On February 6th, the world's leading exchange Binance The company announced that it will delist the privacy-friendly cryptocurrency Monero (XMR). XMR will be removed from the platform on February 20th, along with Aragon (ANT), Multichain (MULTI), and Vai (VAI).
In its delisting announcement, the exchange said: “If a coin or token no longer meets these standards, or if industry conditions change, we will conduct a more detailed review and, in some cases, delist the coin or token. “There is a possibility that it will become,” he roughly explained. Binance said the decision to delist XMR and other tokens is based on a variety of factors, including “evidence of unethical or fraudulent conduct or negligence,” “new regulatory requirements,” and “network/smart contract stability.” It states that it was done based on.
Monero's price plummeted following the delisting announcement. XMR price traded at ~US$165.67 prior to the delisting announcement and quickly fell to a local low of ~US$102.05 (down ~38.4%). The price has since stabilized and currently hovers around $121 USD.
After February 21st, deposits of these tokens will no longer be credited. From the day before, token withdrawal processing will no longer be possible. For users who do not withdraw their tokens by the deadline, Binance said it may convert their holdings to stablecoins on their behalf, although this is not guaranteed.
Monero is a blockchain network known for its strong privacy features. Monero's Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) are designed to hide transaction amounts, sources, and destinations. Stealth addresses create a one-time address for each new transaction a Monero user makes, making it more difficult for regulators to source transactions when investigating the network.
Monero has emerged as the blockchain network of choice for global criminals looking to: Obfuscate fraudulent payments and money laundering activities. In March 2019, the head of the French Parliament's Finance Committee, Eric Werthe, proposed banning private cryptocurrencies like Monero, citing their inherent ability to circumvent user identification systems. Monero is one of the few large cryptocurrencies that can still be mined on a computer.
Monero history
Monero was launched on April 18, 2014. Though reminiscent of Satoshi Nakamoto, most of the developers working on the Monero project have chosen to remain anonymous. Only two of the developers currently working on the project have publicly disclosed. They are outspoken lead developers Riccardo 'fluffypony' Spagni and Francisco 'articmine' Cabanas.
Monero (XMR) began as a hard fork of the Bytecoin (BCN) project, one of the earliest privacy-focused cryptocurrency projects. The Bytecoin project was launched with pre-mining and the developer is said to be keeping over 80% of the tokens for himself. In order to create a fairer privacy coin that would not be tarnished by pre-mining accusations, another group of developers forked his Bytecoin blockchain to create Monero.
Monero is based on CryptoNight's proof-of-work hashing algorithm used in the CryptoNote protocol. Released in 2013 with a whitepaper, CryptoNote is the brainchild of Nicolas van Saberhagen. Saberhagen said he was concerned about the lack of privacy and confidentiality of transactions within the Bitcoin network.
The Bitcoin blockchain is the first successful solution that enables decentralized digital peer-to-peer payments without the need for a central authority. However, because it is a public blockchain, Bitcoin transactions are anonymous and there is no true anonymity or confidentiality. Many in the crypto community believe that private transactions are necessary for decentralized cryptocurrencies to survive in the long term. In his CryptoNote whitepaper, Saberhagen says: “Privacy and anonymity are the most important aspects of electronic money. Peer-to-peer payments aim to be hidden from third party eyes, and this is a clear difference when compared to traditional banking.”
The CryptoNote protocol and the principles outlined by Saberhagen form the basis of many coins, including Bytecoin, Monero, Forknote, Boolberry, DashCoin, and DigitalNote.
Untraceable, unlinkable, and analysis-resistant
Monero is classified as a privacy coin because its transactions are untraceable, unlinkable, private, and analysis-resistant. Monero provides users with a high level of transactional privacy through a combination of innovative privacy-focused protocols such as Ring Signatures, Ring Confidential Transactions, and Stealth Addressing.
The Monero blockchain is an obfuscated ledger and it is not possible to view data related to transactions performed on its network. This protocol aims to ensure that details such as the amount sent, the address from which it is sent, and the address of the recipient are not accessible to anyone. To achieve consensus, Monero utilizes CryptoNight, a proof-of-work algorithm designed for use within the CryptoNote codebase.
Monero's architecture and functionality differs from public blockchains such as Bitcoin. Many believe that the emergence of privacy-centric coins is the next logical step in the evolution of cryptocurrencies due to the concept of fungibility.
privacy issues
Substitutability refers to the interchangeability of a good or asset with other individual goods or assets of the same type. For a currency to be successful, it must be fungible. If this is not the case, confidence in the currency may be lost.
Unfortunately, there are concerns that crypto assets such as Bitcoin do not have strong substitutability at this time. Because transactions made on public blockchains are visible to everyone, governments can use specialized chain analysis firms to track coins involved in illegal activities such as darknet markets, theft, and ransomware. is. This leads to the problem of contaminated coins. As a result, there is a growing market for newly minted coins with no past history.
Laura Singh talks about episode 93 unchained Podcaster Riccardo Spagni characterized the need for transactional privacy as a human right. “My interest in Monero is ideological. I believe that privacy is a fundamental human right. And I am passionate about advancing it and helping people, especially in places and situations where their privacy is taken away. I was interested in this technology that allows people to have privacy.”
Two sides of the coin
Regulators are still grappling with the unique nature of private cryptocurrencies. Privacy coins give individual citizens the ability to transact outside of state control. Monero has been linked to many illegal activities, including mining his malware, money laundering, and purchasing on the dark web. As a result, regulators are considering legislation against Monero and other anonymous cryptocurrencies such as Zcash and Dash.
France is introducing legislation to ban anonymous cryptocurrencies. South Korea has banned anonymous cryptocurrency trading, and Japanese regulators have moved against Monero, Zcash, and Dash.
If the government were to ban Monero and privacy coins, enforcement would be difficult. The nature of privacy-focused decentralized cryptocurrencies is that they are accessible to anyone with internet access and are designed to be difficult to trace. For individuals who want to conduct business in a secure and private manner, it will be difficult to stop using Privacy Her coins.
So far, Monero continues to enjoy strong grassroots support, and its value has increased significantly since its launch. It is supported by numerous global cryptocurrency exchanges. But Binance's delisting signals that the tide may be turning for Monero amid growing legislative opposition to the adoption of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies.
