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.
Lunyr (pronounced Lunar), however, is one of the most unique implementations of blockchain yet, aiming to be a decentralized, and peer-to-peer knowledge database, aka the “Blockchain-based Wikipedia”. It strives to be the most innovative and comprehensive source of knowledge in domains like crypto projects, technology, finance, law, investment, and more, on the web. The cofounders of Lunyr are Arnold Pham, Andrew Tran, and Christopher Smith. The Lunyr ICO ended on 26th April 2017, with around USD 0.3 million in capital being generated. The open beta was then launched on 30th January 2018. It is based on the Ethereum network. The reward system which enables writers to earn rewards for authoring articles was also launched at the same time, allowing writers to earn LUN coins in exchange for quality pieces. Initially, Lunyr will mostly focus on the world of cryptocurrencies and related domains, with emphasis on up and coming projects. After an active and dedicated community of readers and writers is developed, Lunyr will branch into other areas such as science and technology, investment, finance, etc. Lunyr is unique in its vision, and usage of the blockchain technology in order to provide a comprehensive, decentralised, crowdsource, and peer-reviewed vault of knowledge, open and free to everyone. Lunyr aims to not only be a knowledge encyclopedia for the web, but also intends to enhance the blockchain technology by giving DApps (Decentralised Applications) the ability to tap into the knowledge base and access real-time data. This innovative feature can be used in applications ranging from Virtual Reality to Artificial Intelligence. The decentralised and peer-to-peer nature of Lunyr allows all content on the knowledge-base to be free from manipulation, and censorship. Since all submissions are peer-reviewed by the community, the chances of incorrect or dubious data making its way onto the encyclopedia are very low.