Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin Cash (BCC) is a cryptocurrency that offers scalability, flexibility, and lower fees compared to Bitcoin, its parent cryptocurrency.

Established on August 1, 2017 due to a hard fork in the Bitcoin blockchain, Bitcoin Cash has rapidly become one of the most popular and highly valued cryptocurrencies on the market. (1) (2)

Due to its similarities with Bitcoin and its improved transaction rate, Bitcoin Cash has been embraced by cryptocurrency enthusiasts as a reliable alternative to Bitcoin. Many vendors and business that accept Bitcoin have also begun accepting Bitcoin Cash, spurred by its faster transaction speeds and lower fees. (3)

Bitcoin Cash is an ideal cryptocurrency for users who value speed and efficiency above all else.

Overview

Bitcoin Cash was established on August 1, 2017 as the result of a hard fork in Bitcoin’s blockchain.

For years, Bitcoin users were divided on the issue of Bitcoin’s scalability and how to make the cryptocurrency accessible to more users.

Bitcoin’s block size limit, at only 1 MB per block, capped the number of transactions per day at 250,000. This design was implemented by Bitcoin’s developers at the beginning of its development with the intent of reducing spam transactions. (4) (5)

This resulted in increasingly long waits for transactions to complete, as more people and businesses began using Bitcoin. The block size limit has also led to a steep increase in the fees that people pay to speed up their transactions. (7) (8)

These problems lead to many vendors and users abandoning Bitcoin and moving to other cryptocurrencies, with Bitcoin’s share of the cryptocurrency market falling from 95 percent to 40 percent. (9)

Many Bitcoin enthusiasts have long advocated that the block size limit be increased, which would allow for more transactions per day and thus faster transactions overall. Supporters of a block size limit increase argued that it would increase Bitcoin’s appeal and make it possible for more businesses and consumers to start using the currency. (10)

However, due to the technical complexity that increasing the block size limit would entail, the change was never implemented, and the Bitcoin community was torn over how to proceed.

Opponents of a block size limit increase argued that increasing the block size limit would hurt miners and independent mining pools, centralizing power in the hands of the largest mining pools, which would go against the spirit of Bitcoin. Additionally, many opponents of the block size increase also argued that Bitcoin was not intended to be a popular currency and should remain a small, underground commodity. (11)

Ultimately, on August 1, 2017, the problem was solved when the ViaBTC Bitcoin mining pool produced a 1.9 MB BCC block that was not compatible on Bitcoin’s network, creating a hard fork that birthed Bitcoin Cash. (12)

Bitcoin Cash features a block size limit of 8 MB, which allows for two million transactions per day, meaning that transactions are much faster than on Bitcoin and fees are also much lower. Bitcoin Cash also features improved protections against replay attacks, a common problem when cryptocurrencies go through a hard fork. (13) (14)

Additionally, unlike Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash is fully decentralized, with multiple independent teams working to develop and enhance it in the future. (15)

Many businesses and vendors who previously used Bitcoin have now begun using Bitcoin Cash as well, making it one of the most popular cryptocurrencies currently on the market, though it has not yet caught up to Bitcoin’s visibility or popularity. Anyone who owned Bitcoin at the time of the hard fork on August 1, 2017 automatically became owners of Bitcoin Cash as well. (16) (17)

Some Bitcoin purists are opposed to Bitcoin Cash and have begun referring to it as “Bcash” in an attempt to delegitimize it. (18)

Mining

Mining Bitcoin Cash is not as popular as mining Bitcoin due to the former’s relative newness.

Despite this, many Bitcoin miners have switched to mining Bitcoin Cash because of its rising popularity and the likelihood that it will become more profitable in the future. The larger block size limit is a major selling point for miners due to the fact that it allows them to earn more transaction fees more quickly compared to Bitcoin. (19) (20)

However, due to the fact that Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin, mining it carries many of the same problems that Bitcoin mining does. Mining Bitcoin has increasingly become an expensive and arduous endeavor due to the blockchain’s size and complexity, which precludes people from mining it with CPUs or GPUs, requiring miners to purchase dedicated rigs. (21)

However, because Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash use much of the same fundamental technology, mining rigs designed for the former are also compatible with the latter. (22)

There are many quality Bitcoin Cash-compatible mining rigs available for a variety of prices, designed for everyone from hobbyists to dedicated miners. For example, Bitmain offers a line of inexpensive mining rigs priced that can reliably mine Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. (23)

Keep in mind that mining Bitcoin Cash, like Bitcoin, consumes a lot of electricity, and as the blockchain continues to grow in size and complexity, miners will need more advanced equipment (and more rigs) in order to continue turning a profit on it. (24)

Despite this, mining Bitcoin Cash can be a profitable enterprise, and is likely to gain in popularity as the currency itself becomes more widespread.

Recap

Bitcoin Cash is a cryptocurrency ideal for users who are looking for speed, low costs, and reliability.

Its greater transaction speed compared to Bitcoin has made it a viable alternative for vendors and businesses who want to increase their profits.

Additionally, Bitcoin Cash’s lower transaction fees also make using the currency less expensive, making it more accessible to lower-income users.

Bitcoin Cash’s growing popularity among vendors who already use Bitcoin have made it a good cryptocurrency for shopping and other basic business transactions.

Miners will also appreciate Bitcoin Cash’s profit potential, and the fact that Bitcoin Cash is compatible with preexisting Bitcoin mining rigs makes it all the easier to start profiting from mining it.

Ultimately, Bitcoin Cash is a reliable cryptocurrency, one that is certain to grow in popularity and value in the future due to its improvements over Bitcoin.

Ripple (XRP), also known as the Ripple Transaction Protocol, is a cryptocurrency and real-time gross settlement system designed to make financial transactions simpler and easier.

Launched in 2012, Ripple was designed not merely to function as a cryptocurrency, but an all-in-one payment processing and remittance system for banks, businesses, and consumers. (1)

Ripple was created with the express purpose of replacing existing payment infrastructure with a model that is decentralized, open source, and accessible to all. Additionally, Ripple allows users to create various types of custom cryptocurrency, fiat currency, and other types of currency via its token system. (2) (3)

Ripple has been adopted by numerous banks, financial institutions, and other major banking organizations due to its reliability, flexibility, and functionality. (4)

Ripple is an effective and worthwhile investment for anyone looking for an all-in-one cryptocurrency and payment processing system.

Overview

Development on Ripple began in 2004, inspired by the RipplePay.com system created by Canadian web developer Ryan Fugger. Fugger designed RipplePay.com with the intent of creating a decentralized monetary system that allowed users to invent their own currencies for any purpose they wanted. (5) (6)

Developers Jed McCaleb(who later found Stellar), Arthur Britto, and David Schwartz saw RipplePay.com and sought to expand it through the use of Bitcoin’s blockchain technology, fulfilling Fugger’s dream. (7)

Ripple was conceived as a solution to several problems Bitcoin possessed: excessive electricity usage, slow transaction speed, and excessive centralization. Unlike Bitcoin, Ripple would verify transactions through a community-wide consensus instead of relying on miners. (8)

After being joined by developer Chris Larsen in 2012, McCaleb, Britto, and Schwartz obtained Fugger’s consent to continue developing RipplePay.com into a full-fledged cryptocurrency and monetary system. Ripple would launch that same year. (9)

Forming the corporation OpenCoin (later renamed Ripple Labs), Ripple’s developers focused their efforts on creating the Ripple Transaction Protocol, a system that allows instant, direct transfers of money between two separate parties. The protocol was compatible with everything from the U.S. dollar and other currencies to airline miles. (10) (11)

To accomplish this, Ripple was programmed to rely on a central ledger that is maintained by a number of servers that continuously compare and verify transaction records. (12)

To facilitate transactions, OpenCoin created XRP, a cryptocurrency that allowed users of the Ripple protocol to transfer money without the wait times and fees of traditional banking networks. Ripple also linked Bitcoin to their system, allowing people to use the Ripple protocol to send a payment in any currency to a Bitcoin wallet. (13) (14)

In 2013, Ripple Labs released Ripple’s reference server and client as open source software, allowing anyone to contribute to Ripple’s future development. (15)

Beginning in 2014, Ripple shifted their focus to the banking market, with hopes that their system could replace the existing, outmoded systems that banks rely upon to make transactions. (16)

That year, Munich-based Fidor Bank became the first bank to adopt the Ripple Transaction Protocol. Cross River Bank in New Jersey and CBW Bank in Kansas would also adopt Ripple that year. (17) (18)

In December of 2014, Ripple announced a partnership with Earthport, a global payments service whose clients include Bank of America and HSBC. Since then, more banking clients have joined the Ripple system, including Western Union, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, and the Royal Bank of Canada. (19) (20) (21) (22)

In 2015, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network fined Ripple Labs $700,000 due to violations of the Bank Secrecy Act. Ripple Labs responded by adding AML transaction monitoring to the Ripple protocol to bring it into compliance with U.S. law. (23)

In recent years, Ripple Labs has expanded globally, opening offices in Australia, the U.K., and Luxembourg, and more and more banking institutions have begun using Ripple in some fashion. (24) (25) (26)

In Ripple, transactions take place when users make cryptographically signed transactions that can be done using either XRP or a fiat currency of their choice. XRP transactions are monitored through the use of Ripple’s internal ledger. (27)

While Ripple originally lacked real-world enforcement of transactions, its integration with numerous banks and payment systems gives it a credibility and security that many cryptocurrencies lack. (28)

Ripple derives its name from the fact that transactions between parties require trust; if two users have not established a trust relationship, the transaction will “ripple” throughout the network until it finds a path in which each link is between those who do have a trust relationship. (29)

Due to its use by many banks and financial institutions, Ripple brings a level of security, stability and trustworthiness that few cryptocurrencies can match, making it a popular option for investors and traders.

Mining

Unlike most cryptocurrencies, Ripple cannot be mined due to its unique design.

In contrast to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, where miners are responsible for processing transactions on the network, Ripple transactions are processed through a system-wide user consensus. Thus, mining is unnecessary to maintain the integrity of the network. (30)

Additionally, Ripple’s designers created 100,000,000,000 XRP when Ripple first came online, and they have steadfastly refused to make more. They have also been criticized for the way in which the currency was originally distributed, with the founders retaining 20 percent of all XRP in circulation. (31) (32)

Because it is impossible to mine Ripple, the currency has had a deeply polarizing response from cryptocurrency enthusiasts, with Bitcoin fans deriding it for being “pre-mined.” (33)

The inability to mine Ripple has limited its use and growth to a certain extent. It is unknown if Ripple’s designers plan to allow mining or to issue new XRP in the future.

Recap

Ripple is a cryptocurrency that offers a suite of security and convenience features that few if any other cryptocurrencies possess. Its consensus-based transaction system frees it from reliance on miners and gives it a stability when it comes to sending or receiving money.

Additionally, Ripple’s compatibility with mainstream fiat currencies gives it a flexibility that most cryptocurrencies lack. The sheer number of financial institutions using Ripple for their transactions has further buttressed its reliability.

Because mining Ripple is impossible, the currency may turn off some cryptocurrency users who are looking to make money with minimal effort.

However, those who are looking for a reliable cryptocurrency and transaction system built into a single package will definitely want to check Ripple out.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system, the first cryptocurrency to be invented and released to the public.

Debuting in 2009, Bitcoin has grown to become a powerhouse in world financial markets due to its high value and its decentralized structure, with no controlling authority. (1)

Bitcoin is fully digital currency, utilizing blockchain technology to enable direct, peer-to-peer transactions between users, powered by “miners” who generate new Bitcoins through the use of their computers. (2) (3)

Bitcoin’s increasing popularity has led many vendors and businesses to begin accepting it as legal tender and many investors to adopt it as a means to make money. (4)

While newer cryptocurrencies have improved on Bitcoin’s basic design, Bitcoin remains the world’s leading cryptocurrency and an important part of any investor’s portfolio.

Overview

Bitcoin was first proposed in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous and possibly fictitious Japanese programmer. In a white paper titled “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System,” Nakamoto laid out the basis for a worldwide fiat currency accessible to all, cutting out the middlemen of world governments. The name “Bitcoin” is derived from this concept, combining “bit” (the smallest unit of digital storage) with “coin.” (5) (6) (7)

Nakamoto’s concept relied on a technology called the “blockchain,” a public ledger that records all transactions occurring on the network. The blockchain is fueled by “miners,” users who utilize their computers or specialized mining rigs to solve the blockchain’s complex math problems, creating new Bitcoins as a reward for success. Miners are also responsible for processing network transactions, assessing fees for doing so. (8)

There is also a hard limit of 21 million Bitcoins that can be created by miners as a means to combat inflation, though the rate at which new coins are created will naturally slow down as the number of Bitcoins in circulation increases. (9)

Bitcoin transactions take place on a peer-to-peer basis. Transactions are handled by miners, who process them in exchange for fees. Bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet which is identified by an address and can be stored on a computer. (10)

On January 3, 2009, Nakamoto released the Bitcoin client as open source software, though it wasn’t until 2011 that the currency began to gain notoriety. In that year, several major organizations, such as Wikileaks and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, began accepting donations in Bitcoin. The dark web marketplace Silk Road, only accessible through Tor, also became notable for allowing customers to purchase illegal drugs with Bitcoins. (11) (12) (13)

In 2013, Bitcoin saw major expansion, with Bitcoin-based payment processor Coinbase selling over one million dollars worth of Bitcoins in one month. Also, in October that same year, Silk Road was shut down by the FBI and administrator Ross William Ulbrecht (aka “the Dread Pirate Roberts”) was arrested, with 26,000 BTC seized by the government as part of his apprehension. (14) (15)

In 2014, Mt. Gox, one of the oldest and most popular Bitcoin exchanges, was shut down after filing for bankruptcy, with 744,000 Bitcoins going missing. Former CEO Mark Karpelès would later be arrested by Japanese police in 2015 on charges of embezzlement. (16) (17)

Despite these setbacks, Bitcoin has continued to grow as a cryptocurrency. In 2013, growth in Bitcoin spiked after residents of Cyprus began transferring their money to Bitcoin wallets in response to the European Union’s proposed “haircut” of bank accounts in the country due to the financial crisis. (18)

As of 2017, Bitcoin has exploded in popularity, value, and mainstream acceptance. Several countries, including Japan and Russia, have passed legislation legalizing Bitcoin as a form of valid tender. Countless merchants and businesses now accept Bitcoin as payment, and Bitcoin ATMs have become a major presence throughout the world. (19) (20)

However, recent problems with Bitcoin’s scale resulted in a hard fork of the blockchain on August 1, 2017, splitting the currency into two: regular Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash. Bitcoin Cash is distinguished from Bitcoin by its higher block size limit, a significant bottleneck with Bitcoin because it significantly slows down transactions and has also caused transaction fees to spike. (21) (22)

Additionally, Bitcoin now faces competition from numerous other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Litecoin, and Dash, which have significantly cut into its market share. Many of these altcoins boast improvements over the basic Bitcoin design.

Despite this, Bitcoin’s longevity and reliability have established it as a force in the cryptocurrency markets, and one that is here to stay.

Mining

Bitcoin can be “mined,” a process that allows users to make money and also facilitate transactions on the network.

Mining is the term used to refer to using a computer or ASIC mining hardware to solve math problems on the Bitcoin blockchain, which expands the blockchain, makes transactions possible, and also allows the miner to earn Bitcoin passively. (23)

While mining was relatively easy in the early days of Bitcoin, the increasing size of the blockchain has upped the difficulty level considerably. However, it is still possible to turn a profit on the network. (24)

Mining can be done by using a computer’s CPU, its GPU, or a dedicated ASIC mining rig. However, due to the size of Bitcoin’s blockchain, CPU and GPU mining are no longer economical. It can take months, if not years to earn Bitcoin using CPU and GPU mining, and electricity costs could eat away any profits you could make. (25)

Instead, prospective miners should purchase dedicated mining rigs, which possess the horsepower necessary to mine Bitcoin in economical and profitable amounts. (26)

However, mining is costly in terms of electricity. If electricity is expensive where you live, it can significantly eat into or eliminate your profits. To ensure that you can turn a profit mining Bitcoin, make sure that electricity in your area is reasonably priced. (27)

With these caveats out of the way, Bitcoin mining can still be a profitable enterprise.

Recap

As the oldest and most recognized cryptocurrency, Bitcoin played an integral role in shaping the current cryptocurrency scene and revolutionizing money.

While it has its flaws and is not as technologically advanced as some of its newer competitors, Bitcoin’s stability and popularity with traders and businesses make it a strong player on the cryptocurrency markets.

Litecoin (LTC) is a cryptocurrency that offers speed, security, and technical enhancements over Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies.

Established in 2011, Litecoin is fundamentally similar to Bitcoin, but is distinguished by several major technical improvements, including the implementation of Segregated Witness technology (segwit) and the Lightning Network, which allow for much faster transaction speeds and lower fees than Bitcoin. (1) (2)

While not as popular as Bitcoin, Litecoin has become one of the hottest commodities on the cryptocurrency market and has been embraced by an increasing number of vendors and businesses due to its speed and reliability. (3)

Litecoin is a worthwhile investment for anyone looking for rapidity and security improvements over Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies.

Overview

Litecoin was created and released by ex-Google employee Charlie Lee on October 7, 2011 as an open-source client. (4)

Litecoin was originally designed as a fork of the Bitcoin Core client, distinguished from its parent currency by three major changes. Compared to Bitcoin, Litecoin has a shorter block generation time (only 2.5 minutes, compared to Bitcoin’s ten minutes), a different hashing algorithm (scrypt, as opposed to Bitcoin’s SHA-256), and a higher maximum coin count. (5) (6)

In particular, Litecoin’s scrypt algorithm allows for faster mining, as it is a sequential memory-hard function that processes changes in the Litecoin network very rapidly compared to Bitcoin. (7)

These changes combined mean that Litecoin transaction times are four times faster than Bitcoin, and transaction fees are drastically lower as well, which has become more significant given Bitcoin’s increasingly sluggish transaction speeds. (8) (9)

While initially ignored, Litecoin experienced rapid growth in 2013, reaching a $1 billion market cap in November of that year, and has kept growing since. Litecoin grew so fast that month that it experienced a 100 percent jump in its value within a single day. (10) (11)

In May 2017, Litecoin became the first of the top five cryptocurrencies (according to market cap) to adopt Segregated Witness (SegWit) technology, greatly decreasing transaction times. (12)

SegWit is an attempt to solve the block size limit problem that has increasingly plagued Bitcoin. At only 1 MB per block, Bitcoin’s low block size limit has severely impeded transaction times in recent years, as more and more people begin using the currency. The block size limit has also caused transaction fees to skyrocket. (13)

SegWit technology gets around the block size limitation by splitting transactions into two segments, with one of the segments, the “witness,” containing the unlocking signature. When the transaction reaches its destination, the two segments are rejoined. This allows for faster transactions due to the fact that the individual segments are smaller than the combined transaction. (14)

Additionally, in May of 2017, Litecoin implemented the Lightning Network, another solution to the problem of progressively slower Bitcoin transactions.

The Lightning Network is a technology that allows users to conduct transactions without making them publicly available on the blockchain. To do this, users commit to an amount of Litecoin to be transferred when they open a channel, with additional, unrelated transactions bundled together with that transaction and sent simultaneously. (15)

The combination of SegWit and Lightning Network technology has made Litecoin transactions some of the fastest in the cryptocurrency world. An initial test run of the latter allowed 0.00000001 LTC to be sent from Zurich to San Francisco in less than one second. (16)

Future upgrades to Litecoin will include cross chain atomic swap with Vertcoin, further enhancing its flexibility. (17)

Due to Litecoin’s similarity to Bitcoin combined with massive improvements to Bitcoin technology, many vendors and businesses have begun accepting it, and it has become an increasingly popular cryptocurrency among miners and traders.

Mining

Mining Litecoin is similar to Bitcoin and can be just as profitable, albeit with some important differences.

Like Bitcoin, mining Litecoin with a CPU or GPU is no longer profitable. This is due to the fact that the blockchain has grown so large that it will take CPUs or GPUs forever to mine a single coin. Combined with increased electricity costs and wear-and-tear on your computer, CPU or GPU mining is no longer worth it. (18)

Also like Bitcoin, Litecoin miners have a wide variety of customized mining rigs available for purchase. It is also possible for miners to build their own rigs out of custom parts for maximum flexibility. (19)

However, due to Litecoin’s scrypt hashing protocol, Litecoin mining rigs are considerably more expensive than rigs for other cryptocurrencies. This is due to the fact that Litecoin’s sequential memory-hard function consumes more memory than Bitcoin’s, requiring manufacturers to create more powerful machines to compensate. (20)

Litecoin’s scrypt hashing algorithm was originally designed to allow miners to mine Bitcoin and Litecoin simultaneously, as creator Charlie Lee referred to Litecoin as “silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” It was also designed to keep GPUs and mining rigs from having an advantage over CPU miners, though the number of Litecoins now in circulation and the complexity of the blockchain have rendered that moot. (21) (22)

Like with other cryptocurrencies, miners must also take into consideration their electricity costs. Due to the greater complexity and horsepower of Litecoin mining rigs, they also consume a greater amount of electricity, which should be factored into purchasing and mining decisions. (23)

However, mining Litecoin can still be a profitable enterprise with the right hardware, and due to Litecoin’s growing popularity, mining it is a definite growth market.

Recap

Litecoin is an increasingly popular alternative to Bitcoin that offers significant upgrades in the realm of speed and safety.

Litecoin’s faster block generation time, use of scrypt hashing algorithms, and larger maximum coin count give it distinct consumer advantages over Bitcoin in terms of speed and transaction cost.

Litecoin’s forward-thinking implementation of Segregated Witness and Lightning Network technology have also helped it become one of the most efficient cryptocurrencies on the market, with transactions often occurring in a matter of seconds.

Finally, Litecoin’s rapidity and security have helped it become popular among vendors and businesses, particularly those that already accept or used to accept Bitcoin.

Due to all these upgrades, Litecoin is a worthy replacement for Bitcoin for users looking for faster transactions and lower fees, and a good investment for those looking to diversify their altcoin portfolios.

Monero (XMR) is an open-source cryptocurrency that emphasizes privacy and decentralization above all else.

Debuting in 2014, Monero’s main selling point is total anonymity. Unlike other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, Monero transactions cannot be traced or tracked, making it ideal for users who value their online privacy above all else. Monero’s focus on privacy has made it popular on the black market and other people looking to keep their financial activities hidden from the prying eyes of police.

In addition to this, Monero’s egalitarian mining structure makes it one of the easiest and most lucrative coins to mine, with even low-end users able to get in on the action.

Monero’s unique features and potential for growth make it one of the most important cryptocurrencies for any investor to own.

Overview

Monero was launched in April 2014 by a pseudonymous BitcoinTalk forum user called “thankful_for_today” under the name “BitMonero,” a reference to both Bitcoin and “monero,” the Esperanto word for coin. The name was shortened to “Monero” not long after. (1) (2)

Monero is based on the CryptoNote protocol, a cryptocurrency design created by pseudonymous author Nicolas van Saberhagen in 2013. CryptoNote was designed to fix a fundamental flaw in Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies: while they promise anonymity, it is still possible to track transactions due to the ledger keeping a public record of everything that happens on the network. (3) (4)

Monero fixes this by using ring signatures to obscure spenders’ addresses with a randomly selected group of other spenders, making it far more difficult to narrow down who has conducted which transaction. Additionally, Monero also uses stealth addresses to make it impossible for anyone other than the sender and the receiver to uncover the destination address of a transaction. These features make Monero all-but impossible to trace and track through the network. (5)

Monero saw much of its growth in the year 2016, largely due to its adoption by black market traders, who were interested in its anonymity features. In particular, the popular darknet website AlphaBay used Monero as its primary currency until its shutdown in July 2017. (6)

In 2017, Monero further enhanced its privacy with the adoption of the RingCT protocol, based off of Confidential Transactions, an algorithm created by Bitcoin Core developer Gregory Maxwell. RingCT adds additional protections to Monero transactions by hiding the amounts of money being transacted in each exchange. This change further enhances Monero’s reputation as one of the most secure and anonymous cryptocurrencies available. (7)

Additionally, Monero has gained steam as a means of transaction due in large part to Bitcoin’s increasingly slow transaction times and high fees. Many online vendors that already accept Bitcoin have begun accepting Monero as well. Due to Monero’s unique features, cryptocurrency experts assert that it is one of the most important currencies and the most likely to survive a hypothetical crash in the market. (8) (9)

Even if you have no interest in black market transactions, Monero’s privacy features are worth considering. Given that online anonymity is fast becoming a thing of the past, Monero stands alone among cryptocurrencies in guaranteeing security to the vendors, traders, and buyers who use it.

Mining

Monero is perhaps the easiest major cryptocurrency to mine due to its unique, egalitarian design.

In contrast to Bitcoin and Bitcoin-derived currencies, Monero is based on the CryptoNight proof-of-work algorithm, which was explicitly designed to be accessible to a much larger range of computer hardware. While it is still possible to form and join mining pools like with other cryptocurrencies, Monero’s low barrier to entry means that pools cannot monopolize mining like they do with other coins. (10) (11)

Monero is notable in that it is one of the only major cryptocurrencies where CPU mining is still profitable. The official Monero client even includes a CPU miner built in, allowing casual users to mine coins without much effort, though users with access to GPU-enabled computers or an ASIC miner will be able to mine more coins more quickly, as is the case with all other cryptocurrencies. (12)

The egalitarian architecture of Monero allows websites to mine coins by installing services such as Coinhive, which pool the CPU processing power of all users who access the site. Both well-known sites such as Salon and black market ones such as The Pirate Bay have used Coinhive in order to mine Monero by taking advantage of their users’ CPU power. In particular, Salon has sold Coinhive as an alternative to ads, which most users block through the use of browser ad-blocking plugins. (13) (14)

Website Monero mining has come under fire due to the fact that many sites that use it do not inform their visitors of what is happening. Furthermore, cybersecurity experts have cited the possibility of hackers using Monero mining scripts to insert malware into websites and attacking users’ computers. Because of this, many anti-virus and anti-malware programs block Coinhive and other website mining scripts, and script-blocking browser plugins block them as well. (15)

Recap

Monero is easily one of the most important cryptocurrencies available today due to its rising popularity and original architecture.

In a world in which users are increasingly paranoid about their online security, Monero provides total privacy to its users, allowing people to conduct transactions without worrying about others spying on them. Monero has continuously added to its security features over the years, allowing it to stay one step ahead of attempts by hackers to crack its code.

While Monero originally had a shady reputation due to its popularity among black market vendors, its privacy and ease of use have made it increasingly popular among the general population. Due to Bitcoin’s increasingly high fees and lengthy transaction times, Monero is rapidly gaining traction as an alternative currency among vendors and merchants.

Monero’s privacy features set it apart from virtually every other cryptocurrency available today and make it a must-have investment for any crypto trader. Its resiliency in the face of a potential market crash makes it one of the top cryptocurrencies available, and its anonymity will further boost its popularity in an era where online privacy is increasingly under siege.