple, fast and secure payments via the Dash network. DashPay users will no longer need to exchange long and confusing public addresses in order to process payments with their contacts.