Monero is a private and untraceable digital currency. The primary focus of development is Privacy, so the Monero network was built from scratch with this use-case in mind. The coin is based on the CryptoNote protocol, and its native asset has the ticker XMR.
Decentralized
Monero is a decentralized and open-source, the project aims to become electronic cash for a connected world. A key feature for Monero is enforced privacy by default, which makes it one of the best privacy coins available on the current market.
Known for one thing
Potentially, Monero will settle into a comfy niche, simply by providing a place for those that require privacy in their crypto transactions. No doubt some will say this sort of system will be used for less than ethical purposes, and quite likely it will. However, others would argue that their privacy should not be compromised simply because of bad actors in the mix. Of course, we will just have to wait and see what stance, if any, governments will take in the future.
Ring signatures, ring confidential transactions, and stealth address are all part of the effort to ensure user privacy. Ring signatures and ringed transactions are a bit like a group of people having keys to the same cupboard. When the digital cupboard is opened, it should be impossible to tell which key was used.
Stealth addresses are randomly generated for each transaction. Only a sender and a receiver can determine where a payment has been sent. Once receiving payment a user can then send to other addresses, belonging to either themselves or other recipients. It appears then it wouldn’t be too hard to say you had no idea where payment had ended up, even if you did know...
The above privacy measures are the default setting on Monero. Transactions on the Monero blockchain cannot be linked to users or their real-world identity. How much you send and to whom stay hidden.
Unfungible, in this case, simply implies a user can’t be blacklisted because of their association with previous transactions. As the default is set to private, any associations remain unknown. Other cryptocurrencies might, in the future, be stopped at the vendor if they are shown to have been involved in illegal sales sometime in the past. Monero does not face this obstacle.
The Monero team prides themselves on user’s privacy, and actively responds to critic of their system. https://getmonero.org/2018/03/29/response-to-an-empirical-analysis-of-traceability.html
MoneroPulse is infrastructure for emergency checkpointing the blockchain.
It aims to mitigate chain-splits resulting from consensus bugs.
Effectively, MoneroPulse operators can publish which fork they consider the valid one. Technically, the "checkpoint" they publish is a block hash and the block height.
By default, Monero full node will simply warn users when MoneroPulse checkpoint does not match the fork it is on. The error will be present in the log and on the console in red. Users are free to discard it. Ideally, though, users should consult the community on what is going on, and make an educated decision on whether to follow the checkpoint-compatible fork or the default fork.
Users can also set auto-enforcing the checkpoints via --enforce-dns-checkpointing option to monero. In case of mismatch, monero will rollback the local blockchain by a few blocks. Eventually, the alternative ("fixed") fork will get heavier and the node will follow it, leaving the "invalid" fork behind. This option is recommended for unattended full nodes.
Monero offers three separate networks and blockchains:
Genesis
Every blockchain has its own genesis block and is entirely seperate from others. Also, corresponding p2p networks are separate.
Monero doesn't directly implement multisignatures (at least not in a classical sense). Monero emulates the feature by secret splitting.
Transactions are still signed with a single spend key. The spend key is a sum of all N private keys. The rationale for such design is to decouple multisig from ring signatures.
Let's consider the 2-of-3 scheme. We have 3 participants. Each participant is granted exactly 2 private keys in a way that pairs do not repeat between participants. This way any 2 participants together have all 3 private keys required to create the private spend key.
Multi-signing is a wallet-level feature. There is no way to learn from the blockchain which transactions were created using multiple signatures.
It is also worth noting in Monero there is no multisig addresses as such. Address structure does not care how the underlying private spend key got created.
After multisig wallet setup every participant ends up knowing the public address and private view key. This is necessary for participants to recognize and decipher transactions they are supposed to co-sign.
CryptoNight was originally designed around 2013 as part of the CryptoNote suite.
One design goal was to make it very friendly for the off-the-shelf CPU-s, by employing:
More ambitious design goal was to make it inefficiently computable on ASIC-s. This goal has since failed, as it inevitably happens with "ASIC hard" algorithms. Efficient CryptoNight ASIC was developed in 2017 by Bitmain.
Monero inherited CryptoNight as its proof of work in 2014. Since then Monero slightly evolved the algorithm to intentionally break compatibility with released ASIC-s. Currently, Monero implements CryptoNight v2, a third iteration of original CryptoNight (v0, v1, v2).
Monero utilizes CryptoNight proof-of-work algorithm, which is significantly different from the systems used by other PoW based cryptocurrencies. Monero community does not approve ASICs since they facilitate centralization of mining power.
So, Monero’s PoW function is difficult to optimize for specialized mining equipment. There are billions of devices that are able to participate in the Monero mining process. People can mine from web browsers, smartphones, and personal computers.
This gives Monero a distinct competitive advantage over its rivals since its network is protected from the domination of large corporations with massive ASIC farms. In fact, Monero competitors are criticized for continued centralization of their networks, and the increasing power of individual miners. This can skew coin mining competition to non-market factors and lead to different attacks on network.
As always, there are two obvious choices for hardware wallets Ledger and Trezor. Both of these offer Monero support.
Ledger
As for using the Nano Ledger S, the first step towards setting up your device is unboxing your device and checking if you have received all the accessories with the device. Once you have unboxed your device, you need to configure it and initialize it before being able to use it. The process is quite simple and will hardly take about 20-30 minutes, post which you will be set to use your Ledger Nano S device. This video does a pretty good job of explaining how the setup works.
Trezor
As for Trezor, installing is really simple. To properly install it users should attach the unit to the computer. After that continue with installing the bridge which allows the Trezor to join with the computer. The first step is to connect the Trezor to the device’s USB slot with the cable given in the box. After that, go to myTrezor.com and proceed with installing the browser extension. Trezor can also be used on Android or an iPhone, or on a Windows or Mac computer. Now, initiate the extension and myTrezor will direct you to pick a PIN. After this, you will notice nine buttons but the numbers are hidden. After this, users should check the Trezor’s screen to recognize which numbers are in which place because it switches every time. Now set the PIN. Shortly after, Trezor should present a 24-word wallet “seed”. In short, one word at a time. Note down this seed and save it carefully. If your Trezor device malfunctions or is lost, you can utilize the seed to reconstruct the complete wallet. This video explains how to set up your trezor quite well.
MoneroGUI
MoneroGUI is our wallet of choice. Monero GUI Wallet is Monero’s official desktop client, which is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and a range of other operating systems. It is a full node wallet, where the syncing and downloading process takes some time, making it one of the best Monero wallets windows.
It's relatively easy to use and suitable for users with a little or no experience. It has a simple interface where it’s easy to send and receive XMRs.
Exodus
Another good example of a full-node desktop wallet that supports XMR is Exodus, which supports numerous other cryptocurrencies along with XMR and is pretty straightforward and easy to use. Just download the app from the official site(exodus.io) and get straight into creating your wallet. Exodus stores your Private Keys on the machine you choose and not on any server, providing you with relative peace of mind when it comes to the security of your coins.
MyMonero
There’s no arguing that MyMonero is one of the best Monero online wallets for Monero (XMR), and one of the most user-friendly. The wallet is managed by Riccardo “fluffy pony” Spagni, a member of the Monero Core Team, MyMonero provides secure, hosted Monero accounts.
It is a hassle-free web-based Monero wallet, which has a straightforward and intuitive interface. Simply generate your private key and make sure you save it in a safe location. You can then use that same key to log into your wallet and use it as you wish.
Coinswitch/Kraken
One could argue that buying Monero with a credit card or a bank transfer defeats the purpose of the token, which is untraceable transfers. If you’re looking to speculate on the price, however, one option is buying through CoinSwitch. CoinSwitch provides an easier way to buy Monero with credit card (Master/VISA) anywhere in the world at the best available rates. At CoinSwitch, you can compare current Monero rates across all major exchanges, and buy XMR with credit card instantly in just a few moments. Kraken is also another viable choice for buying XMR with fiat. Fees are relatively small and the exchange has an intuitive design, making it quite easy to use.
