OC by @[email protected]

I know there are plenty of software missing from here. This is just a fun infographic I made, no need to take it seriously :)

  • Remy Rose@piefed.socialEnglish
    12·
    2 days ago

    Somebody please tell me what’s up with Monero. I thought it was some kinda cryptocurrency? In what way does it avoid or mitigate any of the overwhelming number of problems those inherently have?

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works
      4·
      11 hours ago

      Here’s a laundry list, since you didn’t specify which concerns you have:

      • unprofitable to mine in farms, so fewer environmental issues
      • creates a ton of fake transactions to screw with the public ledger to protect your privacy
      • variable sized blocks, which keeps fees low and reduces transaction time
      • pretty stable, so pump isn’t really a thing
      • not as popular as bitcoin or Ethereum, so traditional scams to steal your coins aren’t as successful (also attracts more sophisticated users)
      • less of a target for speculation, so the currency is reasonably stable

      There are some downsides of course:

      • due to privacy features, it’s attractive to criminals, so many countries block direct transactions with fiat (need to trade some other crypto for it)
      • to maximize privacy, it’s strongly recommended to use your own node (boy required though), which can raise the barrier to entry
      • it’s even harder to find vendors that accept it vs other cryptocurrencies

      Monero does seem to be the best cash replacement though, since it preserves most of the privacy-relevant features of cash.

      • Remy Rose@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        3 hours ago

        This is actually really helpful, thanks!!

        My general impression for a while has been that there is a genuine need for what crypto claims (but fails) to do. It sounds like Monero is, while very imperfect, sort of like the closest thing we have?

        I keep seeing a lot of orgs support it that I would’ve expected better from, on the crypto front, so I guess this explains why.

    • MangoPenguin@piefed.socialEnglish
      7·
      2 days ago

      It’s essentially the only cryptocurrency that has privacy, so is good for paying for VPNs and such.

      Others like Bitcoin are not private and your transactions are visible.

    • Sophocles@infosec.pub
      12·
      2 days ago

      I’m not a crypto expert, but from what I know it’s one of the few currencies that have no kyc (know your customer) in order to use. The whole point of it is to have completely anonymous transactions and untracable/unmarked currecy. I used it once to buy a month of Mullvad vpn just to see how it works. I bought a giftcard with cash, traded the gift card for monero on a somewhat sketchy site, put the monero into an XMR wallet, and used the Monero to buy the vpn with wallet keys. It was a fun experiment but it was just too much time and effort to do it the right way to warrant using it 24/7

      • Kairos@lemmy.today
        4·
        2 days ago

        It’s not about KYC. Monero would have KYC like any other cryptocurrency. Its that the transactions are encrypted.

        • Sophocles@infosec.pub
          6·
          2 days ago

          Essentially what the other person said, but KYC depends on the marketplace. See getmonero.com. XMR allows for merchants to skip KYC, which other cryptos don’t do

        • whosepoopisonmybutt@sh.itjust.works
          13·
          2 days ago

          Its my understanding that KYC is not inherent to crypto but only to exchanges such as kraken or coinbase. Tax regulations necessitate KYC, not the technical requirements of the underlying asset.