What is Monero? Monero (XMR) is the top privacy-centric cryptocurrency based on the CryptoNote protocol, a secure, private and untraceable currency system. Monero uses a special kind of cryptography to ensure that all of its transactions are remain 100% unlinkable and untraceable. In an increasingly transparent world, you can see why something like Monero can become so desirable. Origins of Monero In July of 2012, Bytecoin, the first real life implementation of CryptoNote, was launched. While Bytecoin had promise, people noticed that 80% of the coins were already published. So, it was decided that the bytecoin blockchain will be forked and the new coins in the new chain will be called Bitmonero, which is was then renamed Monero, meaning “coin” in Esperanto language. In this new blockchain, a block will be mined and added every two minutes. Why Monero? #1: Unlinkability - Your identity is completely private You have complete control over your transactions. You are responsible for your money. Because your identity is private no one will be able to see what you are spending your money on. When you send funds to someone’s public address, what happens is that you actually send the funds to a randomly created brand new one-time destination address. This means that the public record does not contain any mention that funds were received to the recipient’s public address. In Monero, your public address will never appear in the public record of transactions. Instead, a 'stealth address' is recorded in a way that only you, the recipient, can recognize the incoming funds. #2: Fungibility Fungibility is interchangeability between one asset and another asset of the same type. Suppose you borrowed $50 from your friend, you can even return the money in the form of 1 $50 bill or 5 $10 bill, It is still fine. This shows that the dollar has fungible properties. However, if you were to borrow someone’s car for the weekend and come back and give them some other car in return, then that person will probably punch on the face. Cars, in this example, are a nonfungible asset. What is CryptoNote? CryptoNote is the application layer protocol that fuels various decentralized currencies. While it is similar to the application layer which runs bitcoin in many aspects, there a lot of areas where the two differ from each other. CryptoNote features an entirely new code base and is not a fork of Bitcoin. More info about CryptoNote can be found at their website. CryptoNote uses Ring Signatures to conceal sender identities via mixing and it also has unlinkable transactions that is achieved using 1-time keys for each individual payments. Ring signatures enable ‘transaction mixing’ to occur. Transaction mixing means that when funds are sent, the sender randomly chooses several other users’ funds to also appear in the transaction as a possible source of the funds being sent. The cryptographical nature of the ring signature means that no one can tell which of the funds were really the source of the transaction – not even the person that gave the funds to the sender in the first place. A system of ‘key images’ associated with each ring signature ensures that although no one can tell the true source of the funds, it can be easily detected if the sender attempts to anonymously send their funds twice.
ARK provides users, developers, and startups with innovative blockchain technologies. They aim to create an entire ecosystem of linked chains and a virtual spiderweb of endless use-cases that make ARK highly flexible, adaptable, and scalable. ARK is a secure platform designed for mass adoption and will deliver the services that consumers want and developers need. It is fast, decentralized, scalable, collaborative, bridging and open-source. The ARK Desktop Wallet is natively built for all major Operating Systems. ARK wallets connect to fully synced network peers removing the need to download the full blockchain. ARK operates using a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm. Unlike Bitcoin, in which miners with expensive rigs secure network transactions, the ARK network is secured by delegates. There are hundreds of potential delegates, but token holders in the ARK ecosystem continuously vote on who actually gets to be an active, forging delegate. Only 51 delegates make the cut. As a token holder, you’re only allowed to vote for one delegate at a time. The fee to vote/unvote is just 1 ARK, so it’s advantageous to at least vote once for a delegate you support. The more ARK tokens you own, the more powerful your vote. ARK was launched in February of this year by 27 members spread across the world. With team members located everywhere from California to Bulgaria – the ARK Crew is truly decentralized. The team currently consists of 15 core members. The ARK infrastructure is modeled heavily on that of three older projects: Bitshares, Crypti, and Lisk. In fact, some of the ARK developers were previously developers on some of those projects. Francois-Xavier (FX) Thoorens, the CTO, was a core developer at Lisk in 2016. Ark Community A diverse group of people and skill sets, including Full Stack and Web Developers, Network Engineers, Hardware Experts, Money Managers, Musicians, Traders, Social Media Promoters, and Business Owners, uniting to realize a vision shared by 30 members of the ARK Crew. All passionately devoted to collaboration and the development of the ARK ecosystem and community. Ark Token Secured by a cryptographic blockchain network similar to Lisk and Crypti, running on a Delegated Proof of Stake Consensus Algorithm developed by Bitshares. ARK DPoS provides a newly adapted voting system and incorporates many improvements over previous DPoS implementations. SmartBridge To increase the reach of the ARK platform, ARK bridges together useful and proprietary blockchains through the use of ARK SmartBridges. These SmartBridges allow for communication among validated bridged blockchains with the ability to perform tasks and advanced functions. Through the use of SmartBridges, the ARK Crew is able to connect many popular blockchains and finally create a unifying bond among different ecosystems. As examples, the first blockchains the ARK Crew will bridge are: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Lisk, 3rd Party Anonymous Network Integration, one or more proprietary gaming economy tokens (Codename: A***** [Ticker: A***]), and numerous other bridges connecting new and already existing blockchains in the future. Security Because we understand security is a major point of concern for everyone, cryptographic and security principals are incorporated throughout the entire Development Life Cycle to guarantee a secure core meeting the requirements and expectations of our users. Through continuous risk analysis and internal recurring penetration testing, we provide a system that fulfills the high standards required by this type of environment. Privacy ARK Anonymous Network Integration provides ARK users with optional privacy when sending ARK transactions throughout all of the services developed for the ARK platform. Anonymization services could be potentially provided by a 3rd Party technology integration Partnership. Self-Sustaining The ARK Crew has a mission to make blockchain technology easily accessible to consumers, even to the point where consumers do not know that they are using it. We not only develop the tools bridging the virtual with reality, but also provide the unique services consumers want, understand, and are willing to purchase using ARK. The ARK Crew develops additional platforms and services benefiting from the ARK technology, providing online and offline revenue streams for the ARK Platform, and leading to faster research and development of new and exciting ways to encourage consumer participation, educating them about blockchain technology, while simultaneously adding value to the ARK coin. By incorporating revenue streams into our projects, the ARK Crew can provide even more unique services for user adoption as we grow.