What is Monero? A Beginner’s Guide to Monero and Tips for Investing in XMR? (2021)
Crypto trading is not just limited to bitcoin only as the majority thinks. If you are thinking of ways to diversify your cryptocurrency trading portfolio and looking for some alternative, Monero (XMR) could be the asset to go for. What is Monero, what makes Monero so good, how it’s better than its counterparts, and how to invest in XMR.
What Is Monero (XMR)?
Launched in 2014, Monero is a cryptocurrency that allows better privacy protection during transactions than bitcoin and any other cryptocurrencies. It has advanced cryptography that conceals the identity of both senders and receivers. Though bitcoin does it too, the payment history can be traced back to the original source.
Tracking the history of Monero takes you to Bytecoin, a privacy-focused and decentralized cryptocurrency that was launched in 2012. Thankful for today, a member of the Bitcointalk forum, forked BCN’s codebase, and Monero was born. This is the same forum that was founded by Satoshi Nakamoto, the person believed to be behind bitcoin. Since, then, hundreds of developers have contributed to XMR.
How Is Monero Different from Bitcoin?
Privacy
Bitcoin is the first virtual currency to introduce cryptography. How does cryptography shield the identity of the participants? It generates pseudo names using combinations of alphabets and numbers. That said, it doesn’t mean the user’s identity is completely non-traceable. There are two reasons for this argument. First, both Bitcoin addresses and transactions are registered on the blockchain, opening them to public access. And, second, all transactions performed by a user are linked to the same address. So, it’s not impossible for others to track the address and identity of the user.
On the other hand, transactions over Monero are confidential and untraceable. Monero achieves anonymity and fungibility. Sender and receiver — here every user is anonymous by default. Monero makes use of three important technologies: Stealth Addresses, Ring Signatures, and RingCT to ensure the privacy of its users.
How do technologies protect privacy? They ensure untraceability (having multiple possible senders for a transaction) and unlinkability (being unable to prove that multiple transactions were sent to the same person). Ring signatures ensure untraceability while stealth addresses are to introduce unlinkability.
Because every transaction is private, Monero cannot be traced. Merchants and individuals accepting Monero do not need to worry about blacklisted or tainted coins. However, this may be an alarming thing for regulators of fiat currencies across the world.
Fungibility
Unlike other cryptocurrencies, Monero is a truly fungible currency. To understand fungibility, let’s take to examples. Two $1 bills are equal in value but can they be the same? No, because they may be associated with different products/services. But two one-ounce gold bars of the same grade are fungible. Monero is that piece of gold, while other cryptos are the $1 bills.
How to Invest in XMR?
The current ranking of Monero is #25. Its price stands at $234.20 USD as of March 20, 2021 (12.55 PM, IST). The 24-hour trading volume closed at $419,830,863. It has a circulating supply of 17,866,843 XMR coins. All major exchanges including PCEX Member allow you to trade XMR in INR. Register with us, complete your KYC. You can place an order in INR and get started in a hassle-free manner.
On PCEX Member, you can check the real-time and predicted value of the cryptocurrency. Both spot and futures markets trading options are available. If you are a beginner with crypto trading, do not worry. We help you perform a technical analysis of the asset’s price. See Candlestick Chart, Order Books, and Trading signals before you take a call. Use our knowledge bank containing insightful articles on cryptocurrency investment.
