It is clear that #Monero is a niche, for those seeking #privacy and autonomy from the corrupt traditional system.
Bitcoin is not p2p cash, Monero is.
Monero will not have mass adoption, it will use in black markets
#agorism
#BTC is a banking 3.0 financial product.
Not really 100%. We already see that Monero is used for daily life. Look at shopinbit.com, Mynymbox etc. Monero usage ia growing
Well, here I have prepared a small summary, although it is not exhaustive, it is the most important.
Visit getmonero.org for more info.
### **Where to Buy XMR (some Non-KYC Options):**
1. **P2P Marketplaces:**
- **Haveno:** A decentralized exchange (DEX) built for Monero, currently in development but promising for trustless swaps.
2. **Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs):**
- **TradeOgre:** A no-KYC exchange supporting XMR trading pairs (e.g., XMR/BTC). Low liquidity but privacy-friendly.
- **SideShift.ai:** A non-custodial swap service for converting BTC/ETH to XMR without accounts.
3. **Atomic Swaps & Aggregators:**
- **SwapSpace/StealthEX:** Aggregate multiple exchanges for seamless swaps (e.g., BTC → XMR) with competitive rates.
- **Cake Wallet/Feather Wallet:** Built-in swap services (via ChangeNOW or FixedFloat) to buy XMR directly within the wallet.
4. **Bitcoin ATMs (XMR-Compatible):**
- Some Bitcoin ATMs allow XMR purchases (e.g., via CoinATMRadar filters), though availability is limited.
### **Self-Custody Wallets:**
- **Desktop:**
- **Monero GUI Wallet:** Official wallet with full-node support for maximum privacy.
- **Feather Wallet:** Lightweight, user-friendly desktop wallet with Tor integration.
- **Mobile:**
- **Cake Wallet:** iOS/Android app with built-in swaps and multisig support.
- **Monerujo:** Android-only, open-source, and compatible with hardware wallets.
- **Hardware:**
- **Ledger/Trezor:** Support XMR via third-party interfaces (e.g., Monero GUI + Ledger).
### **Monero vs. Bitcoin: Layer 1 vs. Layer 2**
- **Layer 1 (Monero):**
- Built-in privacy via **ring signatures**, **stealth addresses**, and **confidential transactions**. All transactions are private by default.
- **Low fees:** Dynamic block sizing and Bulletproofs+ keep fees minimal (~$0.01–$0.10 per tx).
- No need for Layer 2 solutions (e.g., Lightning Network) since privacy and scalability are handled on-chain. Monero’s base layer is both secure and cost-effective.
- **Bitcoin Comparison:**
- Bitcoin’s Layer 1 is transparent and expensive for small payments, necessitating Layer 2 (e.g., Lightning) for cheap, private transactions. Monero achieves this natively.
### **Best Practices:**
1. **Privacy:** Use a VPN/Tor when accessing exchanges or wallets.
2. **Security:** Verify wallet downloads from official sources, store seed phrases offline, and avoid reusing addresses.
3. **Acquisition Path:** For minimal KYC, buy BTC via a non-KYC exchange (e.g., Bisq), then swap to XMR using a DEX or aggregator.
Monero’s architecture is #privacy by default at the base layer, making it superior for confidential tx without relying on secondary networks.
Asking for a friend, where could he or she onramp to Monero in the best way possible since you got the travel rule on all exchanges now? Where buy XMR and what self custody wallet to use? Does xmr work similar to btc meaning more secure but expensive layer1 and a cash payment layer2?
KR,
try cake wallet, it is self custodial and has a swap feature built in
Thanks man, but where would you buy since the travel rule is active everywhere? Or are xmr coins not traceable once you withdraw them from an exchange?
exactly that is the point of monero 😉
you can also withdraw BTC and swap it for XMR in cake wallet.
Thx! And who gets the BTC when I swap, other users or is it the wallet provider?
By the way, let us say some private or commercial person or entity adds monero to its reserves and wants to make it public and ensure the people that they really have the coins because of some part of a Business plan… could they do that or is monero 100% untraceable so that this can never be done?
It depends how the provider handles the utxos they receive, some might send it to a pool and do coinjoins (I believe exch does) others don’t have liquidity and also do #shotgunKYC as #stealthEX does.
You can post your wallets private view keys and all incoming transactions will be available for anyone to see how much Monero you have received. But right now outgoing transactions dont properly work. Outgoing view keys will be introduced with the upcoming FCMP upgrade later this year.
That’s interesting! The principles are the same as with BTC, right?
So, there are devs working on the monero core/protocol… and it needs the consensus of all monero miners and nodes to be updated when the new software is deployed for for example a change that you mentioned above. Your mentioned change sounds like a hard fork? Would it be?
Very similar yes. Monero is the third largest crypto project aside from Bitcoin/Ethereum. Strong FOSS ethos and widely respected and used by many Bitcoiners.
Not in the same way. Monero requires consensus in the sense that the devs can't force anyone to run their software (it's voluntary to use or not after all). If the community at large doesn't like what they are doing at some point it will fork off. This is how Monero was created in the first place. Community didn't like the direction previous devs were taking the project so Monero was created. You can also swap away your Monero for something else and no one can stop you from doing that.
Yes, Monero does have hardforks mostly for privacy improvements.
Don't mean to get in the weeds, but although Bitcoin doesn't hardfork, in practice most have to follow new versions anyway and there is little diversity since 99% nodes run Bitcoin Core. For example, Bitcoin Core doesn't patch CVEs in older versions.
No need to go all in on Monero though if you don't trust it yet. You can still be mostly Bitcoin and just have a small amount of Monero you use to spend on stuff.
1 - The liquidity provider of the swap service gets the BTC.
2- you can give people a view key so they can see your balance
I’m not 100 sure about this but I think the view key sees only the ins but not the outs
afaik you are right, but he asked for a way to proof one has the coins
So even if you don’t see the outs, a decreasing or increasing amount could immediately be noticed, correct? … in that case you can argue that you don’t need to show the outs… but would be fine to have the choice on the other hand…
You are getting it Ben :)
I’m afraid not. You see the ins but not the outs therefore in a new account if 100 goes in and then 100 goes out you still see100. In other words the outs are not getting accounted
but the balance change of the address is shown, or not?
In my experience with a view key on a different computer I was only able to see the ins. So everything went good until I started to spend. On the “view” account I saw bigger balance than in the real account. I didn’t test it with other OS, though.
did not know that, interesting!
As far as I know you can prove you received or send it () but don’t know how to prove you have (not had) some monero. It might not be possible, definitely not in a bitcoin way. I guess you should move the funds to a new wallet on the last block and share the pub key right away. Or maybe some multisig way? I kind of like it. It makes it “unETFable”
Interesting. We will see about that :) someone would just do an monero etf and tell people to believe it and enough buyers will be found :)) same type of btc etf buyers… they know better, but do it anyway 😅
Everybody gets what they deserve
It doesn’t work like that, at least not with the view key sees only
Monero only costs a few cents to transact
Most private p2p way to get Monero for fiat/BTC/altcoins is with RetoSwap/Bisq/Robosats
Quickest way is an instant exchange aggregator like Trocador (use a VPN if possible)
http://robosatsy56bwqn56qyadmcxkx767hnabg4mihxlmgyt6if5gnuxvzad.onion/
More resources:
Monero is as niche as BTC was from 2010 - 2016 when most people did not know money is backed by nothing and inflation eats your lunch.
Financial privacy is something everybody wants.
