The Monero Moon (Issue 53)
The Monero Moon (Issue 53)
The Monero Moon is a curated weekly newsletter covering all the latest news within Monero (XMR).
Table of Contents:
Development, Releases, and Technology
Monero is scheduled to undergo a network upgrade (hard-fork) on the 13th of August 2022, at block 2,688,888. The software you must implement to ensure compatibility with the network upgrade has now been released (v0.18 Flourine Fermi) and can be downloaded from the official Monero website www.GetMonero.org. This gives everyone a couple of weeks to make the switch. If you use a mobile wallet or other third party software make sure your apps are up to date. Please reach out to members of the Monero community on r/Monero or other social platforms if you have any questions.
The network upgrade will include a variety of new features such as:
Ring-size increase from 11 to 16 to increase privacy
Viewtags to reduce wallet-sync times by up to 40%
Bulletproofs+ to reduce transaction sizes by ~7%, and improve verification performance by ~7%.
A complete list of upgrades and improvements will soon be released along with the new software. If you want to learn more about Monero’s upcoming network upgrade, please check out this post on the official Monero website.
If you can help with Monero’s upgrade, be it simply notifying wallet or exchange providers, please check out this ‘upgrade checklist’ to ensure all parties appropriately update their software and make the necessary changes.
Still wondering what exactly a network upgrade (hardfork) is, and what it means for Monero? Check out the Tweet thread below providing a brief discussion regarding hardforks, and the history Monero’s network upgrades.
RINOwallet, a new non-custodial enterprise-grade multisig wallet for Monero, have put together a variety of different resources and guides to help you prepare for Monero’s network upgrade in August. Check it out here!
Please note that the RINOwallet hardfork countdown clock appears broken! Use the original XMR clock from xmr.noctism.com! It’s only 9 days to go until the hardfork!
MineXMR, Monero’s largest mining pool, is shutting down on August 12th (just before the network upgrade), and referring users to use P2Pool. If you mine Monero with the MineXMR, then you will need to reconfigure your miners before August 12th. It is recommended you switch to P2Pool, a decentralised Monero mining pool to ensure ongoing network security. Make sure you’re running Monerod v0.18.0.0 and P2Pool v2.2.1 to be ready for August 13th network upgrade.
It appears hashrate for MineXMR is already starting to drop off as seen in the hashrate chart below. MineXMR had around ~38-40% of the hashrate for the past few months, and at one stage even increased their fees to encourage miners to switch pools away from MineXMR. If you are speculating as the what will happen to all the miners that are part of MineXMR, check out this little piece of speculation.
Be like JubJubByrd. JubJubByrd has updated their PiNode ready for the network upgrade. Check out the tutorial video below from Motherland Engineering if you want to run a Monero node with a Raspberry Pi! You can also follow this awesome and easy to follow tutorial from shermand100.
Monero community members have already made the switch to P2Pool and are showing off their payouts (even if they are small)!
AsBenDoge has made a script which generates a .pdf report of your P2Pool mining revenue. It looks very tidy and worth checking out if you mine with P2Pool! More information can be found here and here on GitHub.
Monero Supplies are considering selling ‘plug & play’ full nodes so those desiring extra convenience can run a Monero node. There used to a website selling Monero nodes, but as far as I’m aware there hasn’t been for a while, so let monerobull know if this is something you are interested in.
Monero-Bash v1.7.0 has now been released. Monero-bash is a Linux bash wrapper/manager for monerod, monero-wallet-cli, XMRig and P2Pool. As seen in this video, you can use monero-bash to download, setup, and mine on P2Pool in under two minutes. Please be aware that monero-bash v2.0.0 is in progress, so soon v1.x.x versions will not be compatible.
selsta has shared a monthly CCS progress report for the month of July 2022. Among other things, selsta has worked on Monero’s integration with Ledger hardware wallet in preparation for the hardfork, and fixed bugs in the GUI wallet. Check out their report here.
Monero’s favorite geriatric, Crypto Grampy, provided an update for browser-based Monero point of sale app HotShop. Check out the tweet below if you’re interested in accepting XMR as an online merchant!
Wondering what the development progress of Monero focused decentralised exchanges is? Check out this post from OsrsNeedsF2P for a round up of the ongoing progress of development.
Monero Observer have put out a new Dev Report to provide a big picture view of Monero development activity throughout the past week. If you’re interested in the nitty gritty, check it out here.
Monero recorded its highest ever number of transactions in a single month. In July 2022, there were a total of 963,209 transactions. In the graph below you can see transactions have been steadily increasing since 2019!
The monthly percentage of XMR to BTC transactions continues to increase. In July Monero’s monthly transaction percentage against Bitcoin reached an all time high for the second consecutive month, with Monero having 12.5% of Bitcoin’s transactions.
General News
Monero Talk recently interviewed Luke Parker aka kabayaNerve on developing the Monero integrated SeraiDEX, and many other different things. You can check out the interview here!
Alex from LocalMonero.co featured in a YouTube discussion/debate with The Hated One, a YouTube channel with over 350k subscribers. The discussion covers Monero, Bitcoin, economics, and privacy. Check it out here.
AlexAnarcho featured on The Web3 Podcast to talk all about Monero. You can listen to it here or via the tweet below.
Monero community members engaged the broader Bitcoin community in a discussion on Stacker News all about Monero. Monero advocates went to and fro with some prominent Bitcoiners, and there are interesting points made so it’s worthy of a quick read. Check it out here.
Monero Observer published the Monero Observer Blitz #12 - July 2022. It’s a great recap of what happened in July within the Monero community. Check it out here!
The Monero Standard #21 was published last week. Check it out for a fresh dose of weekly Monero news.
Monero Talk put out Monerotopia #76! It’s a great episode which covers lots of Monero news and an XMR price report. You can check it out here!
In case you missed it, check out Monero Is Out To KILL Bitcoin; Here’s Why! from Hone Crypto. It provides a good overview of Monero, even if there are one or two points that are inaccurate. Their other newer video here comparing privacy coins is worthy viewing.
WAM reported that Israel has enforced a ban on cash for personal transactions over $4,400 and business transactions over $1,760. The country will impose fines between 15 percent and 30 percent of the relevant transaction value on those who violate the law, according to i24 News of Israel. The ban comes as part of the country’s efforts to combat financial crime through digital payment platforms. Cointelegraph reported that further restrictions are expected to follow in the future, prohibiting the stockpiling of more than $58,660 USD, or 200,000 shekels, in cash at private residences.
Events
A Monero Research Lab (MRL) meeting will take place on Wednesday August 10th at 1700 UTC. You can find links to and more information regarding the meeting here thanks to the Monero Observer. The MRL meeting will take place in the #monero-research-lab channel on IRC if you want to lurk in real time.
There are now Monero Poker Nights taking place every Saturday. You can hang out and play Texas Hold'em with fellow Monero enthusiasts over the Tor network and hopefully win some XMR along the way, zero KYC required! This week’s game will be at 22:00 UTC, and then change to be earlier in order to accommodate more players from different timezones. Check out this post for more information.
There is a Monero Meetup in Cape Town, South Africa, at 5:00pm tonight (4th of August 2022) at La Prada. More information can be found here. Rumour has it Monero Core Team member Fluffypony will be attending so get down there to say hello!
Cake Wallet and Monerotopia will be hosting a Monero Meetup in NYC on August 9th at 447 Broadway, 2nd Floor, New York, with things kicking off at 6:30pm. Kayaba aka Luke Parker will give a presentation on the Monero focused Serai DEX, and there is going to be a raffle! Don’t forget to RSVP. More information can be found here.
Exchanges and Merchants
The new Monero Market website has been released. It is similar to Ebay, there is an escrow system and XMR is the only method of payment. There are already a few items up for sale so go check it out and buy or sell something with XMR!
Piconeroj.eu is a new P2P Monero marketplace which is, according to monerobull, “a glorified image board with Advertisements instead of Threads with a spirit of Craig's list”. It looks very similar to a 4chan thread. The site does not require cookies or JS to use and is accessible via VPN or TOR. They are currently in alpha state and is in need to people to test out their buy/sell ads. Check out this post for more information.
AllArk, a website that allows you to buy prepaid Visa and Giftcards via BTCpayserver, now accepts Monero for payment. Please note this is only available to those in the USA. More information can be found here in the comments.
As we reported the other week, you can now buy XMR directly within the MyMonero wallet using fiat services. Check out the tweet below for more information.
xInvestor, a relatively newer crypto exchange announced that it now lists XMR. While they offer XMR trading, it’d be best to check that they allow withdrawals before using the service.
SessionID shared a tweet regarding XMR liquidity pools on Incognito Chain. It appears you only get paid out in the local chain’s crypto. Given the never ending stream of DeFi hacks remember to always do your homework and exercise extreme caution if you are providing XMR as liquidity!
If you are using social media platforms to discuss Monero, please be aware there have been reported cases of scammers direct messaging people pretending to be from Monero ‘customer support’. There is no Monero customer support. It’s a decentralised project. Never share you seed phrase or personal details with anyone. If someone is asking for your seed phrase they are 99.99999% likely to be a scammer.
Community Crowdfunding
A CCS proposal to fund the next 18 issues of The Monero Moon newsletter is currently open and it would be great if you could comment on it here.
Several crowdfunding proposals are awaiting community feedback before they can start accepting funds through the Community Crowdfunding System (CCS). For now they are just proposals, but if they receive some positive feedback from the community they will be moved to a “Funding Required” stage so that they can accept Monero donations through the CCS.
CCS Projects requiring funding or have been recently funded:
Trading & Speculation
XMR/BTC monthly chart. Monero is still showing strength against Bitcoin after successfully retesting the breakout in June/July 2022.
Check out this bullish chart prediction from ltc-joe titled LARP Capital: Monero USD and The Baptism of Fire hoping for a “new ATH within the next 3-7 months”.
Performance
Total Monero in Circulation — 18,156,481 XMR
Monero Total Marketcap — $2,935,294,148
Coinmarketcap Ranking — #28 (last week #27)
XMR/USD Price — $161 USD
XMR/BTC Price — 0.007091 BTC
LocalMonero.co Peer to Peer Street Price — $164 USD
Average Transaction Fee — 0.00013 XMR ($0.021)
Monero Network Hashrate —2.420 Ghash/s
Monero Mining Pools Hashrate Distribution —
Entertainment
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, GitHub, Twitter, or Telegram. The official Monero website is GetMonero.org.
Past Issues
Issue 52 / Issue 51 / Issue 50 / Issue 49 / Issue 48 / Issue 47 / Issue 46 / Issue 45 / Issue 44 / Issue 43 / Issue 42 / Issue 41 / Issue 40 / Issue 39 / Issue 38 / Issue 37 / Issue 36 / Issue 35 / Issue 34 / Issue 33 / Issue 32 / Issue 31 / Issue 30 / Issue 29 / Issue 28 / Issue 27 / Issue 26 / Issue 25 / Issue 24 / Issue 23 / 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
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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.
