> **Page type:** Cryptocurrency profile | **Last updated:** March 17, 2026 | **Source:** Verified project data
> **Summary:** Monero (XMR) -- technology, wallets, mining, exchanges, and how to get started.

# Monero (XMR)

## Quick Facts

| | |
|---|---|
| **Type** | Privacy-focused cryptocurrency |
| **Ticker** | XMR |
| **Launched** | April 2014 |
| **Protocol** | CryptoNote (not a Bitcoin fork) |
| **Consensus** | Proof of Work (RandomX, CPU-friendly) |
| **Block Time** | ~2 minutes |
| **Current Block Reward** | 0.6 XMR (tail emission) |
| **Supply** | No fixed cap (~18.4M XMR circulating) |
| **Privacy** | Mandatory (all transactions private by default) |
| **Mining** | ASIC-resistant, anyone with a CPU can mine |
| **Governance** | No company, no foundation, community-governed |
| **Price** | ~$375 USD (as of March 17, 2026) |
| **Market Cap** | ~$6.9 billion |
| **Ranking** | #18 by market cap |
| **All-Time High** | $797.73 (January 14, 2026) |
| **Network Hashrate** | ~5.6 GH/s |
| **Official Site** | [getmonero.org](https://getmonero.org) |
| **Wallet & Exchange** | [monero.com](https://monero.com) (by Cake Labs) |

## Market Data (as of March 17, 2026)

| Metric | Value |
|--------|-------|
| **Price** | ~$375 USD |
| **Market Cap** | ~$6.9 billion |
| **24h Volume** | ~$103 million |
| **Circulating Supply** | ~18,446,744 XMR |
| **All-Time High** | $797.73 (January 14, 2026) |
| **CoinGecko Ranking** | #18 |
| **Network Hashrate** | ~5.6 GH/s (RandomX) |
| **Mining Difficulty** | ~677 G |

Monero hit its all-time high of $797.73 on January 14, 2026. Year-to-date, XMR has declined approximately 14% from its January peak, roughly in line with Bitcoin's year-to-date performance. Over the past 30 days, XMR has gained approximately 12%.

Monero's 24-hour trading volume of ~$103 million reflects activity across centralized exchanges (Kraken, Bitfinex), decentralized platforms (Haveno, Bisq), and instant swappers. Note that privacy coin volumes on centralized exchanges understate actual usage, as a significant portion of Monero transactions occur peer-to-peer or through atomic swaps.

## About

Monero is a privacy-focused, open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency launched in April 2014. The name is Esperanto for "coin." It is based on the CryptoNote protocol and is not a fork of Bitcoin.

Monero is the only major cryptocurrency where all transactions are private by default. The sender, receiver, and amount are hidden on every transaction using ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT. There is no opt-in or opt-out -- privacy is enforced at the protocol level.

No company or foundation controls Monero. It is maintained by a global community of volunteer developers -- the third-largest developer community in cryptocurrency behind Bitcoin and Ethereum. There was no premine, no instamine, and no portion of the block reward goes to development. Funding comes from the Community Crowdfunding System (CCS).

Monero uses the RandomX proof-of-work algorithm, which is optimized for consumer CPUs and resistant to ASIC mining hardware. This keeps mining accessible to anyone with a standard computer, preserving decentralization.

## How Monero Privacy Works

**Ring Signatures** -- When you spend XMR, your transaction output is mixed with decoy outputs from the blockchain. Currently 16 ring members are included (increased from 11 in the April 2025 hard fork). An outside observer sees 16 equally valid possible senders. A unique key image per spend prevents double-spending without revealing the actual signer.

**Stealth Addresses** -- Each Monero account has a private view key, a private spend key, and a public address. Senders create a random one-time address for every transaction. The recipient publishes one public address but receives funds at unique, unlinkable blockchain addresses. Only the sender and receiver know the destination.

**RingCT (Ring Confidential Transactions)** -- Hides transaction amounts using Pedersen commitments. The network can verify that inputs equal outputs (no coins created from nothing) without seeing the actual values. Mandatory since September 2017. Created by Shen Noether.

**Dandelion++** -- Masks the originating IP address of transactions. Transactions propagate through a "stem" phase (peer-to-peer) before entering a "fluff" phase (broadcast), making it very difficult to trace a transaction to its source.

**Bulletproofs+** -- Zero-knowledge range proofs that verify transaction amounts are positive without revealing them. Reduces transaction size compared to the original Bulletproofs implementation.

## Monero vs Bitcoin

| | Monero | Bitcoin |
|---|---|---|
| **Privacy** | Mandatory. Sender, receiver, and amount hidden on every transaction | Pseudonymous. All transactions visible on a transparent blockchain |
| **Fungibility** | Every XMR is identical regardless of history. No "tainted coins" | Not fungible. Coins can be traced and flagged based on transaction history |
| **Mining** | RandomX (CPU-friendly, ASIC-resistant). Anyone can mine | SHA-256 (ASIC-dominated). Requires specialized hardware |
| **Block Time** | ~2 minutes | ~10 minutes |
| **Supply Cap** | No fixed cap. Tail emission of 0.6 XMR/block (~157,680 XMR/year, <1% inflation trending toward 0%) | 21 million cap |
| **Block Size** | Dynamic (adjusts based on demand, no hard limit) | 1MB base + SegWit |
| **Protocol** | CryptoNote | Bitcoin/SHA-256 |
| **Transaction Size** | Larger (due to privacy proofs) | Smaller |

## Where to Buy Monero

**Built-in Wallet Exchange**
- Cake Wallet / Monero.com -- swap BTC, ETH, LTC, USDT and more to XMR directly in the wallet. No account or limits required. Buy with credit/debit card (country-dependent).

**Centralized Exchanges**
- Kraken, Bitfinex, DV Chain. Supports fiat pairs (USD, EUR, CAD). Note: Monero has been delisted from some exchanges (Binance, OKX) due to regulatory pressure on privacy coins.

**Decentralized / Peer-to-Peer**
- Haveno -- decentralized P2P exchange built around Monero, uses multisig escrow. No KYC.
- Bisq -- decentralized P2P exchange, Bitcoin/Tor-based, no KYC.
- BasicSwapDEX -- decentralized P2P atomic swaps.

**Atomic Swaps (BTC to XMR)**
- COMIT (xmr-btc-swap) -- cross-chain atomic swap protocol.
- Farcaster -- privacy-preserving swap protocol.
- No trusted third party required.

**Instant Swappers (no KYC)**
- SimpleSwap, ChangeNow, Godex, StealthEX, FlashShift.

## Wallets

**Official Monero Project Wallets**
- GUI Wallet v0.18.4.7 "Fluorine Fermi" -- Windows, macOS (Intel + ARM), Linux. Simple and advanced modes, hardware wallet support, 30+ languages, blockchain pruning. Download from getmonero.org.
- CLI Wallet v0.18.4.6 -- Windows, macOS, Linux, Android, FreeBSD. For developers and advanced users.

**Mobile Wallets (non-custodial, open-source)**
- Cake Wallet (iOS, Android) -- multi-coin wallet with built-in exchange and Cake Pay (spend crypto at ~150,000 merchants).
- Monero.com wallet (iOS, Android) -- Monero-only version of Cake Wallet.
- Monerujo (Android) -- lightweight Monero wallet.
- Stack Wallet (iOS, Android).

**Desktop Wallets**
- Feather Wallet (Windows, macOS, Linux) -- advanced desktop wallet.

**Hardware Wallets**
- Ledger (Nano S, Nano S Plus, Nano X).
- Trezor (Model T, Safe 3, Safe 5).

**Full Node vs Light Wallet:** A full node wallet downloads the entire blockchain (~225GB full, ~86GB pruned). Maximum privacy. Light wallets connect to a remote node for faster sync -- the remote node sees your IP and timing but not amounts or destinations.

## Mining

Monero uses **RandomX**, an ASIC-resistant proof-of-work algorithm optimized for consumer CPUs. No specialized hardware is needed -- anyone with a standard computer can mine XMR.

- **Block reward:** 0.6 XMR per block (tail emission, started June 9, 2022). This creates ~157,680 XMR/year, less than 1% inflation that trends toward 0% over time.
- **Block time:** ~2 minutes.
- **Software:** XMRig is the most popular mining software.
- **Pool options:** P2Pool (decentralized, no central pool operator). Traditional pools also available.
- **Profitability:** Solo mining on a single CPU is unlikely to find blocks frequently, but P2Pool makes small-scale mining viable with regular payouts.

## Recent Updates

**March 2026 -- Hard Fork (Ring Size Increase)**
Stricter minimum ring sizes, enhanced signature generation efficiency, compression techniques reducing average transaction size. Counters evolving statistical attacks on ring signatures.

**April 2025 -- v0.18.4.0 "Fluorine Fermi" Hard Fork**
Ring size increased from 11 to 16. Wallet sync times reduced by 30%. Transitioned to Bulletproofs+ algorithm. Security patches and multisig fixes.

**October 2025 -- v0.18.4.3 Spy Node Defense**
Improved peer selection algorithm to avoid spy node subnets. 46% of community nodes adopted a ban list neutralizing identified spy nodes.

**Upcoming: FCMP++ (Full-Chain Membership Proofs)**
Expected later in 2026. Replaces ring signatures with full-chain membership proofs. Anonymity set jumps from 16 decoys to all ~150+ million outputs on the entire blockchain. Alpha stressnet already released. This is the most significant privacy upgrade in Monero's history.

## Community & Development

Monero has no company, CEO, or foundation. Development is organized through open workgroups:
- **Monero Research Lab (MRL)** -- protocol research and cryptographic improvements.
- **Seraphis Wallet Workgroup** -- next-generation wallet implementation.
- **Development Workgroup** -- CLI/GUI wallet and daemon development.
- **Community Workgroup** -- non-technical community coordination.
- **Localization Workgroup** -- translations (13+ languages).
- **Monero Policy Working Group** -- regulatory engagement.

Funding comes from the **Community Crowdfunding System (CCS)** at ccs.getmonero.org, where anyone can propose and fund development work.

**1,600+ merchants** accept Monero, including VPN providers (Mullvad, ProtonVPN, NordVPN), e-commerce stores, and precious metal dealers. Cake Pay enables spending XMR at ~150,000 merchant locations via gift card bridges.

## Social Media & Links

| Platform | Link |
|----------|------|
| **X** | [x.com/monero](https://x.com/monero) |
| **Reddit** | [r/Monero](https://reddit.com/r/Monero) |
| **Telegram** | [t.me/monero](https://telegram.me/monero) |
| **Discord** | [discord.gg/monero](https://discord.gg/SyGUMWBqvF) |
| **Facebook** | [facebook.com/monerocurrency](https://www.facebook.com/monerocurrency/) |
| **GitHub** | [github.com/monero-project](https://github.com/monero-project) |
| **Stack Exchange** | [monero.stackexchange.com](https://monero.stackexchange.com/) |
| **IRC** | #monero on irc.libera.chat |

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Q: What is Monero and how is it different from Bitcoin?
Monero is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency launched in 2014 based on the CryptoNote protocol (not a Bitcoin fork). The key difference: Bitcoin has a transparent blockchain where all transactions are publicly visible. Monero hides the sender, receiver, and amount on every transaction by default using ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT. This makes Monero fungible -- every XMR is identical regardless of its transaction history, unlike Bitcoin where coins can be traced and flagged.

### Q: Is Monero truly anonymous?
Monero provides strong privacy but the project itself states "there is no such thing as 100% anonymous." Monero hides sender, receiver, and amount at the protocol level, but user behavior matters. Using Monero with poor operational security (e.g., linking your identity to your address on an exchange, then withdrawing) can reduce privacy. The privacy guarantees are cryptographic and apply to the blockchain itself -- all transactions are private by default with no opt-in required.

### Q: Where can I buy Monero?
You can buy XMR through centralized exchanges (Kraken, Bitfinex), decentralized P2P exchanges (Haveno, Bisq), atomic swap protocols (COMIT, Farcaster), instant swappers (SimpleSwap, ChangeNow), or directly in the Cake Wallet / Monero.com wallet with a credit/debit card. Some major exchanges (Binance, OKX) have delisted Monero due to regulatory pressure on privacy coins. For maximum privacy, use a decentralized exchange or atomic swaps.

### Q: What is the best Monero wallet?
For desktop: the official GUI Wallet from getmonero.org (simple and advanced modes, hardware wallet support). For mobile: Cake Wallet (iOS/Android, multi-coin, built-in exchange) or the Monero.com wallet (Monero-only). For maximum privacy: run a full node with the official wallet. For convenience: use a light wallet connecting to a remote node (slightly less private but much faster sync).

### Q: Can I mine Monero with my computer?
Yes. Monero uses RandomX, an algorithm specifically designed for consumer CPUs. No specialized ASIC hardware is needed. Download XMRig, join P2Pool (decentralized mining pool), and you can mine with any modern CPU. The block reward is 0.6 XMR per block (~$220 at current prices). Solo mining on a single CPU rarely finds blocks, but P2Pool provides regular payouts proportional to your hashrate.

### Q: Does Monero have a maximum supply?
No. Unlike Bitcoin's 21 million cap, Monero has a tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block, creating approximately 157,680 new XMR per year. This results in less than 1% annual inflation, trending toward 0% as the circulating supply grows. The tail emission ensures miners always have an incentive to secure the network, avoiding the untested scenario Bitcoin will face when its block reward reaches zero.

### Q: What is the ring size and why does it matter?
The ring size determines how many decoy outputs are mixed with your real transaction. As of the April 2025 hard fork, Monero uses a ring size of 16 -- meaning each transaction includes 15 decoys plus the real spend. An observer sees 16 equally valid possible senders. Larger ring sizes provide stronger privacy. The upcoming FCMP++ upgrade will replace rings entirely, expanding the anonymity set to all ~150+ million outputs on the blockchain.

### Q: Has Monero's privacy ever been broken?
Monero's privacy has been studied extensively. The "Breaking Monero" video series (14 episodes) explores theoretical vulnerabilities. Historical weaknesses (such as pre-RingCT amount exposure and early low ring sizes) have been addressed through protocol upgrades. No practical, real-world break of current Monero privacy has been demonstrated. The upcoming FCMP++ upgrade will provide the strongest privacy guarantees yet.

### Q: What is FCMP++ and when is it coming?
Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMP++) is Monero's most significant upcoming privacy upgrade, expected later in 2026. It replaces ring signatures with a system where the anonymity set is the entire blockchain -- all ~150+ million outputs -- rather than just 16 decoys. This represents roughly a 10-million-fold increase in the anonymity set. An alpha stressnet has already been released. The CARROT addressing protocol audit has been completed.

### Q: Why has Monero been delisted from some exchanges?
Some exchanges (Binance, OKX, Huobi) have delisted Monero due to regulatory pressure. Privacy coins face scrutiny from regulators who want transaction transparency for anti-money laundering (AML) compliance. Monero remains available on Kraken, Bitfinex, and numerous decentralized exchanges. The delistings have not affected Monero's protocol or privacy -- they only affect which centralized platforms trade it. Decentralized alternatives like Haveno, Bisq, and atomic swaps continue to grow.

### Q: How big is the Monero blockchain and do I need to download it all?
The full Monero blockchain is approximately 225GB. With pruning enabled, it is approximately 86GB. You do not need to download the full blockchain to use Monero. Light wallets and mobile wallets connect to remote nodes for fast sync. Running a full node provides maximum privacy (the remote node cannot see your transaction details, but can see your IP and when you connect). For most users, a light wallet is sufficient.