Its seems dash is sorta like ripple with the UNL = The masternodes, then this gets hashed compiled back into the blockchain of dash later?
I don't know but I would like to know, seems like it pumped nicely lately. The problem is, I remember reading that the masternodes model was a great threat model that would be exploitable by an attacker, so I would like to know the details.
Actually the masternodes (4480 in total) are the reason why Dash is the most sybil-attack resistant network currently :
so these masternodes....how do they keep each other honest? If say volume goes high, thought massive adoption, would they not be doing the lion-shares of volume, while waiting for next block to has everything in?
Could you put it in really easy to understand terms....
Masternodes are kept honest due to network verifying their responsiveness (checking for open ports etc), the intactness of their collateral (in order to run a masternode they need to prove to the netwerk that they own 1000 Dash, which the network verifies through transaction verification on the blockchain) and by running current software versions.
If any of the above fails the masternode will be kicked off the network and it will not receive any masternode payments.
Masternode owners are also kept honest by their sheer investment (1000 Dash is a lot of money so it is in the masternode owner's interest to safeguard its investment
by playing by the rules).
Masternodes have a locking mechanisme that prevent double-spending and in a way it oversees miners.
Currently the blocks are rarely filled but if Dash were to go mainstream and blocks would fill up to full capacity, Dash already approved a 2MB block upgrade and can also
impose hardware demands on masternodes to make them more efficient or capable. With the recent upgrade to v0.12.1 the minimal RAM requirements for masternodes were
set a bit higher to a minimal of 1 GB of RAM. The same can be done for CPU requirements. Dash Evolution will bring a decentralized api that will make further scaling possible and if needed
Dash can also think about lowering its collateral so more masternodes can be created (that is really as last resort, there are plenty of other solutions before resorting to that).
link : http://178.254.23.111/~pub/Dash/Dash_Info.html
(see Block/Trx Info) : Dash goal is to make those indicators work at full capacity (exception the unconfirmed transactions indicator, lower is better there).
This will indicate a change from a speculative investment to a mainstream useable product.