Monero Price, News and Analysis (XMR)

Ring Signature The Basics In cryptography, a ring signature is a type of digital signature that can be performed by any member of a group of users that each have keys. Therefore, a message signed with a ring signature is endorsed by someone in a particular group of people. One of the security properties of a ring signature is that it should be computationally infeasible to determine which of the group members' keys was used to produce the signature. For instance, a ring signature could be used to provide an anonymous signature from "a high-ranking White House official", without revealing which official signed the message. Ring signatures are right for this application because the anonymity of a ring signature cannot be revoked, and because the group for a ring signature can be improvised (requires no prior setup).   Application to Monero A ring signature makes use of your account keys and a number of public keys (also known as outputs) pulled from the blockchain using a triangular distribution method. Over the course of time, past outputs could be used multiple times to form possible signer participants. In a "ring" of possible signers, all ring members are equal and valid. There is no way an outside observer can tell which of the possible signers in a signature group belongs to your account. So, ring signatures ensure that transaction outputs are untraceable. Moreover, there are no fungibility issues with Monero given that every transaction output has plausible deniability (e.g. the network can not tell which outputs are spent or unspent). To read how Monero gives you privacy by default (unlinkability), see stealth addresses. (Description provided by CryptoCompare)

Monero can be purchased or sold on the following cryptocurrency exchanges: HitBTC, Bithumb, Binance, Bitfinex, Poloniex, Kraken, OKEx, Exrates, B2BX, Bittrex, Huobi, Instant Bitex, Upbit, Livecoin, Coinut, DragonEX, Exmo, Gate.io, CoinEx, Ovis, Cryptopia, Coinroom, Coindeal, Bisq, BitBay, Coinbe, TradeOgre, LiteBit.eu, Crex24, Braziliex, BTC Trade UA, Waves Decentralized Exchange, Cryptomate, Bitbns, Trade Satoshi, Stocks.Exchange, Tux Exchange, Nanex, Liquid, SouthXchange, OpenLedger DEX, Bitlish, Mercatox, BTC-Alpha and Graviex.

It is not possible to buy most cryptocurrencies with U.S. dollars. Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum and Litecoin can be purchased with U.S. dollars using Coinbase. Once you have purchased Bitcoin using Coinbase, you can then transfer your Bitcoin to an exchange such as Binance or Changelly to purchase other cryptocurrencies, including Monero.

Monero produces its own wallet software that is available for download on its website, which allows you to store Monero on your computer. For maximum security, you can store your cryptocurrencies on a dedicated hardware wallet such as a TREZOR wallet or a Ledger Nano S. If you do not wish to buy a hardware wallet, you may consider using a mobile wallet such as Atomic Wallet, Jaxx, or Coinomi to store multiple cryptocurrencies with some added security benefits.

One Monero (XMR) is currently worth $92.92 on major cryptocurrency exchanges. You can also exchange one Monero for 0.00800796 bitcoin(s) on major exchanges. The value (or market capitalization) of all available Monero in U.S. dollars is $1.64 billion.

Monero is a proof of work (PoW) coin that uses the CryptoNight algorithm.

Monero can be mined using specialized mining software. XMR Stak is a commonly-used mining tool that works for CPU mining and GPU mining with both Nvidia and AMD graphics cards. CCMiner is another popular mining tool for computers with NVIDIA graphics cards. In addition to having mining software, you will need a Monero and access to a mining pool that pools your effort with other miners and a wallet to store the Monero that you earn from mining. Most cryptocurrencies have multiple publicly-available mining pools that can be found with a simple Google search.

The following coins use Monero's CryptoNight algorithm and proof of work (PoW) proof-type: Bytecoin, Aeon, Monero Classic, DigitalNote, BitTube, Sumokoin, BitNewChain, Boolberry, Karbo, Digital Insurance Token, ZUM TOKEN, PluraCoin, BitCoal, UltraNote Coin and Bitcoin & Company Network.

The official Reddit community (subreddit) for Monero is r/monero.