Despite government attacks on anonymity tools, Monero undertook a hard fork to become more private and secure.
On August 13, Monero, one of the ecosystem’s most significant privacy protocols, carried out a protocol update to enhance a number of the network’s privacy and security features.
Almost 4 months after it was announced, the hard fork was carried out successfully on block 2,688,888 thanks to the combined efforts of more than 70 engineers.
With Significant Protocol Improvements, Monero Gets Stronger
According to their website, the hard fork introduced a number of modifications to the internal multi-signature process to facilitate the flow of data such as key sets and data synchronization between wallets.
“Multisig means that a transaction needs multiple signatures before it can be submitted to the Monero network and executed. Instead of one Monero wallet creating, signing, and submitting transactions all on its own, you will have a whole group of wallets and collaboration between them to transact.”
In addition, from 11 to 16 cosigners are now necessary to approve ring signatures. Ring signatures make it impossible to track the origin of network transactions. Monero is the most well-liked cryptocurrency among fans of privacy thanks to one feature.
In order to strengthen the network’s anonymity, the bulletproof algorithm was improved to bulletproof+, a zero-knowledge proof technique launched in 2018. Bulletproof+ hides the precise amounts of transactions and only displays the transactions’ origin and destination.
The “View tags” option, a new feature that speeds up wallet syncing by 30% to 40%, was another notable advancement made by the new release. This is essential to improving the efficiency of the entire Monero ecosystem (XMR).
Monero’s Priorities Remain Security and Privacy
By offering a permanent incentive to miners relying on “acceptable fees” to ensure the network’s security and untraceability, the hard fork will signify a “major shift from Bitcoin’s security model.”
Since this is Monero’s sixteenth version and most likely won’t be the last, greater advancements in terms of network security and privacy can be anticipated at a time when governments are pursuing other privacy-oriented protocols and developers.
A Tornado Cash developer was recently detained in Amsterdam for his involvement in the development of a tool used by criminals to launder money. A smart contract called Tornado Cash combines the transactions of users that pay it their money. Even if it complies with US regulators and at one point forbade some of the wallets that the OFAC had previously sanctioned, it is still a decentralized project.
Privacy technologies are now a double-edged sword for consumers in the crypto sector. However, the majority of users just wish to employ anonymity to protect their right to secretly move their money. Many criminals take use of these protocols to launder money and escape the reach of the law.
