Unlike selectively transparent alternatives (e.g. Zcash), Monero is the only major cryptocurrency where every user is anonymous by default. The sender, receiver, and amount of every single transaction are hidden through the use of three important technologies: @Stealth-Addresses, @Ring-Signatures, and @RingCT.
Because every transaction is private, Monero cannot be traced. This makes it a true, @fungible currency. Merchants and individuals accepting Monero do not need to worry about blacklisted or tainted coins.
With Monero, there are no wire transfer or check clearing fees, no multi-day holding periods, and no fraudulent chargebacks. Because Monero is decentralized, it is not constrained by any particular legal jurisdiction and provides safety from capital control.
Monero was launched in April 2014. It was a fair, pre-announced launch of the CryptoNote reference code. There was no premine or instamine, and no portion of the block reward goes to development. See the original Bitcointalk thread
The founder, thankful_for_today, proposed some controversial changes that the community disagreed with. A fallout ensued, and the Monero Core Team forked the project with the community following this new Core Team. This Core Team has provided oversight since.
Monero has made several large improvements since launch. The blockchain was migrated to a different database structure to provide greater efficiency and flexibility, minimum ring signature sizes were set so that all transactions were private by mandate, and RingCT was implemented to hide the transaction amounts. Nearly all improvements have provided improvements to security or privacy, or they have facilitated use. Monero continues to develop with goals of privacy and security first, ease of use and efficiency second.
Users must be able to trust Monero with their transactions, without risk of error or attack. Monero gives the full block reward to the miners, who are the most critical members of the network who provide this security. Transactions are cryptographically secure using the latest and most resilient encryption tools available.
Monero takes privacy seriously. Monero needs to be able to protect users in a court of law and, in extreme cases, from the death penalty. This level of privacy must be completely accessible to all users, whether they are technologically competent or have no idea how Monero works. A user needs to confidently trust Monero in a way that this person does not feel pressured into changing their spending habits for risk of others finding out.
Monero is committed to providing the highest degree of decentralization in both network security and code development. Its Proof of Work algorithm prevents specialized mining hardware from dominating the network and allows for fair distribution of block rewards. Additionally, Monero's development and research are conducted via global collaboration, and the project is carried out with utmost transparency. Each development decision is open to public discussion, and every major developer meeting is published online.
