I have a modest Dash holding from when Dash was a lot cheaper than it is now with the current price spike. I hold other coins too. What I'd like to ask is this -
Is Dash immune from blockchain bloat and, if it isn't, whether this will be an issue at some point in the future?
Dash has been founded in 2014, is three years old and currently has 2.6 GB blockchain size
Blockchain bloat is not and will not be a problem for Dash.
The Masternode network will continue to carry the full blockchain and getting rewarded for it, while the Dash Evolution update (end 2017) will enable Lightweight wallets / SPV wallets for endusers / merchants.
I recall from way back in the Darkcoin days, there was mentioning of blockchain pruning as a way to reduce the size of the blockchain, keeping a number of hashes representing a certain number of blocks and mainly for light clients. I do not know if this is still feasible or not, the masternodes already provide a very strong and reliable 2nd tier backbone to the Dash network. Would this still be necessary or is it not a requirement anymore? The light client can probably query the masternodes for whatever transactions are being asked for.