Cryptocurrencies
Monero does not display the sender’s and receiver’s addresses, it protects them via cryptography, and does the same with transaction amounts (RingCT).
- Monero is electronic money that enables us to send payments from anywhere in the world.
- Transactions performed with Monero are confidential and untraceable.
- Its network is always looking to be independent and decentralized, so that you never have to depend on groups that hoard most of the mining power.
Monero is not a company
It is a common development for the creation and maintenance of a cryptocurrency, in which over 240 developers have already worked, including the 30 main developers who work permanently in order to maintain and improve the currency.
Many cryptography and distributed system experts that contribute to the project are donating their time or receiving donations from the community. These characteristics result in this coin being free and independent, and prevent any specific government from blocking or shutting it down.
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What is Monero and how does it work?
Monero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency that was initially based on the CryptoNote protocol already used by Bytecoin, which is what provides the level of anonymity that the Bitcoin code could not offer.
This project became known in April of 2014 and during its first days it was named BitMonero; however, its community decided to change it for the current name only 5 days after its inception.
Technical specifications
- It is based on the CryptoNote protocol.
- It has a PoW algorithm: CryptoNight.
- Programmed to generate 1 block every 2 minutes.
- It is dynamically scalable.
- In practice, an infinite amount of coins will be generated.
- It is decentralized, and does not allow a centralization around major mining companies, as is the case with Bitcoin.
- Ring Signatures is the cryptographic technology that confers its privacy.
- Node connections are made through the anonymous I2P network, making it improbable for transaction data to be disclosed.
- The Kovri project will allow transactions of all users to be encrypted via I2P, succeeding in obfuscating the IP addresses of those involved in a transaction.
Needless to say, its privacy features turn Monero into one of the most used currencies in DarkNet markets, where users go to buy all kinds of illegal items.
If you have Monero, but the site where you want to purchase only accepts Bitcoins, you may also use services such as xmr.to and stay anonymous.
How to buy or get Monero
You can buy Monero at a great number of exchanges (Bittrex, Kraken, Hitbtc) and you may buy them directly in euros, dollars or bitcoins.
You may also get your Monero at faucets where they give away small fractions of this coin, or start your own project to mine it.
Remember it is nothing but a form of electronic money, so you may also use it as a payment method at your store, or to charge for your services.
Wallet for Monero
There is no specific wallet for Monero that we can install in our mobiles or computers, but the community has developed good options to safeguard our Moneros:
- MyMonero: is a web wallet that does not store your private key, which has been in operation for several years without problem, and that is also led by one of the persons involved in the development of Monero.
- Downloading a full node: it is the closest to the official desktop wallet. If you install it you will be contributing to the network; you will have the highest level of security and you can access your funds whenever you want. The downside of any full node is that it needs quite a lot of space in our hard drive, in this case at least 12 GB.
It is advised to avoid mobile wallets, since for now there is no official one and some of them are simply rip-offs.
Mining Monero
As you have already read in this post, Monero is a cryptocurrency that is supported by the proof-of-work algorithm.
- You may mine through the use of a GPU or CPU; there are even miners that allow for both forms of mining.
- Mining pools
Regarding pools, there are many options and you may find them spread all over the world, since one of the main ideas is decentralization.
You can check out Monero’s current exchange rate at:
Blanca Guillen
I work as a software developer and for several years I started to get interested in the blockchain technology and Bitcoin cryptocurrency. I have decided to create this blog as a guide in which anyone can start acquiring knowledge about cryptocurrencies.
You can find me at Linkedin and Twitter