Monero (XMR) – More of a Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Than Bitcoin Itself

Bitcoin is a pioneer of the cryptocurrency market, created by a person or team under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto as "peer-to-peer electronic cash system"He envisioned a currency independent of governments and central banks, resistant to censorship, and granting users financial sovereignty. Over time, however, reality diverged from this vision. Bitcoin, from digital cash, became primarily "digital gold," a means of speculation and investment. With increasing adoption and regulation, the privacy of Bitcoin transactions has drastically decreased. Today, most major exchanges and platforms require full KYC verification, which contradicts the original idea of ​​anonymous transactions. Blockchain analysis by specialized companies (e.g., Chainalysis) enables the tracking of BTC flows and the identification of users, limiting the anonymity Nakamoto sought. As a result, Bitcoin in 2025 is no longer as private or audit-free as initially envisioned.

At the same time, we live in a time of increasing censorship, both intellectual and financial, and surveillance. In theory, every citizen should have the right to freely dispose of their assets, but in practice, even cash payments are viewed with suspicion by the authorities. In response to these disturbing trends, Monero, a decentralized cryptocurrency designed from the ground up with complete user privacy in mind. Monero is sometimes called the "king of privacy" and evokes polarizing emotions: on the one hand, it enjoys the admiration of users who value anonymity, while on the other, it inspires distrust from governments and institutions. In practice, does Monero realize the original values ​​of cryptocurrencies better than Bitcoin itself?

In the following article, we'll take a look at what Monero is and how it works, compare the philosophies behind Bitcoin and Monero, and explore where you can buy this controversial but fascinating digital currency.

What is Monero and how does it work?

Monero (ticker $XMR) is a cryptocurrency created in April 2014 with the primary goal of ensuring complete privacy of every transaction. Monero operates on its own blockchain based on a consensus mechanism. Proof of Work, similar to Bitcoin. However, unlike Bitcoin, where all transactions are public and traceable, Monero hides key information by default: the identity of the sender, the identity of the recipient, and the transaction amount. The network was designed to provide users with complete anonymity. – no transaction data is disclosed to third parties.

Monero achieves this high level of privacy thanks to a unique combination of advanced cryptographic techniques. Ring Signatures to conceal the source of the transaction, Stealth Addresses to anonymize the destination address and RingCT (RingCT) to hide the amount being sent. When you send Monero, your real address is mixed with the addresses of randomly selected network users, effectively covering your track, and  An outside observer cannot determine which of the many potential senders actually initiated the payment. Additionally, each transfer generates a one-time address for the recipient, so that only they know they have received the funds, and outsiders cannot link the transaction to their public address. Transaction amounts are also hidden using the RingCT algorithm – the blockchain displays encrypted liabilities, not the actual XMR amounts. These mechanisms combine to make attempts to trace the flow of Monero coins difficult. practically impossible.

By comparison, on the Bitcoin network, each fraction of BTC has a visible "history" on the blockchain, which unfortunately means that some Bitcoins may be excluded from circulation (e.g., exchanges refuse to accept them if they have been involved in criminal activity). Monero addresses this problem at its core, ensuring that all coins are equally "pure."

Monero prioritizes not only privacy but also network decentralization. The project's underlying protocol was CryptoNote, and the Monero blockchain currently uses the RandomX algorithm, designed to favor mining coins using regular CPUs. This means that Monero mining is available to virtually anyone with a computer, without the need to invest in specialized ASIC miners (which have dominated mining BitcoinRandomX hinders the centralization of mining power – individual miners and mining pools can participate in securing the network on an equal basis. This allows Monero to maintain its "people-for-people" character, similar to Bitcoin's early days, when the first BTC were mined on ordinary laptops. Importantly, Monero's launch also followed a similar path – there was no premiere or ICO, and the first creator was an anonymous developer nicknamed "thankful_for_today." The project was quickly adopted by the community, which continues its development to this day.

Privacy and security have always been a priority for Monero users and supporters, even at the cost of reduced user experience. Monero is a fully open-source, community-driven project, and its global developer community (one of the largest in the crypto world, alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum) continually improves it. Regular protocol updates introduce improvements and security patches to address emerging threats.

Is Monero more “Bitcoin” than Bitcoin?

To answer this provocative question, we first need to understand the values ​​that guided Bitcoin's creation and how it has evolved over the years, and then compare them to the philosophy of Monero.

When creating Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto was guided by the vision of money free from control and censorship., which anyone could use anonymously like cash, without the need to trust third parties. The original concept was for everyday use of BTC as a means of payment, digital cash for the masses. The reality turned out to be different: Bitcoin became an investment asset, and its transactional use receded into the background. High transaction fees, limited capacity at the time, and above all, short-term volatility mean that few people buy coffee with BTC today. Instead, it is held onto like gold, because its limited supply is an excellent protection against monetary inflation and the decline in the purchasing power of money. Furthermore, in its pursuit of mass adoption, the Bitcoin community has largely come to terms with the increasing institutionalization and regulation of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, including BTC. As a result, Bitcoin has lost much of its "cypherpunk" character: users have traded privacy for the convenience of regulated exchanges and apps. Currently, Bitcoin trading is subject to numerous prohibitions and prohibitions, from AML/KYC requirements for account creation to address monitoring by both cryptocurrency exchanges and law enforcement. Bitcoin has remained resistant to technical censorship (its network is difficult to stop), but has become largely transparent and amenable to financial oversight. In short, BTC no longer provides the privacy it could in its early years., before governments and analytics companies learned to track it effectively.

Monero was born precisely to restore the original spirit of cryptocurrency as electronic cash. respecting privacyFrom the outset, Monero's creators focused on uncompromising transaction anonymity and decentralization, believing that digital money is only truly "free" when no one can access your wallet or block your funds from being transferred. These values ​​guided the creation of Monero and remain relevant to this day. The project hasn't strayed from its chosen course—every protocol update focuses on improving security and privacy, rather than adding marketing bells and whistles. Monero in 2025 is essentially what it was supposed to be in 2014: anonymous, a financial system independent of external influences, where users retain full control over their transaction information. Importantly, this anonymity is not optional, but default. This protects even less technically advanced users. In comparison, Bitcoin allows for pseudonymity, but this requires numerous procedures (mixers, new addresses for each transaction, avoiding KYC exchanges), and even then, a "blockchain detective" can undermine many of these efforts.

When looking at the key features that made Bitcoin revolutionary, it is easy to see that Monero implements some of them more consistentlyFor example, censorship resistance: no institution can freeze or stop Monero transactions because they cannot even trace them. In the case of Bitcoin, addresses associated with malicious activity are sometimes added to blacklists, where exchanges block funds from "questionable" sources. Decentralization also takes on a different dimension on the Monero network, where miners are dispersed because it is not profitable to create ASIC farms to mine this single currency. The Bitcoin world is dominated by large mining pools and professional integrated circuits, which creates risks. centralization of computing powerAlso in terms of exchange infrastructure, Monero emphasizes peer-to-peer solutions, and the community supports the development of decentralized exchanges and atomic swaps so that XMR trading can take place without intermediaries. Bitcoin, although theoretically peer-to-peer, is in practice primarily traded on centralized platforms, which again somewhat contradicts the network's original design.

Of course, this doesn't mean that Monero "replaces" Bitcoin or that Bitcoin has lost all of its conceptual value. Bitcoin remains king when it comes to network security and global acceptance, and Monero is invaluable wherever true privacy is needed. You could say Bitcoin paved the way for the decentralized financial world, but it was Monero that carried forward the banner of anonymity that early cryptocurrency enthusiasts so passionately sought. In a sense, then, Monero takes Bitcoin's cypherpunk ideals more literally than Bitcoin itself, providing users with a freedom from surveillance that BTC no longer guarantees today.

Comparison Table – Monero vs BTC. Source: Own study.

Monero in the era of widespread censorship and surveillance

Financial and digital censorship is no longer a theoretical threat—it's now a daily reality, with the consequences felt by ordinary citizens around the world. Participants in the truck driver protests in Canada in early 2022 learned this lesson when the government resorted to extraordinary measures to quell the demonstrations. Under the state of emergency, authorities ordered banks to freeze hundreds of private bank accounts linked to the protesters and their supporters, blocking access to approximately 7,8 million Canadian dollars held in these accounts. Such action, previously seen almost exclusively in regimes perceived by the "Western" as authoritarian, has become a reality in a country that advertises itself as one of the most "tolerant and respectful of freedom." The decision of the government in Ottawa showed how quickly the state may use financial mechanisms for political purposes, without the need for a traditional court process.

This isn't an isolated incident. Increasingly, political or ideological pressure leads to the exclusion of inconvenient individuals from digital systems, including financial ones. Independent journalists and online creators are being cut off from payment platforms – their accounts on services like PayPal and Patreon are blocked, and their accumulated funds are frozen, often without a clear reason. American websites like Consortium News and MintPress News have fallen victim to this financial "deplatforming." During fundraising efforts, their PayPal accounts were permanently blocked, and several months of income was frozen without any clear reason. It is hard not to see this as economic censorship aimed at media that break away from the ideological and political mainstream. The scheme itself is not new – back in 2010, under pressure from US authorities, donations to the news portal WikiLeaks, which exposed illegal activities of governments and public institutions, were blocked. PayPal (along with payment card providers) cut off WikiLeaks from donations from its supporters, setting a dangerous precedent for using financial intermediaries to suppress objectionable publications.

A similar phenomenon affects crowdfunding platforms, where the public funds initiatives not always welcomed by the government. The aforementioned Canadian fundraiser for protesting drivers was halted at one point – the GoFundMe platform, which had already raised nearly $10 million, bowed to political pressure and closed the campaign, returning the money to donors. Elsewhere in the world, governments are even resorting to blatant blackmail: the Turkish government threatened to block the entire Patreon platform in the country if it didn't censor content published by selected creators. Under pressure from Ankara, Patreon blocked the profiles of independent journalists in Turkey, effectively acquiescing to the regime's interference in its global system. These examples clearly demonstrate that the ability to freely finance social initiatives or creative works has become dependent on the whims of politicians and corporate intermediaries. The scope for citizens to manage their own money without the risk of someone pressing "pause" on their bank or online accounts is becoming increasingly narrow.

Many governments are simultaneously increasing oversight of traditional banking transactions and digital payments. In the name of "combating money laundering," "terrorist financing," or "extremism," regulations are being introduced that increase control over the flow of funds—from mandatory reporting of "suspicious" transfers (usually simply exceeding some arbitrary amount) to restrictions on anonymous forms of payment. As a result, the state apparatus gains unprecedented power to track and block citizens' financial transfers whenever it deems them inconvenient or undesirable. What seemed like dystopian fiction a decade ago is now unfolding before our very eyes. From freedom of speech we move to the fight for the freedom of financial flow, which turns out to be crucial for the functioning of independent initiatives.

In such a reality the importance of alternatives is growing, which are resistant to censorship and surveillance, including, above all, privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Monero. Monero hides transaction details (addresses, amounts) from the prying eyes of governments or corporations. Moreover, it is a decentralized currency and does not use intermediaries who could succumb to external pressure – no one will "freeze" our wallet, like a bank can block an account or PayPal can withhold a payment. This makes Privacy-focused cryptocurrencies are no longer just a technological novelty for hobbyists, but are becoming a real response to increasingly severe financial censorship. For those defending their financial independence—journalists, activists, creators, or simply citizens with unpopular views—the ability to use uncensorable money can prove invaluable. Monero and similar projects offer a space of freedom in a world where traditional money is often used as pressure toolIn an age of widespread transaction surveillance, such an oasis of privacy is no longer a whim, but an increasingly pressing need for those unwilling to relinquish full control over their capital.

Where to buy Monero?

Since Monero places such a strong emphasis on anonymity and lack of institutional control, it is no wonder that encounters resistance from regulatorsMany countries and financial regulators view so-called privacy coins with disfavor, fearing their use in criminal activities. As a result, Monero is not available on most large, regulated cryptocurrency exchanges It was either never listed there or was delisted. For example, the American exchange Coinbase has avoided XMR for years, while Binance (the world's largest exchange) removed Monero from its platform in 2024, citing evolving compliance standards. Similarly, OKX and several other global exchanges announced the delisting of Monero and other anonymous cryptocurrencies, which caused price declines and community concern. In the European Union, upcoming regulations (planned AML regulations) announce an outright ban on offering cryptocurrencies with built-in anonymity on licensed platforms. Despite this, the cryptocurrency's price is holding up quite well, currently hovering near an important long-term support/resistance level.

Fortunately, there are still ways to legally acquire Monero. Despite increasing regulations, XMR can still be purchased on several well-known exchanges. Binance and Coinbase have been dropped from the game, but at the time of writing this article, Monero is available on, among others, KuCoin, Kraken, MEXC or HTX (formerly Huobi). These are exchanges operating outside jurisdictions that are most strict about privacy, or those that, despite legal requirements, continue to trade XMR for their clients. However, it should be noted that most of these platforms require identity verification (KYC) before making a transaction. This means that while the Monero blockchain itself ensures anonymity, purchasing XMR on a centralized exchange leaves a trail of our personal data somewhere in the background. If someone cares about complete privacy right from the purchase stage, they should consider alternative solutions.

Thanks to the philosophy of decentralization, Monero has been peer-to-peer platforms, where you can trade this cryptocurrency without intermediaries and often without KYC. An example is a decentralized exchange BISQ, operating without a centralized server - buyers and sellers connect directly and exchange XMR for BTC or other cryptocurrencies via multisig, which ensures transaction security. Another option is atomic swaps – The Monero community has developed tools that allow for direct exchange of XMR for Bitcoin (and vice versa) without a trusted third party. This solution allows someone with BTC to obtain Monero (or vice versa) in a completely decentralized manner, bypassing traditional exchanges. Furthermore, there are classifieds sites and P2P exchanges (similar to the former LocalBitcoins) specializing in Monero, where users can arrange exchanges directly with each other, via bank transfers or cash. While using these methods requires a bit more knowledge and caution, they demonstrate that If there is a demand for privacy, there will be a supply, even in spite of regulatory pressures.

Summary

Monero is a unique project that arose from the need to maintain financial privacy in a world of increasingly transparent (and supervised) digital finance. Where Bitcoin, aiming for mass adoption, made certain compromises (for example, regarding transparency), Monero has remained true to the idea of ​​"my privacy is my freedom." It provides transaction anonymity and the freedom to manage funds that we would expect from true electronic cash. Of course. Bitcoin It still plays an irreplaceable role as the foundation of the cryptocurrency market, boasting a limited supply, a decentralized network, liquidity, and global investor recognition. However, there's no need to choose between them; quite the opposite, Bitcoin and Monero can be seen as a complementary duoBitcoin is "digital gold" protecting investor capital against declining purchasing power, while Monero acts as "digital cash"which we will pay where we want to be discreet.

Finally, it is worth emphasizing that Growing censorship and financial surveillance give projects like Monero special importanceThe demand for online privacy isn't a manifestation of user malice, but a natural reaction to a world in which our data has become a valuable commodity. Monero reminds us that blockchain technology can serve not only transparency but also the protection of fundamental civil rights, such as the right to privacy. Despite numerous challenges—from technical to regulatory—the Monero community remains active and determined to sustain this cryptocurrency. in top form and beyond the reach of censorsSo perhaps the answer to the question in the title is: yes, Monero is in some ways more "Bitcoin-like" than Bitcoin today, because it more faithfully embodies the ideals of freedom and privacy that guided the birth of cryptocurrencies.