# Monero

Monero is a decentralized and privacy-oriented cryptocurrency (XMR) focused on protecting the user’s anonymity and supporting confidential and almost untraceable transactions. Monero wants to make it possible for each user to control the level of visibility of their personal data online. Moner’s history started out in 2012 with the launch of Bytecoin as the implementation of the CryptoNote protocol. After Bytecoin’s failure, Monero was launched in July 2014. The platform got its name after the Esperanto word for “money.” Monero’s devs implemented ring signature and stealth address technologies to enable more secure transactions. As a result, the users are supposed to enjoy the benefits of selective transparency, meaning that some transactions may be made visible and others untraceable. XRM tokens are interchangeable and resistant to being tainted by being involved in hacking or theft. All of these features raised concerns that Monero would become popular among criminals. In March 2019, Monero underwent a hard fork to improve its privacy, security, and ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) resistance. The changes entailed only modifications to the protocol and no new coin was created on this occasion. The miners were required to upgrade their mining software while XMR holders did the same for their wallets.