Publish Date: February 22, 2016
Like
Page Admins
Description
Monero (XMR) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that is not based on Bitcoin's code.
Monero aims to be a fungible and untraceable digital medium of exchange. It intrinsically has a higher degree of privacy than Bitcoin or any of its various forks. It was launched on April 18, 2014 (preannounced and no premine/ICO/etc.).
The official core team members are (in no particular order) - Riccardo "fluffypony" Spagni, luigi1111, NoodleDoodle, smooth, tacotime, Franciso "ArticMine" Cabañas, othe
Announcements
Please visit News, announcements and editorials on the Monero Forum for the latest news.
Features
Untraceable payments
Unlinkable transactions
Blockchain analysis resistance
Adaptive parameters
Academic and Theory
Monero's functionality is backed up by academic research and cryptographically proven schemes. Much of this research is done by the Monero Research Lab. Since Monero was initially based on the CryptoNote protocol, the CryptoNote whitepaper is also an invaluable reference for validating Monero's unlinkability and untraceability claims.
The CryptoNote Whitepaper
Initial Review of the CryptoNote Whitepaper
MRL-0001: A Note on Chain Reactions in Traceability in CryptoNote 2.0
MRL-0002: Counterfeiting via Merkle Tree Exploits within Virtual Currencies Employing the CryptoNote Protocol
MRL-0003: Monero is Not That Mysterious
MRL-0004: Improving Obfuscation in the CryptoNote Protocol
MRL-0005: Ring Signature Confidential Transactions
Specifications
PoW algorithm: CryptoNight [1]
Max supply: Infinite (see note below) [2]
Block reward: Smoothly varying [3]
Block time: 60 seconds
Difficulty: Retargets at every block
[1] CPU + GPU mining (about 1:1 performance for now). Memory-bound by design using AES encryption and several SHA-3 candidates.
[2] Initial number of atomic units is M = 264 - 1. However, once the block reward reaches 0.3 XMR (sometime in 2022) that is treated as the minimum subsidy, which means that Monero's total emission will forever increase by ~157783.68 XMR annually.
[3] Uses a recurrence relation. Block reward = (M - A) * 2-20 * 10-12, where A = current circulation. Roughly 86% mined in 4 years (see graph).
Official downloads and links
Getting Started - Follow the guide to set up the software and start mining.
Official forum
Source and binaries
Also see below for optional GUI.
Latest release: 0.9.1.0 Hydrogen Helix
Source code
Windows, 64-bit (downloads.getmonero.org/win64) - SHA: 303840d7fb997b2f1efc280fd19ba84003ecff85
OS X, 64-bit (downloads.getmonero.org/mac) - SHA: d6c776878fd3d47f149fc9be4e76cf2d03d5a725
Linux, 64-bit (downloads.getmonero.org/linux) - SHA: 4149de91c10b56ff091070acca80d233fbd5a797
FreeBSD, 64-bit (downloads.getmonero.org/freebsd) - SHA: 9fd0005b697e146a26a0bf9e3cd0c89b978f7fbd