What is Tari?
Tari is a proof-of-work blockchain whose mainnet went live in May 2025, founded by early Monero contributors. Its coin, Minotari (XTM), is built on the Mimblewimble protocol, so amounts and the parties to a payment are hidden by default, and one of its four mining methods is shared with Monero miners.
Utility Lens
What Tari actually does
Offers a private-by-default coin that ordinary people can earn by mining with a home computer.
- Real-world usage
- earlyMining through Tari Universe is the main activity; we found little evidence of everyday payments, and trading sits on a few small exchanges.
- Token necessity
- essentialXTM rewards miners, pays base-layer fees and is the only asset on the base chain; the planned second-layer TARI token can only be made by burning XTM.
- Decentralization
- moderateFour separate proof-of-work lanes, one merge-mined with Monero, spread out block production, but 30% of supply was pre-mined for the community, contributors, grants and early backers.
- Track record
- developingMainnet launched in May 2025; in September 2026 it needed a hard fork to fix a consensus flaw in its C29 mining lane and a separate patch for an exchange-wallet bug.
What it’s used for
Most activity today is mining: the Tari Universe desktop app lets people put a Mac, Windows or Linux computer to work earning XTM. Holders can send confidential XTM payments, and a wrapped version called WXTM exists for EVM networks. Trading is thin and happens mainly on smaller exchanges such as MEXC, BTSE and SafeTrade.
Role of the XTM token:
Evidence of real use
- About 100,000 people joined Tari's testnet through the Tari Universe app before the mainnet launched in May 2025. Source (opens in a new tab)
- From September 6 to September 22, 2026 an attacker used a flaw in Tari's C29 mining lane to mine forged blocks until a hard fork at block 350,000 closed it. Source (opens in a new tab)
- A wallet bug reported on September 29, 2026 let an attacker make exchange deposits look bigger than they were; contributors say no XTM was created and the wallet was patched. Source (opens in a new tab)
Privacy: what’s hidden, what isn’t
- Privacy model
- default (every transaction)
- What it hides
- Transaction amounts and the addresses of sender and receiver; one-sided payments use stealth addresses so the receiver's public key isn't published.
- What stays visible
- That transactions happened and when, block and mining data, and the coin's total supply. The wrapped WXTM token on EVM networks behaves like any ordinary public token.
- Reality check
- Mimblewimble hides amounts well, but research on Grin showed that network observers could link many transactions before they were combined; we found no independent study of Tari's own network yet. Major US exchanges do not list XTM, and EU rules from July 2027 bar regulated providers from handling anonymity-enhancing coins.
How Tari works
Tari's base chain, also called the Minotari network, records transactions with Mimblewimble. Rather than publishing amounts and addresses, each transaction carries cryptographic commitments that prove no coins were created from nothing while keeping the figures hidden. Standard Mimblewimble needs payer and payee to interact; Tari adds a scripting system, TariScript, so you can receive one-sided payments, plus stealth addresses so your public key isn't exposed when someone pays you. Spent outputs can be pruned while the ledger still verifies.
Blocks come from four mining lanes running side by side: RandomX merge-mined with Monero, a Tari-only RandomX lane, SHA3x and Cuckaroo29 (C29). Each lane targets a quarter of the rewards, and the chain's overall strength combines work from all four, so no one lane can carry the chain by itself. Tari Universe packages mining into a desktop app for everyday computers, which is how most people get XTM.
A second layer called the Ootle is planned for apps such as digital assets and payments. It will use a TARI token that can only be created by burning XTM one-for-one, with part of each Ootle fee burned. Tari contributors have announced a November 11, 2026 launch date and the Ootle is running on a testnet in the meantime, so treat the date as a plan rather than a promise.
Key moments
- 2018Tari Labs raises a $1.25 million seed round, followed by a larger venture round in 2021.
- 2025Tari mainnet launches in May after a testnet the team says drew about 100,000 participants.
- 2026The C29 mining lane goes live in January; in September an attacker exploits a flaw in it until a hard fork at block 350,000, and a separate wallet bug hits exchanges.
- 2026Contributors set November 11, 2026 as the planned launch date for the Ootle second layer.
Supply
Tari plans an initial emission of 21 billion XTM released block by block on a decaying curve, followed by a permanent tail emission of about 1% a year to keep paying miners, so there is no hard cap. 30% of the initial supply (6.3 billion XTM) was pre-mined for community incentives, protocol infrastructure and grants, contributors and early backers, with lockups and vesting of up to five years; all newly mined coins go to miners.
Risks to understand
- Young code with real incidents: in September 2026 a consensus flaw let an attacker mine forged C29 blocks for about two weeks, and a separate wallet bug let deposits appear larger than they were.
- Trading is thin and concentrated on a handful of smaller exchanges, and neither Coinbase nor Kraken offers XTM or WXTM.
- 30% of the initial supply was pre-mined, with insider and backer allocations unlocking over several years.
- Mimblewimble has known limits: a 2019 study showed a node watching the Grin network could link the senders and receivers of most transactions before they were merged into blocks.
- From July 10, 2027 EU-regulated crypto service providers may not handle anonymity-enhancing coins, which could narrow access further.
Tari FAQ
Is Tari the same as Minotari?
Tari is the project; Minotari (XTM) is the coin on its proof-of-work base layer. A separate TARI token is planned for the Ootle second layer and can only be created by burning XTM.
Do I need special hardware to mine Tari?
No. Tari Universe is designed for ordinary Mac, Windows and Linux computers, and one lane is merge-mined with Monero. Mining still costs electricity and wears hardware, so weigh that before you start.
Can people in the US buy XTM?
Owning XTM is legal, but major US exchanges don't list it, and Tari's own tokenomics page warns the token is not registered under the Securities Act and may not be offered or sold to US persons without an exemption.
Sources
- Tari, privacy-focused network from early Monero contributors, launches mainnet (opens in a new tab) — The Block
- Tari Tokenomics (opens in a new tab) — Tari
- RFC-0001: An overview of the Tari network (opens in a new tab) — Tari RFCs
- Tari: The C29 Consensus Bug, What Happened, and the Path Forward (opens in a new tab) — Tari Community
- Tari Wallet Security Incident (opens in a new tab) — Tari Community
- Breaking Mimblewimble's Privacy Model (opens in a new tab) — Dragonfly Research
- Wrapped Minotari price and availability (opens in a new tab) — Kraken
- Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 (Anti-Money Laundering Regulation) (opens in a new tab) — EUR-Lex, Official Journal of the EU
Last reviewed October 20, 2026. Written by Dave McNaught. Utility Lens ratings are editorial judgments, not investment advice. Market data from CoinGecko. Spot an error? Request a correction.
Dave McNaught
Dave McNaught has worked in IT since 1999 and founded All Business Technologies (ABT) in 2003, a Boston-area firm providing Managed IT, Cybersecurity, Managed AI, Web Design and App Development. He publishes The Crypto Guide.