Monero (XMR)

Monero is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in 2014, originally as a fork of Bytecoin. It was designed from the ground up to provide untraceable, private, and fungible digital cash.

Unlike Bitcoin where all transactions are publicly visible, Monero obscures transaction details by default. The sender, recipient, and transaction amounts are all hidden from public view on the blockchain.

Monero is considered 'fungible' because every XMR is identical and interchangeable. Since transaction history is hidden, coins cannot be 'tainted' by previous use, unlike Bitcoin where certain coins may be flagged.

The Monero community prioritizes decentralization and privacy, regularly updating the protocol to maintain ASIC resistance and improve privacy features.

Monero uses three main privacy technologies: ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT (Ring Confidential Transactions).

Ring signatures mix a user's transaction with others, making it computationally infeasible to determine which participant actually sent the funds. The sender picks decoy outputs from the blockchain to include in the ring.

Stealth addresses are one-time addresses generated for each transaction. The recipient publishes a single address, but each incoming transaction goes to a unique stealth address that only the recipient can link to their wallet.

RingCT hides transaction amounts. Only the sender and recipient know the actual value transferred, while validators can still verify that inputs equal outputs (no coins created or destroyed).