Monero (XMR) is a blockchain based cryptocurrency which is private, untraceable, fungible, and decentralized. The protocol is open source, based on CryptoNote v2. The concept and design was written in 2013 by Nicolas van Saberhagen. Developers used this concept to design Monero, and deployed to mainnet in 2014. The Monero protocol includes various methods to obfuscate transaction details, though users can optionally share view keys for third party auditing. Transactions are validated through a miner network running RandomX, a proof of work algorithm. The algorithm issues new coins to miners and was designed to be resistant against application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) mining.
Monero is considered the first 'Privacy First' cryptocurrency. Monero (XMR) is a peer to peer, open source cryptocurrency that focuses on privacy, fungibility, and being 'fully' decentralized. Some of the key points of feature for Monero are...
*I place 'fully' in quotes because while it is decentralized it still is vulnerable to common majority attacks that other cryptocurrencies do. But is able to manage better due to is CPU mining focus.
Because every transaction looks similar on the blockchain and the recipients are protected by stealth addresses, it is extremely hard for an outside observer to trace funds or link addresses.
There are plenty of wallet options for Monero, split well between GUI and CLI options.
Monero GUI Wallet - The recommended GUI default for Monero. Has options such as "Simple" and "Advanced" mode depending on the users technical knowledge. A merchant page for those looking to allow their business online or in person to accept Monero. Compatibility with Trezor or Ledger hardware wallets. In app fiat conversion. Blockchain pruning to allow for physical storage space to be limited down. And 30+ languages available.
Monero CLI Wallet - The recommended CLI default for Monero. Local or remote node. Use your own copy of the blockchain or a publicly available one. Transactions over Tor/I2P. For an additional layer of privacy. Bootstrap node, use a remote node while downloading the blockchain locally, this will allow you to use Monero immediately and switch to your local node once it's completely synced. Compatible with hardware wallets such Trezor and Ledger. RPC Wallet and Daemon included in the archive. Blockchain pruning, not enough disk space? Just use pruning to download only 1/3 of the blockchain.
Cake Wallet - A GUI wallet that accepts a variety of cryptocurrencies including Monero. The Monero view key is retained on the device for maximum privacy. Full support for Monero subaddresses and accounts. Specify restore height for faster syncing. Specify multiple recipients for batch sending. Optionally set Monero nodes as trusted for faster syncing. Specify a proxy for Monero nodes, compatible with Tor and i2p.
Feather Wallet - A free GUI Monero desktop wallet for Linux, Tails, macOS and Windows. It is written in C++ with the Qt framework. Easy to use, small and fast. Those familiar with Electrum for Bitcoin will feel at home with Feather. Ships with sane defaults that suit most users, but can also be configured for high or uncommon threat models. Serves as a testing grounds for experimental features that may later be adopted in the reference wallets.
Stack Wallet - Stack Wallet is a fully open source cryptocurrency wallet. With an easy to use user interface and quick and speedy transactions, this wallet is ideal for anyone no matter how much they know about the cryptocurrency space. The app is actively maintained to provide new user friendly features.
I consider Monero mining to be the most accessible and simple for users to start mining and begin to either scale to size or run in the background with little power consumption changes from their daily computing experience. Since Monero uses RandomX to validate transactions, it was designed to be resistant to ASIC mining, which is commonly used to mine other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC). Monero can be mined somewhat efficiently on consumer grade hardware such as x86, x86-64, ARM and GPUs, a design decision which was based on Monero project's opposition to mining centralization which ASIC mining creates.
Miners can decide if they prefer to solo mine or to mine in a pool. Each method has its benefits and drawbacks, but the Monero Project encourages individuals to solo mine using the Monero software (GUI and CLI), as this type of independent mining is the most effective way to increase the robustness of the Monero network. Mining using P2Pool is also encouraged.
Pro and cons of solo and pool mining:
Solo
Pool
Hardware - Monero can be mined on both CPUs and GPUs, but the latter is much less efficient than the former. You can get an idea of how your hardware performs compared to others, using mrig benchmarks page.
Software - There are several options when it comes to mining software. As already said, to solo mine, the CLI or GUI wallets can be used (CPU only). If you want to mine to a pool or mine with a GPU, you will need dedicated software.
XMRig - XMRig is a high performance, open source, cross platform RandomX, KawPow, CryptoNight and GhostRider unified CPU/GPU miner and RandomX benchmark. Official binaries are available for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD.
CSMiner - Csminer is an easy-to-use command-line miner for Monero providing "set it and forget it" background mining for your personal laptop and desktop machines. Above all, csminer tries to keep day to day usage of your machine unaffected while it is running. Once started, you'll find there's no need to have to stop it to use your machine for other tasks, and then remember to manually restart when done. And you should still find its hashrate comparable to other Monero mining software.
Gupax - Gupax is a GUI that helps manage P2Pool and XMRig which are both CLI only. Offers both a simple and advanced mode, auto sync and pool pinging to get you on the faster node. Auto-update features. It simplifies and streamlines the P2Pool and XMRig experience.
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