Cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) has key parameters such as confidentiality and security. The official ticker symbol is XMR. Original name: Bitmonero. The cryptocurrency is traded on many cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance.

Monero is a cryptocurrency based on the CryptoNote protocol, which provides a high level of anonymity for each transaction. Users do not need to interact with third parties or other users to make payments.

Monero XMR coin mining

In 2019, the developers changed the CryptoNote protocol to RandomX. RandomX is a version of the Proof of work (PoW) consensus algorithm. You can either mine a Monero coin alone or join a mining pool. Since no specialized integrated circuits (ASICs) are required for mining, you can mine Monero on any processor or video card on Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.

Here are some of the pools you can join to mine the coin.

Monero Pool. The commission of the pool is 1%. The minimum payout is 0.004 XMR with a commission of 0.0004 XMR. However, if the amount reaches 0.1 XMR, there is a free automatic payment for a day.

Nano Pool. The commission of the pool is 1%. Payouts are made if the limit of 1 XMR is reached. You can adjust the frequency of payments, up to several times a day. Commission for payment up to 0.0001 XMR.

In addition, you can use mining calculators such as CryptoCalc, MinerStat, Red-miner to calculate the profitability and profitability of mining. According to the capabilities of the calculators, you can set parameters such as hash rate, pool commissions, consumption and cost of electricity, the complexity of mining, the block price in different currencies, etc. You can also calculate profit per hour, day, week, month, and year.

Where to store Monero?

You can store Monero on any cryptocurrency wallet that supports this blockchain. There are many kinds of wallets available now:

  • custodial and non-custodial (self-custodial)
  • cold and hot
  • web, desktop and mobile applications.

Let’s name the market leaders. You can store XMR on Guarda Wallet, Trastwallet, Ledger, Metamask, etc. When choosing a wallet, be sure to study the information on the site as well as user reviews.

Main features

Interchangeability

There is no concept of “dirty money” in the Monero network has the same value. In the bitcoin blockchain all transactions can be tracked, and receiving transfers from unknown addresses can unwittingly become a holder of dirty money used for criminal purposes. This greatly undervalues such coins.

But the transactions can be concealed by resorting to “mixing”-although it may become obvious that the coins have gone through the mixer. This tool leads to problems one way or another – the “dirty” money usually used for mixing. Even if you combine coins using an anonymizer, the transactions will still be flagged as potentially suspicious.

Unlike Bitcoin mixers, in Monero the mixer works at the protocol level, i.e. it is mandatory for everyone. For this reason, no one in the Monero network can claim anything specific about the data in the blockchain.

Ring signatures

An analog of electronic signatures, thanks to which one can’t determine a concrete source address of a transaction combined with several randomly chosen others. The technology creates an interesting effect: the more transactions pass, the higher the level of anonymity, as the transactions are mixed together even more.

RingCT Confidential Transactions

A technology that allows you to hide the amounts of the shipments. Its use on the network began in 2016 and was optional, but in September 2017 it became impossible to circumvent the technology.

Conclusion

Privacy is a fundamental human right, even one that does nothing illegal. Privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies such as Monero are a good way to achieve sufficient anonymity online. Even the fact that XMR is sometimes referred to as “darknet currency” is a testament to its success as an anonymous cryptocurrency. Monero transaction volumes are growing, and the increase in adoption is primarily due to the fact that people want to use Monero to protect private payments and donations.