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.
After the originators of ECC left the project for dead in 2015 a developer named Greg Griffith decided to take it over and revive ECC in 2017. Since that point Greg (main developer), his team and the newly grown community is working hard to push the project in the right direction: a new website has been set up, whitepaper and roadmap have been released and a completely new wallet (Sapphire) has been developed and will soon be released. Much more will follow... ECC is an open-source, innovative multi-chain platform. Our network operates with a financial core which allows it to function not only as a currency-transferring platform, but will also serve as a solid infrastructure for future commercial technologies. All of our multi-chain services are implemented with extra focus on user-friendliness, as well as offering unlimited commercial potential; all the while, maintaining a safe and decentralized platform. Our developers are currently engineering the multi-chain core with our flagship services such as: file transfer and storage; decentralized messaging and currency transfer; right on top of the blockchain. Our services implement ANS (Address Name Service); which means that users can send and receive coins and data simply by using nicknames rather than the long, cumbersome wallet addresses we are used to seeing. For ECC, this is only the beginning. When development of the multi-chain foundation is completed with our easily-navigable interface and open-source platform, future developers can create new services right on top of our network! Exciting, isn’t it? We think so too. At ECC, we strive to develop ground-breaking innovations; all with absolute privacy and security through our blockchain services.