Monero (XMR) has undergone several hard forks, primarily to improve privacy, security, and resistance to ASIC mining. However, it has not significantly altered its fundamental monetary policy since its launch in 2014.
Hard Forks and Major Changes:
1. April 2014 - Launch & Predecessor Fork:
Monero was launched as a fork of Bytecoin, adopting the CryptoNote protocol.
The original Bytecoin code had a controversial premine, which Monero removed.
2. March 2016 - Hard Fork to Change Block Reward:
Reduced the penalty for large block sizes, improving the flexibility of dynamic block size adjustments.
3. January 2017 - Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT):
Fully enforced RingCT, improving transaction privacy by hiding amounts.
4. April 2018 - Anti-ASIC Fork:
Changed the Proof-of-Work algorithm (CryptoNight variant) to resist ASIC mining.
Continued ASIC resistance updates followed roughly every six months.
5. November 2019 - RandomX Algorithm:
Switched to RandomX, a CPU-optimized mining algorithm that effectively eliminated ASICs from Monero mining.
6. July 2022 - Hard Fork Enhancing Privacy & Performance:
Increased default ring size from 11 to 16 for better anonymity.
Improved Bulletproofs (Bulletproofs+) to make transactions more efficient.
Introduced view tags to accelerate wallet synchronization.
Monetary Policy:
Original Emission: Monero started with a fixed block reward schedule similar to Bitcoin but with smoother reductions.
Tail Emission (May 2022 Onward):
Unlike Bitcoin, Monero has a perpetual tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block (every ~2 minutes).
Ensures continued miner incentives and network security without relying solely on fees.
Summary:
Monero has had multiple hard forks, but these have been mainly for privacy, security, and ASIC resistance. The monetary policy has remained stable, with tail emission being the only deviation from Bitcoin-like supply models.
All of this makes it terrible at being money, each hardfork worse than the last. But it's a really good narrative to sell.
OceanSlim
npub1zm…v7f60
2025-03-31 21:33:10
Author Public Key
npub1zmc6qyqdfnllhnzzxr5wpepfpnzcf8q6m3jdveflmgruqvd3qa9sjv7f60Published at
2025-03-31 21:33:10Event JSON
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"pubkey": "16f1a0100d4cfffbcc4230e8e0e4290cc5849c1adc64d6653fda07c031b1074b",
"created_at": 1743456790,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [],
"content": "Monero (XMR) has undergone several hard forks, primarily to improve privacy, security, and resistance to ASIC mining. However, it has not significantly altered its fundamental monetary policy since its launch in 2014.\n\nHard Forks and Major Changes:\n\n1. April 2014 - Launch \u0026 Predecessor Fork:\n\nMonero was launched as a fork of Bytecoin, adopting the CryptoNote protocol.\n\nThe original Bytecoin code had a controversial premine, which Monero removed.\n\n\n\n2. March 2016 - Hard Fork to Change Block Reward:\n\nReduced the penalty for large block sizes, improving the flexibility of dynamic block size adjustments.\n\n\n\n3. January 2017 - Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT):\n\nFully enforced RingCT, improving transaction privacy by hiding amounts.\n\n\n\n4. April 2018 - Anti-ASIC Fork:\n\nChanged the Proof-of-Work algorithm (CryptoNight variant) to resist ASIC mining.\n\nContinued ASIC resistance updates followed roughly every six months.\n\n\n\n5. November 2019 - RandomX Algorithm:\n\nSwitched to RandomX, a CPU-optimized mining algorithm that effectively eliminated ASICs from Monero mining.\n\n\n\n6. July 2022 - Hard Fork Enhancing Privacy \u0026 Performance:\n\nIncreased default ring size from 11 to 16 for better anonymity.\n\nImproved Bulletproofs (Bulletproofs+) to make transactions more efficient.\n\nIntroduced view tags to accelerate wallet synchronization.\n\n\n\n\nMonetary Policy:\n\nOriginal Emission: Monero started with a fixed block reward schedule similar to Bitcoin but with smoother reductions.\n\nTail Emission (May 2022 Onward):\n\nUnlike Bitcoin, Monero has a perpetual tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block (every ~2 minutes).\n\nEnsures continued miner incentives and network security without relying solely on fees.\n\n\n\nSummary:\n\nMonero has had multiple hard forks, but these have been mainly for privacy, security, and ASIC resistance. The monetary policy has remained stable, with tail emission being the only deviation from Bitcoin-like supply models.\n\nAll of this makes it terrible at being money, each hardfork worse than the last. But it's a really good narrative to sell. \n\n",
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}