Monero is a cryptocurrency that was created in 2014. Monero literally means coin in Esperanto. Created by seven different developers, Monero’s main goal is to allow transactions to occur privately and with anonymity. Today there is a growing desire to use electronic cash. Bitcoin has increased in value and volume since its birth in 2009. Bitcoins rise to dominance is proof that it can replace paper money, but Bitcoin suffers from several deficiencies that created a need for Monero. Bitcoin transactions are traceable and linkable. Bitcoins blockchain is not private and not completely anonymous.
Monero is a one of the most privacy-focused cryptocurrencies in the market. Monero is an open-source project with several contributors all over the globe. Monero’s software periodically updates every six months, this helps developers add new features without much controversy. Monero is different than Bitcoin, keeping wallets and transactions completely anonymous, including to network members, developers, and miners. New blocks are created every two minutes, and there isn’t a maximum block size, leading to faster transaction times and low transactions fees. There isn’t a max supply of XMR. Unlike Bitcoin’s block rewards Monero’s block rewards will never drop to zero. Instead, they will gradually decrease until tail emission commences at the end of May 2022. At this point, rewards will be fixed at 0.6 XMR per block. Approximately 432 XMR will be created per day. Below is an illustration of the total supply and block reward over time,.
Monero has two special qualities that make the cryptocurrency unique. Monero utilizes ring signatures and stealth addresses. A ring signature mixes your account keys and several public keys yanked from the blockchain using a triangular distribution method. As the network continues to operate, past outputs could be used multiple times to form possible signer participants. In a “ring” of possible signers, all ring members are equal and valid. People can’t tell which of the possible signers in a signature group belongs to your account. Ring signatures ensure that transaction outputs are untraceable. Moreover, there are no fungibility issues with Monero given that every transaction output has plausible deniability (e.g. the network cannot tell which outputs are spent or unspent).
Stealth addresses make Monero transactions fundamentally private. These sneaky addresses allow and require the sender to create random one-time addresses for every transaction on behalf of the recipient. The recipient can publish just one address yet have all their inbound payments go to several addresses on the blockchain, on the blockchain they cannot be correlated back to either the recipient’s published address or any other transactions’ addresses. Stealth addresses allow only the sender and receiver to determine where a payment was sent.
At the writing of this article the current price for Monero is $268.08. Monero’s all-time high is currently $517.62 and I expect a new all time high to be reached after Bitcoin halves in early 2024. Monero’s value will not be recognized until the entire world acknowledges Bitcoin as the worlds reserve currency.
References
“Moneropedia: Ring Signature.” Getmonero.org, The Monero Project, https://www.getmonero.org/resources/moneropedia/ringsignatures.html.
“Monero Supply.” Monero Supply Explained, https://monero.supply/#:~:text=There%20are%20currently%2018%2C018%2C254.09%20(as,will%20never%20drop%20to%20zero.
Rosenberg, Eric. “Monero (XMR) Explained.” The Balance, The Balance, 6 July 2021, https://www.thebalance.com/monero-explained-5191559.
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monero is a very interesting cryptocurrency! Thank you for your article