Monero Coin (XMR) Review: The ultimate privacy coin

Monero (XMR) is the most popular privacy-centric crypto coin there is. It is based on the CryptoNore protocol, a secure, private and untraceable cryptocurrency system. So the reason this coin is so special seems obvious. One word: privacy.

If anyone deserves to be crowned the title “The bad boy of the crypto world”, it’s the Monero coin (XMR). As a leading privacy coin, Monero has a reputation for being the cryptocurrency of choice among criminals who want to cover their tracks — but it’s not just delinquents that have flocked to the Bitcoin-based protocol.

Experts have lauded Monero’s reliability, and judging by its recent strong price history, the rest of the world has also begun to take notice. Let’s dive into what XMR is all about and how you can get involved.

If you’re curious about the crypto world’s bad boy, stick around to have Monero coin explained in plain English.

Monero coin price

Like just about every other cryptocurrency that is not a stablecoin, Monero coin’s value has been here, there, and everywhere since its launch back in 2014. But with a 43% price decrease over the last 12 months, its recent performance has followed the general market trends, which is in a severe bear year.

Like most cryptocurrencies, XMR had a slow start. The price value barely rose above $2 for the first two years of its existence before experiencing a modest increase to $10-$40 between late 2016 to mid-2017.

Then came the first spike. The coin’s value suddenly skyrocketed to $469.2 in December 2017 before falling back to the $40-$70 range by 2019.

But Monero’s time would come again. The coin’s price experienced an even more impressive peak in May 2021, reaching $475.47. This surge isn’t just to the credit of the privacy coin — the entire crypto sphere experienced a boom around April and May — but it was still a huge rise.

Yet again, the high point didn’t last. This year the crypto market came crashing down around May, and XMR followed the general trend. It’s been fluctuating between $101 and $205 ever since. Still, at its current value, Monero is a firmly established coin.

Is there hope for a third peak that goes even higher? To make your own mind up, you’ll need to understand how the mechanisms behind the Monero protocol work.

How does Monero coin work?

You only have to look at its website to see that the untraceable coin doesn’t care for being big and flashy. The team follows a no-frills approach, focusing all its energy on privacy rather than marketing.

You might think that all cryptocurrencies care about privacy? After all, Bitcoin once attracted plenty of negative attention for supposedly facilitating criminals who wanted to hide their identities. But XMR goes a step further.

The Monero protocol shields your identity by generating a new randomized pseudonym known as a stealth address every time you make a transaction. In contrast, the public addresses on Bitcoin are far easier to trace (even though they don’t directly give away your identity).

There’s also no public ledger on Monero; everything is disguised. This means it’s impossible to trace anyone’s transaction history, giving you the safety of knowing nobody will blacklist or refuse to exchange with you because of previous transactions.

Finally, Monero uses ring signatures, which let you securely sign a transaction without giving away who you are.

Do you believe that they take privacy seriously yet?

Monero coin review

Monero’s greatest advantage is privacy, but this also happens to be its biggest drawback. Make of that what you will.

The anonymity Monero offers is indisputable — even the founders are anonymous — and this gives the coin a clear advantage over most cryptocurrencies.

Read also: How to Buy Monero (XMR) Anonymously

But it also means it could face backlash from regulators. Governments won’t be happy if everyone starts using a monetary system they can’t track or tax. And no matter how good the untraceable coin is, its value will plummet if it starts being restricted around the world.

This is a huge risk for investors, who also have another major consideration: whether Monero coin could be overtaken by its competitors.

Monero coin (XMR) vs. Dash coin (DASH)

Monero coin isn’t the only crypto out there claiming to be an improved version of some more popular currencies. Bitcoin fork Dash coin boasts greater privacy and speed than its predecessor — transactions made on the Dash protocol are untraceable and can take place instantly.

However, although Monero and Dash have similar goals, their methods are different.

Dash uses something known as a mixing process to make it harder to trace transactions; basically, it mixes the dash coins in your wallet with amounts from other transactions. This is very different from Monero’s use of ring signatures and stealth addresses to hide transaction histories and identities completely.

Overall, privacy is a feature on Dash, whereas it’s the central facet of Monero — but that’s no guarantee that Monero coin will “win” the race, especially considering the current climate regarding regulation.

Further benefits

It’s fair to say we’ve covered the topic of privacy now — but that’s not all the Monero coin has going for it.

Monero also has very fast transaction times. No, it’s not the first cryptocurrency ever to claim it’s effective in that sphere (case in point: Dash), but that doesn’t take away from the protocol’s success.

Monero creates new transaction blocks every two minutes (compared to ten minutes on Bitcoin). Not quite instant, but still pretty fast.

Transactions on the platform are also inexpensive, making XMR coin a viable medium of exchange rather than just something you can trade speculatively for profits.

Plus, the team is clearly committed to decentralization and privacy, as shown by XMR’s coin history. Its founders funded the entire project on donations instead of turning to venture capitalists, which secured a strong community that might just see it through to the end — in addition to hundreds of contributors and developers keeping the project open-source.

Even if you don’t want to get involved in the Monero coin yourself, you’d be hard-pressed to say the project isn’t admirable.

Where to buy the Monero coin?

Given its reputation as criminals’ favorite cryptocurrency, it perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise that many exchanges aren’t willing to list the XMR coin—they fear it will eventually need to be delisted. Fortunately, there is at least one major exchange you can buy it on, and it’s the most popular one: Binance.

After buying, most investors download an official Monero wallet from the privacy coin website and transfer their money over since a wallet is more secure than keeping your money in an exchange. Should you buy XMR? As always, DYOR first.

Want to Keep Reading?

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• Bitcoin v Monero debate between Rafael LaVerde and Tone Vays
• If Crypto Was Food. What will Monero be?
• How to Buy Monero (XMR) Anonymously
• Beware: You Are Entering The World Of Shitcoins

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