Here’s what Monero is up to, set to unlock XMR potential

• Privacy coin Monero (XMR) is likely to face regulatory hurdles with more exchanges delisting the coin.
• But Monero has some interesting updates coming in 2022 that are set to improve the network performance.

Private cryptocurrencies haven’t been much in news recently but that hasn’t stopped the Monero team from working on future developments. Unlike other public blockchain networks, users can see the transaction addresses or value on the Monero blockchain.

While it has certainly irked the global regulators, XMR users continue to extend support to the project. The Monero blockchain implements something known as RingCT that hides the transaction amounts. A team member from Coin Bureau walks us through some important developments on the Monero blockchain. However, before that, let’s look into some Monero developments during the last year of 2021.

A look into Monero’s 2021

Over the last year, there have been a few important updates coming to the Monero blockchain. Initially, the world’s largest digital asset manager Grayscale was considering offering a Monero (XMR) fund. This meant that there was growing institutional demand for XMR. However, Grayscale has yet to launch any such fund yet but it’s open to launching an XMR fund in the future.

Later in August 2021, the long-awaited atomic swaps came to the Monero blockchain. Atomic swaps give users the ability to convert their Bitcoins (BTC) into Monero (XMR). Furthermore, it does this without the need for any centralized exchange.

In the same month, blockchain tracking company CipherTrace announced that it had developed tools to offer governments some enhanced tracking capabilities for Monero. However, the tools could only make the best guess and not give a concluding result.

In November 2021, crypto exchange Kraken announced that it would discontinue support for XMR. Kraken CRO Jesse Powell explained that the decision was out of choice. The decision came as Kraken acquired a company Crypto Facilities and so it didn’t want to ruffle feathers with the FCA regulator.

Looking forward to 2022 and the Monero roadmap

Although Monero (XMR) participated during the crypto market rally of 2021, it corrected quickly after. Furthermore, with exchanges distancing themselves from XMR, this hampered the liquidity. The XMR price tanked quickly and earlier this year, it reached a low of $140 before it doubled in a month’s time.

Reports suggested that the quick price rally was the outcome of more people holding Monero as an outcome of the recent geopolitical turmoil.

Taking a look at the future Roadmap, Monero network will implement tail emission by June. This means that the block rewards will drop to 0.6 XMR per block. Another major update is that the Monero community has reached a consensus for the July hardfork.

Read More: Privacy coin Monero (XMR) jumps 22% following its hardfork announcement

Another major upgrade will be an increase in the ring size from the existing 11 to 16. This is the increase in the decoys used in the ring signature transactions.

Additionally, Monero is preparing to implement Bulletproof Plus. Monero was the first blockchain to implement bulletproofs which led to a dramatic improvement in network efficiency. Bulletproof Plus will take things to the next level. It means smaller proof sizes, faster proof generation, and faster verification. It will further lead to even lighter transactions.

Later, Monero could be working on the next iteration of its blockchain Monero 2.0. But users need to be prepared. If regulators tighten their grip on the crypto market, more exchanges could abandon Monero.