Cryptocurrencies starting with Bitcoin were conceived with privacy in mind. Instead of using a bank card that is linked to a legal identity, transactions from an anonymous crypto wallet could now be used for transfer and purchase. However, with the increased adoption of crypto, concerns about the legality and financial regulations of crypto use became more prominent.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other popular crypto assets have public blockchains where all transaction information is recorded. This makes it easy to track the movement of funds from one wallet to another. Government agencies have managed to use crypto forensic tools to identify where funds are coming from and, in some cases, even pinpoint the identity of the wallet holders. While this is a measure that prevents money laundering and other illegal activity, the anonymous nature of crypto is in jeopardy.
This is where private cryptocurrencies come into play. They provide enhanced security features that hide the identity of a person who makes the transaction and owns a wallet as well as hides the transaction entirely, making it untraceable. These cryptocurrencies use proprietary technologies to hide or remove any traces of the transaction, the participants, or the amount transacted.
Monero (XMR)
Monero was introduced in 2014 by a user named “Thankful_for_today” on the Bitcointalk forum. Based on CryptoNote technology, Monero is a fork of Bytecoin, the oldest private coin. Because Bytecoin had some issues with over 80% of the total supply already in circulation when the coin was made public, it was hard forked to create a new coin that won’t have that issue. The new coin was called Monero which means “coin” in Esperanto.
Monero Coin
XMR is the native cryptocurrency of Monero. It reached an all time high of $517.62 in May of 2021. Currently, XMR is trading at $242.40 and is ranked #47 on CoinGecko and #1 of all privacy coins. The total supply is 18,039,873 XMR and it is entirely in circulation by now.
