Welcome!

This proposal is for the second quarter 2026 of the Dash Growth business development and marketing initiative.

Dash Growth consists of one full-time employee (Joël Valenzuela, myself) and several part-time contractors: Nicole Grinstead (Crypto Quorum producer and marketing consultant), Dan Sessom (video animations), Alex Rourke (video clips and social media posting), YC (business development associate), as well as other contractors as needed for one-off tasks.

Last quarter recap

This past quarter, we partnered with blockchain financial services company Zebec. This included the release of a private reloadable debit card where users from 140 countries can now go from Dash to a spendable balance in seconds. We are also launching a Dash-branded high-limit reloadable card available in USD and EUR, which will launch as soon as Zebec finishes onboarding a new partner for this card program (which delayed the launch beyond the initial March estimate).

We have also finalized our agreement with Zebec to onboard Dash to their payroll engine. This should allow companies around the world to pay employees directly in Dash automatically for very competitive rates. We believe that this will complete a valuable integration in allowing users all over the world to live entirely on Dash, from income to spending, and we see the Zebec partnership as strategic to this goal. Current ETA for the launch of Dash payroll is within the next couple of weeks.

Dash was added to NEAR Intents, the leading cross-chain DEX. This will enable many extra integrations into interfaces, wallets etc., as well as expand payment integration opportunities. The announcement was covered by several publications.

Leading DEXes Hyperliquid and Overlay Protocol, and exchange FameEX, recently added Dash perpetuals, and the upcoming cross-chain DEX Magi announced a Dash integration in the coming months.

Payment processor AEON Pay announced a Dash integration, opening up Dash to more than 50 million offline merchants around the world. This integration was facilitated by Daria Chernozub's team, whose stellar networking work at conferences has paid dividends.

Dash Core Group announced a future integration of shielded private transactions on the Evolution chain using Zcash's Orchard technology, and we publicized the announcement to many publications thanks to our partnership with MarketAcross.

We announced DashCon, a dedicated Dash conference, to take place on September 3rd of 2026 in Amsterdam. Dash was offered a speaking spot at the MoneroTopia conference in Mexico City in February, where we presented and sponsored through community donations.

We presented to a panel of crypto and blockchain CEOs and founders as part of Qubic Labs's mentor program.

Global on-ramp Alchemy Pay announced a Dash integration, which was also facilitated by Daria Chernozub's team. Dash was listed on a series of exchanges across the world: relisted on OKX in several jurisdictions, Coinbase Perpetuals, MEXC USDC trading pairs, Ju.com, XBO, BTCC, WhiteBit Perpetuals, IBIT Futures, CoinFlare, and more. Dash was added to global on-ramps FinchPay, and as a payment option for online gift card shop Genghis. XT held a promotional trading competition for Dash, MEXC promoted Dash through fee-free trading, SwapSpace and LetsExchange held a Dash-specific trading contest, and CoinRabbit lowered Dash lending rates.

We continued to host our popular weekly X space the Crypto Quorum, sponsored by Edge Wallet, featuring guests from across the cryptocurrency space, with eight more installments this quarter. We ran a promotional space with DeFi wallet BiorLabs, and co-promoted with ChangeNOW. Finally, we appeared on numerous X spaces and other shows: Populist Block (2x), Zypto (5x), Digital Gold Talk (4x), Bozena Rezab, Web3 Global (2x), Mondays With Maya (2x), NOWNodes, DigiByte, MoneroTalk, Around the Coin, QuickEx AMA, Edge Wallet's Crypto Front Lines, Matrix Money Podcast (3x), Wenaltseason's space, a collaborative space with Coinw, ChainLeak podcast, xSpac3s, the Subversive Spectrum, Intents Day with NEAR Intents, and The Rollup (2x).

What's ahead

Our goals for the future is as follows:

Q2 Business Development

During the rest of the first quarter this year, we're focused on the last few product activations:

Activate the custom branded Dash Zebec card (Zebec is redoing this card product with a new issuer, estimated spring 2026)
Launch Zebec global payroll integrations (ETA March 24th)
Launch and announce our new payment processor integrations
Launch new strategic exchange listing (ETA March 18th)
Secure additional DEX listings (1-2 additional estimated this quarter)

Q2 Marketing

Launch an ecosystem-wide quarterly recap call
Launch the first of 4 separate Brave ad campaigns
Create and distribute marketing videos, demos, and other content of all major spending tools, DEX integrations, earn integrations, etc.
Reach every major privacy-focused show, podcast, etc. about our Orchard integration

2026 Business Development

These are our major business development goals to have completed by the end of the year:

Debut our Dash-to-anything, anything-to-Dash features in the DashPay wallets with at least multiple DEX rails
Expand DashSpend to more providers and regions
Integrate WalletConnect functionality into as many Dash-supporting wallets and interfaces as possible
Onboard to several new payment processors and wallet integrations
Integrate Evolution support into third-party wallets and services, particularly in the multi-coin world
Integrate Orchard private transaction support into multiple third-party wallets and services
Onboard as many new DEXes as possible


2026 Marketing

These are our planned marketing activities for 2026, with more coming as opportunities arise:

Launch at least 4 separate Brave ad campaigns (compared to 1 in 2025)
Debut an ambassador program strictly for new user acquisition
Launch several additional KOL relationships in our niche
Host DashCon without treasury funds and with 100-200 attendees
Get to 5,000+ Evolution users

Ask

We are keeping our monthly ask to 530 Dash. This ask will be enough to sustain one full-time salary and three part-time salaries even with a significant price decrease, and at current levels is able to pay for select giveaways, KOL partnerships, advertising, sponsorships, etc. We have successfully leveraged exogenous funding sources from the Crypto Quorum sponsorship (which at current prices gives us about 14 extra Dash per month to work with). We will continue to explore new external funding sources as well.

Links

https://x.com/EdgeWallet/status/2024588755072696785
https://x.com/CryptoCoinMind/status/2026432918319673772
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/2026733852245328322
https://x.com/PopulistBlock/status/2026839631702946155
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/2028750539937206278
https://x.com/wenaltseason/status/2029572292133474462
https://x.com/CoinWOfficial/status/2028946367838826617
https://x.com/Maya_Protocol/status/2031022600055296017
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2013311017355190627
https://x.com/ChainLeak/status/2013340804782121094
https://x.com/xSpac3s/status/2013672953729187865
https://x.com/CryptoCoinMind/status/2013748810506477801
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/2013982773283877340
https://x.com/SallyMayweather/status/2014132532132946339
https://x.com/jp_dawg/status/2014405933774860738
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/2015498118889119891
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/2015846297207722222
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/2018360536367509522
https://x.com/CryptoCoinMind/status/2016285380992237780
https://x.com/therollupco/status/2020907606865535464
https://x.com/web3globalmedia/status/2021237806111051936
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/2023368557459902818
https://x.com/PopulistBlock/status/1996399081237962976
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/1996136800247562517
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/1998088042155049269
https://x.com/anestetica/status/1998376678134043041
https://x.com/web3globalmedia/status/1998430011292836165
https://x.com/Maya_Protocol/status/2000225265767854347
https://x.com/NOWNodes/status/2000605142475813193
https://x.com/NOWNodes/status/2001653593053761914
https://x.com/aroundthecoin/status/2001348420670542036
https://x.com/web3globalmedia/status/1990797121604497480
https://x.com/DigiByteCoin/status/1988995369343283444
https://x.com/web3globalmedia/status/1991182216857088380
https://x.com/web3globalmedia/status/1992971494939320449
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/1993013972237533473
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/1992925292537553260
https://x.com/MoneroTalk/status/1993833755266744645
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/1990161028274135169
https://x.com/aroundthecoin/status/2001348420670542036
https://x.com/QuickEx_Tweets/status/2004900071712690314
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/2005700609828348199
https://x.com/ZyptoApp/status/2005615512416350630
https://x.com/DigitalGoldTalk/status/2008219922581909533
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/1993331104762167398
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2000595428371284310
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2001461525500821845
https://medium.com/@www_aeon_xyz/aeon-partners-with-dash-to-bring-dash-payments-to-real-world-commerce-and-the-ai-economy-d0c056fd3229
https://alchemypay.medium.com/alchemy-pay-integrates-dash-to-enable-global-fiat-on-ramp-access-to-dash-e4048a43e26f
https://x.com/CoinbaseMarkets/status/1995900842042380326
https://x.com/MEXC_Listings/status/1995707899515994245
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/1993740951010070705
https://x.com/OKXSpain/status/2008961833219260903
https://x.com/OKXPortugal/status/2008961839422476373
https://x.com/Jucom_Official/status/1993250706086936824
https://x.com/XboOfficial/status/1993703138906308967
https://x.com/BTCCexchange/status/1993978766545305783
https://x.com/WhiteBit/status/1994383276346134655
https://x.com/IBIT_Global/status/1994073496423727355
https://x.com/FinchPay_io/status/1993302566919180591
https://x.com/XTexchange/status/1991801091894501770
https://x.com/MEXC_Official/status/1993983146019442884
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2000664754302373931
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/1995683416512356696
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/1998569857055359271
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/1990950734867935365
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2029242103729934825
https://blockster.com/dash-expands-cross-chain-access-with-integration-into-near-intents
https://coinlaw.io/dash-near-intents-defi-integration/
https://blockchainreporter.net/dash-now-available-across-near-intents-cross-chain-solver-network/
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2024507583852167494
https://cointelegraph.com/news/dash-integrates-z-cash-orchard-privacy
https://x.com/vinibarbosabr/status/2024508286574190670
https://thecoding.substack.com/p/report-dash-evo-to-implement-zcash
https://lookonchain.com/feeds/47748 https://cryptos.tel/dash-integrates-zcash-privacy-pool-as-the-privacy-narrative-heats-up/ https://tradingmaster.app/en/news/2026-02-19-dash-evolution-integrates-zcash-privacy-technology https://sosovalue.com/en/research/2024505269114187776 https://www.cryptobreaking.com/dash-evolution-chain-integrates-zcash/ https://blockster.com/dash-brings-zcashs-orchard-privacy-to-its-evolution-chain
https://hackernoon.com/dash-brings-zcash-orchard-privacy-to-evolution-chain-for-shielded-transactions
https://btcusa.com/privacy-crypto-development-activity-led-by-chainlink-dash-and-nym-santiment/ https://en.bitcoinsistemi.com/dash-dash-announces-major-update-will-incorporate-zcash-s-zec-privacy-features/ https://guru-investing.com/dash-unleashes-5-powerful-features-with-new-privacy-integration/
https://youtube.com/shorts/hlA7Px0b0nA?feature=share
https://hashtelegraph.com/dash-integriruet-privatnost-v-platform-l2-vnedrenie-orchard-iz-zcash/
https://mpost.io/dash-advances-privacy-roadmap-with-orchard-integration-tor-shielded-transfers-and-tokenized-assets/
https://x.com/HyperliquidX/status/2012811763570352152
https://x.com/OverlayProtocol/status/2031747033921679521
https://x.com/magi_network/status/2029988190929465785
https://x.com/FameEXGlobal/status/2013950316429877448
https://x.com/FinchPay_io/status/2019072134593630238
https://x.com/CoinflareGlobal/status/2032456481854144528
https://x.com/SwapSpaceCo/status/2029862692391981347
https://x.com/letsexchange_io/status/2031022665381621768
https://x.com/CoinRabbitLoans/status/2031716155853885746
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2023392922507657648
https://x.com/i/broadcasts/1YpJkkkpOeZJj
https://x.com/QUBIC_LABS/status/2031809933834850752
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2026504982590271778
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2029603147593740733
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https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2013998991504031934
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https://x.com/Dashpay/status/2017304451921346732
https://x.com/ChangeNOW_io/status/2018723698195525720
https://x.com/Dashpay/status/1998466355138613733