Monero

What is Monero?

Monero is a proof-of-work cryptocurrency launched in 2014 that makes every transaction private by default. It combines ring signatures, one-time stealth addresses and confidential amounts so outside observers cannot easily see who paid whom or how much.

What it’s used for

People use XMR for private payments, donations and savings, and some merchants and services accept it. Because many large exchanges have delisted it, a lot of trading happens on smaller exchanges, swap services and peer-to-peer markets.

Role of the XMR token:

Evidence of real use

• Kraken delisted Monero for users in the European Economic Area in late 2024, citing regulatory changes. Source
• Monero's FCMP++ and Carrot privacy upgrade entered a beta stressnet test in September 2026, with no mainnet hard fork date set. Source

How Monero works

Monero hides three things in every transaction. Ring signatures mix your real input with decoy outputs taken from the blockchain, currently 16 in total, so an observer cannot tell which one you actually spent. Stealth addresses create a fresh one-time address for each payment, so your public address never appears on-chain. Ring Confidential Transactions, or RingCT, hide the amount while still proving no coins were created from nothing.

Monero is mined with RandomX, an algorithm designed to run well on ordinary computer processors and to resist specialized mining chips. The goal is to let more people mine and keep hashpower spread out. Block rewards declined over time until 2022, when Monero reached its permanent tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block, which keeps paying miners to secure the network.

The next major upgrade, called FCMP++, would replace the small decoy rings with full-chain membership proofs, so each spend is hidden among essentially all outputs on the chain. It is paired with a new address scheme called Carrot. As of October 2026 the upgrade is being tested on a dedicated stressnet and has no mainnet date, so today's network still uses 16-member rings.

Key moments

1. 2014Monero launches in April as a community fork of the CryptoNote-based Bytecoin project.
2. 2017RingCT becomes mandatory, hiding amounts in all transactions.
3. 2019Monero switches to the RandomX mining algorithm to favor general-purpose CPUs.
4. 2022A network upgrade raises the ring size to 16, and tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block begins.
5. 2026The FCMP++ and Carrot upgrade enters beta stressnet testing; no mainnet date is set.

Supply

Monero's main emission curve ended in 2022 at about 18.1 million XMR. Since then a permanent tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block adds a small, fixed amount each year, so there is no hard cap but inflation trends toward zero in percentage terms.

Risks to understand

• Major exchanges have delisted XMR in several regions, and from July 10, 2027 EU-regulated crypto service providers may not handle anonymity-enhancing coins.
• Limited exchange access can mean thinner liquidity and wider spreads.
• Upgrades as large as FCMP++ carry technical risk.
• Some financial institutions treat privacy coin activity as higher risk, which can complicate cashing out.

Last reviewed October 4, 2026 by The Crypto Guide editorial team. Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.