The Monero Moon (Issue 23)
The Monero Moon is a curated weekly newsletter regarding all things Monero.
July 13th 2021
Development, Releases, and Technology
Discussion regarding TX Chaining and Ring Binning is currently taking place among the Monero developers. The development proposal aims to improve Monero by eliminating the 10-block confirmation requirement, allowing tx mempool replaceability and fee bumping techniques, and facilitating complete atomic swap protocols which all require ‘transaction chaining’. More information and the discussion can be found here.
Feather, a free Monero desktop wallet similar to Electrum, recently released Beta-8. This release includes Trezor hardware wallet support, a Webcam QrCode scanner, Multi-input sweeps, coin labeling, and many other new features and bug fixes. Check out this post for more information, and download Feather wallet here.
The Comit Network group recently announced the launch of XMR-BTC atomic swaps on its mainet with the release of version 0.8.0 of the XMR-BTC swap tool. The release adds the long awaited functionality of an automated maker discovery. Running a simple command will get you a list of sellers (market makers) that are willing to sell XMR for BTC. Here is what this looks like in action:
There is still the missing feature of selling XMR for BTC, however the Comit team are hoping to add that feature once transaction chaining becomes possible on Monero. Atomic swaps allow cross-chain trades without needing a trusted intermediary or a trustworthy partner. As such, atomic swaps help eliminate the risk associated with using centralised exchanges. It is likely cryptocurrency wallets will aim to integrate this technology as soon as possible. More information regarding to Comit Network group’s developments can be found here.
Monero is still the most used cryptocurrency for private and untraceable transactions. According to Justin Ehrenhofer, “Monero had 44 times as many “private” (used *very* loosely) transactions as Zcash, Dash, and Grin *combined* last month, which is larger than the 30x it was in May”. Check out the graph below for reference.
Monero block rewards are now under 0.95 XMR! That means the current yearly inflation rate is 1.38% or 681 XMR per day. For reference, BTC’s inflation is 1.75% or 900 BTC per day. According to supply and demand dynamics, so long as demand for XMR remains the same or increases, as the block reward continues to decrease this should have a positive effect on the valuation of XMR.
The Monero network hashrate continues its long term uptrend. The Monero hashrate is a calculated numerical value that specifies an estimate of how many hashes are being generated by Monero miners trying to solve the current Monero block or any given block. The higher the hashrate, the more secure the network.
The number of miners on the Monero network is now above 150,000 which is a new all time high (as far as I’m aware). Visit miningpoolstats.stream/monero and then zoom the page out in your browser to see the number of miners.
(Edit: Please note miningpoolstats may be displaying incorrect information so the number of miners may be incorrect.)
The Monero Mining community have expressed concern over the minexmr pool having a large percentage of hashrate. Miners are urging participants to stop mining to minexmr in order to ensure and build a decentralised global network.
Xmrig-proxy v6.14.0 has been released. Check it out here on Github.
Want to run a full Monero node on an android device to help secure the Monero network? Check out the video and tweet by CryptoGrampy below to see how to run a full Monero node on an old phone you may have laying around the house! You can find code and install instructions here on Github.
jyspyjoker reported to have experienced better mining performance on Windows 11 compared to Windows 10.
Check out this cool video from Rabid Mining Crypto & Tech showing you how to build a CPU mining rig using the stock cooler.
The Haveno team who are developing a decentralised p2p exchange built on Monero have recently found a vulnerability in Bisq that would have allowed malicious actors to harvest user’s payment information like Bank accounts, names and potentially home addresses at no cost. More information can be found here. Check out the statement from Bisq below in the Tweet thread below.
Analysis of transaction flooding attacks against Monero was published a few weeks ago and was discussed by Monero developers on Reddit. The paper discusses a possible attack method by flooding the network to identify the true spend of newly created transaction inputs. You can find the paper here, or read it at an alternative link here.
General News
The second Monero Twitter Space meeting took place July 7th! If you missed the chat, check it out below!
Monero Talk interviewed Samourai wallet, the Bitcoin wallet that recently announced they are incorporating BTC-XMR atomic swaps. They discuss the drama and blowback of Bitcoin maximalists since the announcement of BTC-XMR atomic swaps, the sustainability of Monero tech staying ahead chain analysis companies capabilities, and how they see Monero and Bitcoin coexisting in the future.
Monero Talk also interviewed Sergei Tikhomirov, a post doc at the University of Luxembourg, who studies the security and privacy of Bitcoin, the lightning network, and privacy coins. The episode discusses Tikhomirov’s recent paper A Quantitative Analysis of Security, Anonymity and Scalability for the Lightning Network, and Monero’s current position within the cryptosphere.
The Open Economy Initiative released a new video providing a news round of what’s been happening within the Monero community. Watch it here or below.
The Monero Defcon party in Las Vegas is on Aug 7th 2021 at The Nerd. The party is sponsored by Cake Wallet and tickets go on sale soon. Details can be found here.
If you are planning to be in Vegas at the time reach out to the Monero Defcon organisers here and let them know so you can attend all the fun activities and hang out with like minded crew. Additionally if you are able to lend them a hand reach out to them on the Monero Space GitHub. Any contributions you can offer would be greatly appreciated.
Cypherstack have created new Monero cypherpunk animated and static stickers to use on messaging platforms such as Telegram or Discord. Check them out here.
Crypto For The Homeless, a not for profit charity that raises funds (XMR included) to buy and distribute food to the homeless, is seeking volunteers. They operate within the US and at the moment require more manpower than donations, so if you are able to lend a hand reach out to them on their website.
There have been murmurs that both the EU and US are planning to make private or anonymous cryptocurrency wallets illegal. Check out this draft proposal from the European Commission and this post from a member of the European parliament. Extensive public discussion regarding the issue can be found here.
Also in relation to EU regulations, the European Parliament approved the ePrivacy Derogation, allowing providers of e-mail and messaging services to automatically search all personal messages of each citizen for presumed suspect content and report suspected cases to the police. Read more about it here.
Spotted: A rap group performing on stage with a Monero logo projection behind them.
BlacksmithPlenty shared a really great short social awareness video for Monero. Check it out here or down below.
Do you have a question about Monero but have felt too silly to ask it? Check out the Monero subreddit’s Monero Ask Anything Monday and post your question. Alternatively, feel free to simply have a read of others’ discussions.
Exchanges and Merchants
Are you planning to secretly surprise your significant other with a gift but don’t want them knowing as they always check your bank statements? Head over to Cryptwerk and check out the list of over 1000 stores that accept XMR as payment. Below is a screenshot of their Monero adoption analytics page. You can see there is a continued increase in Monero merchant adoption.
Want to buy or sell something for XMR? Head over to this thread on r/monero and browse things for sale, or sell something of your own.
Given England’s recent Euro 2020 final loss, I thought I’d provide another reminder that you can now buy Monero merchandise from Monero UK. Check out their website here. They are offering to send out free Monero stickers to those in the UK!
XMR is beginning to see is seeing a lot more vendor acceptance on Dark Net Markets. According to a Bitcoin.com article, as of June 29th Monero temporarily captured 84% of vendor acceptance on three of the top marketplaces. Check out the article for a break down of the stats.
Community Crowdfunding System
There are a number of other Community Crowdfunding System proposals awaiting feedback, discussion or funding. This includes proposals for website development, selsta’s Monero development, open-sourcing Monero Ocean, GUI/UX development, Monero video creation and text translation, a Monero meme website, mj’s Q3 part-time coding, and an offshore banking server. The proposals can be viewed here and feedback or donations are encouraged.
Trading & Speculation
XMR/BTC has been trending in a rectangle pattern for almost a month. A break out above recent highs of ~0.0067 would be bullish.
Similarly, the XMR/USD pair has also been trending sideways in a large rectangle pattern since late June. A break out above recent highs of $232, while dropping below $195 would signify the bears are in control.
CryptoMorpheus_ released some new metrics on the Monero Pro website. The website has four new charts: Supply Difference (XMR x BTC — number of coins), Power Law, Thermocap Multiple, and Sharpe Ratio. Check out Monero Pro for all your Monero related metrics.
Performance
Total Monero in Circulation — 17,951,336 XMR
Monero Total Marketcap — $3,724,183,765 USD
Monero Coinmarketcap Ranking — #28
XMR/USD Price — $206 USD
XMR/BTC Price — 0.00624 BTC
LocalMonero.co Street Price — $230 USD
Average Transaction Fee — 0.000043 XMR ($0.007 USD)
Hashrate — 2.467 Ghash/s
Monero Mining Pools Hashrate Distribution —
Entertainment (4chan biz Monero General special edition)
Donate
If you like the newsletter and want more of this content, then shout me a round of beers by donating some spare Monero you didn’t lose during your boating accident.
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Support Monero
Want to help contribute to the Monero Project? Developers, marketers, event coordinators, translators, Instagram personalities, meme creators, public speakers — whatever your skills may be, it is extremely likely there is something you can do to assist. I urge you to reach out to the Monero community on Reddit, IRC (double check this as the Monero channels are currently migrating to Libera.Chat), GitHub, Twitter, or Telegram.
Past Issues
Issue 22 / Issue 21 / Issue 20 / Issue 19 / Issue 18 / Issue 17 / Issue 16 / Issue 15 / Issue 14 / Issue 13 / Issue 12 / Issue 11 / Issue 10 / Issue 9 / Issue 8 / Issue 7 / Issue 6 / Issue 5 / Issue 4 / Issue 3 / Issue 2 / Issue 1
Socials
If you have any suggestions, corrections, or feedback, please contact me on Twitter @johnfoss69 or on Reddit u/johnfoss68.
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DISCLAIMER: This publication contains opinion for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Information may contain errors and omissions. Use solely at your own risk. The author of this publication and/or the authors of articles linked to from this site may have financial investments that may bias their opinions, including ownership of Monero currency. Always do your own research, form your own opinions, and never take risks with money or trust third parties with out verifying their credibility.
