Monero

The original forum post announced BitMonero on 9 April 2014 and scheduled launch for 18 April at 10:50 GMT. It called the software a Bytecoin fork but also specified a new genesis block. That distinction matters: developers reused and changed CryptoNote-based code; miners did not receive Bytecoin balances or its old chain. A Monero Research Lab paper later clarified that Bytecoin’s reference code, not a separately published CryptoNote reference implementation, was the immediate source.

Monero’s own history calls the start fair and pre-announced, with no premine, instamine or development cut from block rewards. The name shortened to Monero in the launch month. When thankful_for_today later proposed changes the community rejected, a new Core Team and the continuing community took over the project. The official account calls this a fork of the project; it does not describe another currency splitting from the live Monero ledger.

The first design already used one-time recipient outputs and ring signatures, but Monero did not hide amounts with RingCT from its first block. Protocol v4 allowed RingCT at block 1,220,516 on 5 January 2017. Protocol v6 then rejected ordinary non-RingCT transactions at block 1,400,000 on 16 September. Privacy moved from a wallet choice toward a network rule.

The next bottleneck was size. RingCT needs range proofs so nodes can confirm hidden values are valid. Bulletproofs made those proofs smaller in October 2018; they were enabled on the 18th and required on the 19th. Bulletproofs did not hide an IP address or choose decoys. It improved the amount-proof layer, one part of a system whose pieces should not be collapsed into the word “anonymous.”

On 30 November 2019, Monero replaced its proof of work with RandomX. The algorithm uses random code and memory-heavy work to favor general-purpose CPUs and reduce the advantage of specialized ASICs. That is an engineering aim, not proof that mining is evenly distributed or profitable for every processor.

Version 0.16 added Dandelion++ in May 2020. Instead of immediately flooding a new transaction to many peers, a node first sends it along a narrower path before wider diffusion. This makes it harder to connect a broadcast to its source IP, but the official technical specification still warns that an ISP, VPN provider or first remote node sits outside that protection. Tor or I2P configuration remains a separate choice.

The October 2020 upgrade introduced CLSAG and then forbade the older MLSAG transaction format. This was another efficiency change to the signature path. It did not replace RingCT, stealth outputs or the network layer; Monero’s privacy came from upgrading several different mechanisms in sequence.

Monero’s main emission declined until block 2,641,623 on 9 June 2022 at 00:29 UTC. From there, the nominal block subsidy became 0.6 XMR per roughly two minutes, or less when a large block triggers a penalty. Supply therefore has no final maximum. The annual percentage added falls as the existing supply grows, but it never becomes zero by rule.

Two months later, protocol v15 fixed each ring at 16 members—one real spend and 15 decoys—deployed Bulletproofs+ and added view tags to reduce wallet scanning work. V16 then rejected the older transaction format. The release tied together privacy, efficiency and the miner budget: hidden transactions still had to remain practical to verify, scan and include in blocks.

The latest stable core and command-line release at review time was v0.18.5.1, published on 8 July 2026; it hardened wallet and daemon behavior and updated the RandomX library without announcing a new consensus version. GUI v0.18.5.2 followed on 21 July. The canonical upgrade table still ends at v16 and leaves the next height, date and version as placeholders.

FCMP++ proposes replacing the 16-member ring with a proof that a spend belongs to the much larger set of chain outputs. Current integration targets CARROT, while earlier Seraphis and Jamtis paths remain research history or separate future work. The hard-fork milestone was 69% complete after its 23 August 2026 update, with 12 issues open, 27 closed and no due date. A design article, test network or draft pull request shows work in progress; mainnet still uses rings until a network upgrade activates different rules.

There is no XMR-weighted governance ballot behind these changes. Research groups debate designs, maintainers review code, releases package the result, and users, miners and services decide whether to run compatible software. XMR gives control of coins through keys. It does not grant a corporate share, fixed-price redemption or a formal vote over the next protocol.