Monero (XMR) Cryptocurrency

Monero (XMR) Cryptocurrency

Monero (XMR) is a decentralized open-source cryptocurrency that relies on counterparty privacy and complete transaction anonymity. It is loved by users and hated by governments. In our article, you will learn how Monero achieves anonymization and what makes this token stand out.

History of Monero

Monero (short for XMR) was launched in 2014 based on the CryptoNote protocol. It is a fork of the Bytecoin cryptocurrency (exactly Bytecoin, not Bitcoin) and was created to avoid the drawbacks inherent in Bitcoin, primarily the lack of confidentiality of transactions. Monero solved this problem with the help of such concepts as Ring Signatures and stealth addresses.

Monero Blockchain

The XMR network operates on the same consensus as Bitcoin - Proof-of-Work. Unlike Bitcoin, Monero's issuance volume is not limited, but miners now get a relatively small amount per block (if you consider the price per coin and the number of coins as a reward per block). Initially, 18.4 million XMR were issued, but now miners get 0.6 XMR for each block. Thanks to the mining, the network continues to work and does not stop. The blockchain is based on the CryptoNote protocol based on circular signature technology.

Features of Monero and who accepts Monero

The main feature of XMR is anonymity. In Bitcoin, for example, all transactions are stored in the blockchain, and you can see all the information about the BTC address using the block explorer: the amount of money transferred to and from the address, counterparty addresses, time of transfers, etc. There is no such thing in Monero - the network hides counterparty addresses for a particular address, transfer amounts, and signatures. Thus, if desired, you can easily hide all your transactions from "prying eyes."

Another interesting feature of XMR is dynamic scalability - the ability to change block size depending on the network load. For example, the Bitcoin blockchain limits block size to 4 MB, which affects network speed and block time (with high load time increases). Monero has a different principle: there is no preset block size, so more transactions can be placed in a block if the network load is high. This, in turn, avoids increasing the time of mining one block and processing transactions.