Monero
Monero (ticker XMR) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in April 2014. Unlike Bitcoin, whose transactions are publicly traceable, Monero hides the sender, recipient and amount of each transaction by default. It began as "a fair, pre-announced launch of the CryptoNote reference code", with "no premine or instamine".[1]
Privacy features
Monero combines several techniques to make transactions untraceable:[1]
- Ring signatures mix a sender's signature with others, so that an observer cannot tell which participant actually signed.
- Stealth addresses generate a new one-time address for every payment, hiding the recipient.
- RingCT (Ring Confidential Transactions), introduced in January 2017, hides transaction amounts.[2]
- Dandelion++, added in 2020, obscures the network origin of transactions.[3]
Since November 2019, Monero has used RandomX, a proof-of-work algorithm designed for ordinary computer processors and to resist specialized mining hardware.[4]
Regulation
Monero's privacy has made it a target for regulators. In 2020, the US Internal Revenue Service offered contracts worth up to $625,000 each to firms that could build tools to trace Monero transactions.[5] Major exchanges have dropped it, including Binance in February 2024 and Kraken in the European Economic Area in October 2024, the latter citing "regulatory changes".[6][7] Because it can be mined on ordinary processors, it has also been widely used in "cryptojacking" malware, which secretly uses victims' computers to mine.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "About Monero". The Monero Project. Retrieved November 12, 2026.
- ↑ September 19, 2016. "Monero 0.10.0 Released". The Monero Project. Retrieved November 12, 2026.
- ↑ May 23, 2020. "Monero 0.16 Released". The Monero Project. Retrieved November 12, 2026.
- ↑ Cant, Joeri (December 2, 2019). "Monero Implements Hard Fork Including New ASIC-Resistant Mining Algorithm". Cointelegraph. Retrieved November 12, 2026.
- ↑ Hayward, Andrew (September 30, 2020). "IRS awards contracts to firms to crack Monero". Decrypt. Retrieved November 12, 2026.
- ↑ James, Adam (February 6, 2024). "Binance to delist Monero". The Block. Retrieved November 12, 2026.
- ↑ Reguerra, Ezra (October 2, 2024). "Kraken ends Monero support in the European Economic Area". Cointelegraph. Retrieved November 12, 2026.