Any market is potentially interesting to cybercriminals, and the young cryptocurrency market is no exception. Active trading and hundreds of thousands of transactions with very large amounts is a very attractive target.
Therefore, the issues of security of financial flows and personal information in cyberspace will never lose their relevance. It is the security of transactions that has become one of the factors in the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies. However, there is nothing in the world that cannot be improved.
What is Monero
Most cryptocurrency blockchains are fairly transparent. All transactions are recorded in the blockchain and remain in the public domain forever. Linking the address of a cryptocurrency wallet with the identity of the owner is much more difficult than establishing who owns a particular bank account. But difficult doesn’t mean impossible.
It is this circumstance that prompted some crypto enthusiasts to create projects focused on the highest possible confidentiality. Monero (XMR) is one such project, which is by far the most secure currency of all. XMR is open source and blockchain intentionally set to be opaque.
How Monero Differs From Other Cryptocurrencies
This coin is a fungible token in the fullest sense of the word. Equal value and divisibility of a monetary unit into smaller parts of equal value are necessary, but not sufficient characteristics of fungibility: any banknote or coin always has individual differences, even if very subtle.
Recording the history of transactions in the Bitcoin blockchain and free access to it provides the ability to track the movements of any of the existing coins. If the coin was previously involved in any illegal transactions and this is established, the account of the owner of the compromised coin may be blocked or closed. Monero’s untraceable transaction history eliminates such risks for users unlucky enough to acquire an asset with a dark past.
The highest level of confidentiality is complemented by high transaction processing speed. New blocks in the Monero network appear every two minutes. For comparison, the Ethereum confirmation time is about an hour.
How Monero Provides Privacy
The coin is based on the CryptoNote protocol. To achieve maximum confidentiality in the Monero network, technologies of hidden addresses, ring signatures and RingCT are used.
Ring signatures and hidden addresses hide the identity of the sender, and RingCT – the amount of the transaction. In the near future, it is planned to further improve the privacy mechanisms, after which it will be almost impossible to associate the fact of using XMR with a specific user.
How to Buy Monero
Like any other cryptocurrency, XMR is available for sale on specialized trading platforms. Cryptocurrency exchanges are subdivided into custodian and non-custodial.
A custodian service will be the best choice for those who do not have any crypto assets yet. The exchange offers the purchase of digital coins for fiat currency. Among the possible ways to replenish the deposit – directly from a bank card, bank transfer or using electronic payment systems.
If you already own cryptocurrency, the choice of places to buy XMR will be replenished with non-custodial services, for example LetsExchange. Unlike custody platforms, registration is not required here. For any exchange operation, you need to follow a few simple steps in the exchange widget on the main page:
- In the upper field, select the name of the coin that you will change and specify the amount;
- In the bottom box, select the XMR to buy;
- Enter the address of your crypto wallet;
- Make deposit;
- Click the “Let`s exchange” button.
The smart search engine will review all available offers and choose the most profitable one. All calculations, completion of the transaction and crediting of exchanged coins to the wallet are performed automatically. The serviceLetsExchange works without commissions and restrictions on the amount and number of conversions. Using the same algorithm, you can exchange XMR to PIVX or another cryptocurrency. More than 300 tokens and altcoins are available for exchange, including little-known ones.
Article by Born Realist