Before investing in any cryptocurrency, a serious investor will first study the cryptocurrency and then make his/her decision. The same applies for the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency; as an investor, you will have to clearly understand what this currency is all about and how it works, in order to invest and reap big from it.
So, let’s get started!
What is Monero (XMR)?
Monero is a cryptocurrency which was officially launched in April, 2014 as BitMonero. The name was changed to Monero 5 days later.
Monero’s special features
Monero gives its users privacy during transaction. It uses CryptoNote technology that employs ring signatures to hide transaction data. In addition, it also employs viewkey, which is an opaque blockchain structure that requires the use of a private view key in order to view any transactions. In this way, the users’ transaction data is not visible to the public.
In addition to its privacy, the transactions made by XMR users are also untraceable. It is practically impossible to link any transaction to a specific user.
The most unique thing with Monero is it fungibility. This means units of Monero can be substituted for each other while retaining the same value. This ensures that no Monero unit can be blacklisted due to being involved in a certain previous transaction.
How safe is Monero (XMR)?
The safety of any cryptocurrency from cyber-attacks is very paramount. It would not be wise at all to invest in a digital asset which is normally hacked every now and then. Remember, cryptocurrencies are digital currencies and not tangible forms of money. So, everything depends on the digital codes and any hacking would translate to loss/theft of the cryptocurrencies from their owners.
On that note, Monero’s security was tested just 5 months after its establishment, in September, when it was attacked by an unknown party which exploited a slight weakness in the CryptoNote technology that allowed the user to create two sub chains which could not recognize each other’s transactions.
However, the CryptoNote technology developers acted swiftly and came up with a remedy which Monero implemented with immediate effect.
Then later on in January, 2017, Monero adopted Confidential Transactions, an algorithm by Gregory Maxwell who is Bitcoin’s core developer, in a bid to make the transaction safer and private. It also adopted the improved version of the ring signatures technology.
Monero (XMR) performance in the cryptocurrency markets
Contrary to most of the newer altcoin versions whose value is taking ages to even hit the $1 mark in value, the XMR has made headlines by rising as high as $480 in just 3 years.
Although, for approximately two years since coin was established, its value remained stagnated below $10, it was able to break ranks on August 2016 and assume a bullish trend which the digital currency has maintained to date.
The real spike in prices started at the beginning of November when it started the month with a value of around $86 and went up in two months to hit a high of $469 on 20th December.
The prices have since tried to find a stable level above $400. As at 13th January, 2018, the value of a single unit was $418.49. This gives the Monero (XMR) a very optimistic start for 2018 where it is expected to continue with its strong bullish trend.
