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== Design ==
== Design ==
Unlike many cryptocurrencies that are derivatives of Bitcoin, Monero is based on the [[CryptoNote]] protocol and possesses significant algorithmic differences relating to [[Blockchain (database)|blockchain]] [[obfuscation|obfuscation,]] among others.<ref>{{cite web|title=Drugs, Code and ICOs: Monero's Long Road to Blockchain Respect|url=https://www.coindesk.com/drugs-code-icos-moneros-long-road-blockchain-mainstream/|website=CoinDesk|accessdate=18 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bitcoin and the Rise of the Cypherpunks|url=https://www.coindesk.com/the-rise-of-the-cypherpunks/|website=CoinDesk|accessdate=18 September 2017}}</ref> Monero does not have a hard block size limit like most cryptocurrencies, instead the size of each block is dynamically calulated and designed to independently scale with demand<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sputniknews.com/science/201608291044728112-monero-cryptocurrency-transactions/|title=New Monero Cryptocurrency is 'Safe as Houses,' Developer Tells Sputnik|last=Sputnik|website=sputniknews.com|language=en|access-date=2017-11-04}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://insidebitcoins.com/news/moneros-dominance-further-justified/42293|title=Monero's Dominance Further Justified - Blockchain Agenda with Inside Bitcoins - News, Price, Events {{!}} Blockchain Agenda with Inside Bitcoins – News, Price, Events|website=insidebitcoins.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-04}}</ref>. It also does not have a maximum possible soin supply; instead approximately 18.4 million Monero will be mined by 31st of May 2022 after which 0.3 Monero per minute will be mined continously resulting in an inbuilt sub-1% inflation rate<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://coinsutra.com/monero-cryptocurrency/|title=Monero Cryptocurrency: Everything You Need To Know|date=2017-06-21|work=CoinSutra - Bitcoin Community|access-date=2017-11-04|language=en-US}}</ref>.
Unlike many cryptocurrencies that are derivatives of Bitcoin, Monero is based on the [[CryptoNote]] protocol and possesses significant algorithmic differences relating to [[Blockchain (database)|blockchain]] [[obfuscation]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Drugs, Code and ICOs: Monero's Long Road to Blockchain Respect|url=https://www.coindesk.com/drugs-code-icos-moneros-long-road-blockchain-mainstream/|website=CoinDesk|accessdate=18 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Bitcoin and the Rise of the Cypherpunks|url=https://www.coindesk.com/the-rise-of-the-cypherpunks/|website=CoinDesk|accessdate=18 September 2017}}</ref> By providing a high level of privacy, Monero is [[fungibility|fungible]], meaning that every unit of the currency can be substituted by another unit. These units are indistinguishable from one another. This makes Monero different from public-ledger cryptocurrencies like [[Bitcoin]], where addresses previously associated with undesired activity can be blacklisted and refused by network members.<ref name="Coindesk&quot;">{{cite web|url=https://www.coindesk.com/what-to-know-before-trading-monero/|title=What to Know Before Trading Monero|date=2017-05-28|work=Coindesk|last=Bovaird|first=Charles }}</ref> Monero is sometimes employed by [[Bitcoin]] users to break link between transactions, with bitcoins first converted to Monero, then after some delay, converted back and sent to an address unrelated to those used before.<ref name="BitcoinMonero" />

⚫
In particular, the [[ring signature]]s mix spender's address with a group of others, making it exponentially more difficult to establish a link between each subsequent transaction.<ref name="Wired">{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2017/01/monero-drug-dealers-cryptocurrency-choice-fire/|title=Monero, the Drug Dealer's Cryptocurrency if Choice, is on Fire|date=2017-01-25|work=Wired|last=Greenberg|first=Andy}}</ref><ref name="BitcoinMonero">{{cite website|url=https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/how-bitcoin-users-reclaim-their-privacy-through-its-anonymous-sibling-monero-1472761633/|title=How Bitcoin Users Reclaim Their Privacy Through Its Anonymous Sibling, Monero|date=2016-09-01|accessdate=2017-11-03}}</ref> Also the "stealth addresses" generated for each transaction make it impossible to discover actual destination by anyone else but the address owner. Finally, the "ring confidential transactions" mechanism hides the transferred amount.<ref name="Wired" />


Monero is designed to be resistant to [[application-specific integrated circuit]] mining which are commonly used to mine other cryptocurrencies such as [[Bitcoin]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://coincentral.com/monero-vs-bitcoin/|title=Monero vs Bitcoin: Monero Adopted by Privacy Focused Crypto Users – CoinCentral|website=coincentral.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref>. It can be mined somewhat efficiently on consumer grade hardware such as [[x86]], [[x86-64]], [[ARM architecture|ARM]] or even consumer grade [[GPU|GPUs]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://coincentral.com/monero-vs-bitcoin/|title=Monero vs Bitcoin: Monero Adopted by Privacy Focused Crypto Users – CoinCentral|website=coincentral.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref>.
Monero is designed to be resistant to [[application-specific integrated circuit]] mining which are commonly used to mine other cryptocurrencies such as [[Bitcoin]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://coincentral.com/monero-vs-bitcoin/|title=Monero vs Bitcoin: Monero Adopted by Privacy Focused Crypto Users – CoinCentral|website=coincentral.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref>. It can be mined somewhat efficiently on consumer grade hardware such as [[x86]], [[x86-64]], [[ARM architecture|ARM]] or even consumer grade [[GPU|GPUs]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://coincentral.com/monero-vs-bitcoin/|title=Monero vs Bitcoin: Monero Adopted by Privacy Focused Crypto Users – CoinCentral|website=coincentral.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-03}}</ref>.

=== Privacy features ===
Monero is [[fungibility|fungible]], meaning that every unit of the currency can be substituted by another unit. This makes Monero different from public-ledger cryptocurrencies like [[Bitcoin]], where addresses previously associated with undesired activity can be blacklisted and refused by network members.<ref name="Coindesk&quot;">{{cite web|url=https://www.coindesk.com/what-to-know-before-trading-monero/|title=What to Know Before Trading Monero|date=2017-05-28|work=Coindesk|last=Bovaird|first=Charles }}</ref> Monero is sometimes employed by [[Bitcoin]] users to break link between transactions, with bitcoins first converted to Monero, then after some delay, converted back and sent to an address unrelated to those used before.<ref name="BitcoinMonero" />

⚫
The [[ring signature]]s mix spender's outputs with a group of others, making it exponentially more difficult to establish a link between each subsequent transaction.<ref name="Wired">{{cite news|url=https://www.wired.com/2017/01/monero-drug-dealers-cryptocurrency-choice-fire/|title=Monero, the Drug Dealer's Cryptocurrency if Choice, is on Fire|date=2017-01-25|work=Wired|last=Greenberg|first=Andy}}</ref><ref name="BitcoinMonero">{{cite website|url=https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/how-bitcoin-users-reclaim-their-privacy-through-its-anonymous-sibling-monero-1472761633/|title=How Bitcoin Users Reclaim Their Privacy Through Its Anonymous Sibling, Monero|date=2016-09-01|accessdate=2017-11-03}}</ref>

"Stealth addresses" generated for each transaction make it impossible to discover actual destination by anyone else but the address owner (in addition to the sender who needs to know it to send the transaction in the first place). When a transaction is sent to a target address, a one-time temporary address is generated and recorded in the public blockchain. User's wallet is then responsible for scanning the blockchain for the one-time temporary adresses that belong to it<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://coinsutra.com/monero-cryptocurrency/|title=Monero Cryptocurrency: Everything You Need To Know|date=2017-06-21|work=CoinSutra - Bitcoin Community|access-date=2017-11-04|language=en-US}}</ref>. This means that only the sender and the recipient of the transaction know the actual wallet address of the target wallet.

Finally, the "ring confidential transactions" (ringCT) mechanism hides the transferred amount.<ref name="Wired" /> This is done by the sender broadcasting an amount which consists of a balance that is actually transferred and an amount of "change" that goes back to sender. Nobody other than the sender (and eventual recipient) know what portion of the transfer is actual balance and what portion is change. This means that a hostile observer can only ascertain that the amount sent is less than the total amount broadcast<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://themarketmogul.com/monero-cryptocurrency/|title=All You Need to Know About the Monero Cryptocurrency in Six Minutes - The Market Mogul|website=themarketmogul.com|language=en-US|access-date=2017-11-04}}</ref>.


== History ==
== History ==

Revision as of 07:19, 4 November 2017

Monero
Monero Logo
ISO 4217
Unit
PluralMonero, moneroj
Symbolɱ‎
Demographics
Date of introduction18 April 2014; 10 years ago (2014-04-18)
User(s)Worldwide

Monero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency created in April 2014 that focuses on privacy, decentralization, and scalability that runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android, and FreeBSD.[2]

Design

Unlike many cryptocurrencies that are derivatives of Bitcoin, Monero is based on the

blockchain obfuscation.[3][4] By providing a high level of privacy, Monero is fungible, meaning that every unit of the currency can be substituted by another unit. These units are indistinguishable from one another. This makes Monero different from public-ledger cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, where addresses previously associated with undesired activity can be blacklisted and refused by network members.[5] Monero is sometimes employed by Bitcoin users to break link between transactions, with bitcoins first converted to Monero, then after some delay, converted back and sent to an address unrelated to those used before.[6]

In particular, the ring signatures mix spender's address with a group of others, making it exponentially more difficult to establish a link between each subsequent transaction.[7][6] Also the "stealth addresses" generated for each transaction make it impossible to discover actual destination by anyone else but the address owner. Finally, the "ring confidential transactions" mechanism hides the transferred amount.[7]

Monero is designed to be resistant to

GPUs[9]
.

History

The underlying CryptoNote protocol that Monero is based on was originally launched by pseudonymous author Nicolas van Saberhagen in October 2013[10].

Monero was originally launched by a Bitcointalk forum user only known as "thankful_for_today" under the name BitMonero which is a compound of Bit (as in Bitcoin) and Monero (literally meaning "coin" in Esperanto)[11]. Five days later, the currency's supporters opted for the name to be shortened to Monero.[12]

In September 2014, Monero was attacked when an unknown party exploited a flaw in CryptoNote that permitted the creation of two subchains that refused to recognize the validity of transactions on each other. CrytoNote later released a patch for the flaw, which Monero implemented.[13][14]

Monero experienced rapid growth in market capitalization and transaction volume during the year 2016, partly due to adoption in 2016 by major darknet market AlphaBay,[15] which closed in July 2017 by law enforcement.[16]

On January 10, 2017, the privacy of Monero transactions were further strengthened by the adoption of Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell's algorithm Confidential Transactions, hiding the amounts being transacted, in combination with an improved version of Ring Signatures.[17]

Controversial activity

The feasibility of CPU mining Monero has made it viable for malicious actors to covertly distribute miners embeded in malware, utilising the victim's hardware and electricity for the financial gain of the malware developer[18][19][20][21]

The

CPU to mine the cryptocurrency while the visitor is consuming the content of the webpage. While this can be done with user's consent in an effort to provide an alternative funding model to serving ads[22], some websites have done this without informed consent[23] which has prompted the in-browser miners to be blocked by browser extensions and ad blocking subscription lists[24]
. In-browser mining has thus received a mixed response.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Monero (XMR) Price Chart, Market Cap, Index and News". Investing.com. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  2. ^ Gallagher, Sean (4 August 2017). "Researchers say WannaCry operator moved bitcoins to "untraceable" Monero". Ars Technica.
  3. ^ "Drugs, Code and ICOs: Monero's Long Road to Blockchain Respect". CoinDesk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  4. ^ "Bitcoin and the Rise of the Cypherpunks". CoinDesk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  5. ^ Bovaird, Charles (2017-05-28). "What to Know Before Trading Monero". Coindesk.
  6. ^ a b "How Bitcoin Users Reclaim Their Privacy Through Its Anonymous Sibling, Monero". 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  7. ^ a b Greenberg, Andy (2017-01-25). "Monero, the Drug Dealer's Cryptocurrency if Choice, is on Fire". Wired.
  8. ^ "Monero vs Bitcoin: Monero Adopted by Privacy Focused Crypto Users – CoinCentral". coincentral.com. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  9. ^ "Monero vs Bitcoin: Monero Adopted by Privacy Focused Crypto Users – CoinCentral". coincentral.com. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  10. ^ "Monero, the Drug Dealer's Cryptocurrency of Choice, Is on Fire". WIRED. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  11. ^ "Monero, the Drug Dealer's Cryptocurrency of Choice, Is on Fire". WIRED. Retrieved 2017-11-04.
  12. ^ "Drugs, Code and ICOs: Monero's Long Road to Blockchain Respect". CoinDesk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  13. ^ Werner, Albert (September 8, 2014). "Monero network exploit post-mortem". Cryptonote forum.
  14. ^ Macheta, Jan; Noether, Surae; Noether, Sarang; Smooth, Javier (12 September 2014). "MRL-0002: Counterfeiting via Merkle Tree Exploits within Virtual Currencies Employing the CryptoNote Protocol" (PDF). Monero Research Labs.
  15. ^ Greenberg, Andy (25 January 2017). "Monero, the Drug Dealer's Cryptocurrency of Choice, Is on Fire". Wired.
  16. ^ Popper, Nathaniel; Ruiz, Rebecca R. (20 July 2017). "2 Leading Online Black Markets Are Shut Down by Authorities". The New York Times.
  17. ^ "Increased Hashrate Forces Premature Monero Hard Fork". CoinDesk. Retrieved 18 September 2017.
  18. ^ Tung, Liam. "Android security: Coin miners show up in apps and sites to wear out your CPU | ZDNet". ZDNet. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  19. ^ "A surge of sites and apps are exhausting your CPU to mine cryptocurrency". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  20. ^ Khandelwal, Swati. "Hackers Exploiting Microsoft Servers to Mine Monero - Makes $63,000 In 3 Months". The Hacker News. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  21. ^ "Google Chrome Extension Caught Mining Monero via User's CPU". CryptoCoinsNews. 2017-10-25. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  22. ^ "Stealth web crypto-cash miner Coin Hive back to the drawing board as blockers move in". Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  23. ^ "Pirate Bay is Mining Cryptocurrency Again, No Opt Out - TorrentFreak". TorrentFreak. 2017-10-11. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  24. ^ "Someone Made an Ad Blocker But for Cryptocurrency Mining". Motherboard. 2017-09-19. Retrieved 2017-11-03.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monero&oldid=808654580"