Dash Launches Retail-Focused DashDirect App to Boost Adoption

Dash, a blockchain-based payments network, has launched a noncustodial and user-controlled retail app to boost adoption of the cryptocurrency by merchants.

Called DashDirect, the app allows users to pay for their everyday purchases at national chain retailers with their DASH holdings, according to the press release shared with CoinDesk.

Users of DashDirect can qualify for discounts of up to 12% on purchases, the company said. Participating retailers and online merchants include American Eagle, AutoZone, Best Buy, Chili's, Chipotle, CVS, DoorDash, GameStop, Home Depot, Subway and Ulta.

"DashDirect is an instant-savings retail app that allows the cryptocurrency DASH to be spent at more than 155,000 stores and 125 websites within the United States," Marshall Greenwald, CrayPay's CEO and DashDirect's founder, said.

That puts Dash ahead of Bitcoin in terms of adoption as a payments network. Data tracked by CoinMap.org shows bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency by market value, was accepted at 22,883 venues worldwide at the end of June.

The app uses the official Dash wallet to facilitate transactions and transfers money on user verification. Further, users don't have to pay any currency exchange fees.

The product built by CrayPay, an Arizona-based fintech company in partnership with Dash Core Group, is backed by the Dash Investment Foundation.