Wanna Buy DASH (Digital Cash)?

Sorry, you can't.

Ok, so the minuscule fraction of the world's population who've even heard of Bitcoin much less "altcoins", makes this whole discussion potentially a ground-level opportunity for those who have. Bitcoin is actually making a market now with a capitalization north of 14 billion dollars, and daily trading volumes as high as 200 million. In fact, it is getting some increasing play in media, social and otherwise... so folks are gradually becoming aware of it at least. But despite its massively leading position atop the cryptocurrency list, Bitcoin's prospects to realize itself as a legitimate and widely used currency are not too certain. There are serious growing pains being felt in several technical areas relating to block-size, processing speed, potential for double-spending etc. And unless you're a miner or otherwise employed by the network and paid in Bitcoin, acquiring it is still inconvenient, expensive, and/or tediously slow.

But the blockchain technology underlying Bitcoin is becoming widely recognized as the future, and increasingly being utilized in countless variations and applications, including this very website (steemit). Indeed there are now dozens (maybe hundreds) of "alt-currencies" based on blockchain tech that are competing with Bitcoin for market acceptance. Each of these "alt-coin" currencies offers specific features to distinguish itself from the others, but the debate over which is best for anyone and why, or whether or not you're even ready to care, is beyond the scope of this post.

Some of us early adopters are investing in Bitcoin, (and/or Ethereum, Monero, etc, etc) even though none of them are very convenient to use as money yet. Some people are just trading the often wild volatility of the markets. And some have gotten out-fucking-rageous returns, just quietly accumulating these crypto-coins for pennies or dollars as they rise in value to ten$ or even hundred$.

And so to the lament of this post's title.
I have some Bitcoin and some Ethereum which I purchased with significant difficulty and delay from the best-known Crypto-Exchange in the United States. It took 11 days to setup an account, verify my identity (the avoidance of which is a primary objective of many of these crypto-currencies), and establish an ACH connection to my bank. Then I paid over 2% in fees and premiums to trade my fiat dollars for them. Some of this awful bother and delay can be avoided by purchasing with PayPal or a Credit/Debit card. But transactions are then limited to small amounts (a few hundred dollars) and fees skyrocket beyond what's reasonable for most investors.

And these 2 types of crypto-coin (BTC and ETH) are the only currencies that can currently be purchased with USD at this best-known Crypto-Exchange in the United States. So if I want to invest in DASH (Digital Cash), I simply cannot buy it directly with US Dollars from my bank. Instead I must buy Bitcoin or Ethereum at a premium, transfer it to my crypto wallet, and then to another (exchange only) service to convert it DASH, again paying another (albeit smaller) premium.

Now if one believes in the future of blockchain-based currency, there are significant reasons one might choose to invest in DASH (or any of the other altcoins) now. But there are currently just too many hoops to jump through imo, to encourage any kind of wide adoption of any of them. It seems to me that providing a simple, direct means to PURCHASE BitMoneys with FiatMoneys will be required to allow any of these alt-currencies to succeed. And if any of these blockchain networks provide such a purchasing service specific to THEIR brand of currency, it would almost certainly tip the scales for adoption in their favor.

Perhaps the most successful steemit contributors will convert their tokens to DASH.