The developers of the DASH cryptocurrency have launched a retail-focused app that will help customers to spend the cryptocurrency at retail and online shops across the United States.

In a press release shared earlier this week, the blockchain-based payments network confirmed that its app – called DashDirect – will help improve commercial payments and, most importantly, grow adoption for the asset.

As the release explained, DashDirect will allow customers to shop at over 155,000 physical store locations and 125 online platforms across the United States.

Some big names – including Home Depot, BestBuy, Chipotle, and Staples – are part of those that will allow the service’s use. Speaking to news sources, Marshall Greenwood, DashDirect’s chief executive, explained that it will also offer sizable savings on products purchased through its interface.

As the executive explained, DashDirect is a non-custodial app. By leveraging Dash’s payment technology, the app will offer instant, low-cost payment capacities – especially for crypto micro-transactions.

So customers will be able to hold and control their DASH tokens from the app. It will also include a tipping feature and a dashboard for users to track their savings and expenses.

Greenwood pointed out that all users have to do is enter the amount of money they would like to pay on DashDirect. Immediately, the platform calculates a discount of up to 12 percent. Greenwood added that the primary objective is to make it as easy to spend DASH as it is to spend the dollar – whether physically or online. But, with DASH offering efficient and low-cost transactions, customers will enjoy impressive savings that aren't available with the American fiat.

The CEO also pointed out that they are expanding their partner retailers, languages, and customer support.

DashDirect is the latest in Dash’s efforts to boost adoption of the asset and optimize payments. Back in January, the Dash Core Group announced several updates to its smartphone app and the DashPay smartphone wallet.

DashPay is a social crypto payments wallet with human-readable addresses. As the January announcement explained, the development work for v0.17 of the app had been moved to the testnet phase. The Dash Core Group had been looking towards releasing the app before 2020, but delays in employment had pushed the work back.

Dana Alibrandi, the Head of Product at Dash, explained that DashPay is the biggest deployment of the Dash Platform. Its release will mark the biggest milestone in Dash’s long-term ambition for mainstream adoption.

With v0.17 now in testnet, Dash is looking towards v0.18 and some additional items on its agenda. The upgrade will feature more protocol involvements for light clients and greater functionalities for its Android and iOS apps.

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