Monero privacy, explained without the jargon
Stealth addresses, ring signatures and hidden amounts each cover a different part of a transaction. Here is what they protect, and where Monero needs your help.
With Bitcoin, anyone can trace coins from one address to the next and read every amount along the way. Monero takes the opposite approach: to an outside observer, its chain reveals almost nothing. Three ideas work together to make that happen.
Who received it: stealth addresses
When someone pays your Monero address, the coins never actually appear at that address on chain. Instead, the sender generates a one time address just for that payment, and only your wallet can tell it belongs to you. Send two payments to the same public address and, on chain, they look like they have nothing to do with each other.
Who sent it: ring signatures
Each time you spend, your wallet takes your real output and blends it with fifteen others drawn from the chain, forming a ring of sixteen. The signature proves that one member of the ring is being spent, without saying which. Anyone watching sees sixteen candidate sources instead of one.
How much: RingCT
Amounts are encrypted. The network can still confirm that no coins were conjured from nothing, since the math verifies that inputs equal outputs. Yet nobody looking on finds out how much changed hands.
Where Monero needs your help
- Your IP address stays visible unless your wallet connects over Tor or i2p, or you run a node of your own.
- Your exchange account can be linked to you if you bought XMR from a place that has your name.
- Your patterns, like moving the same amount at the same time every day, can give you away.
Swaps come in at that last point. When you swap into Monero from a wallet you control and receive at a fresh subaddress, your Monero history never ends up in an exchange database. Try Bitcoin to Monero or visit our XMR page.
Quick answers
Does Monero make me completely anonymous?
It hides a great deal by default, but no tool can fix every habit. Your IP address, the exchange where you bought, and when you move funds can still reveal things about you.
Can I still view my own Monero history?
Yes. Your wallet shows everything you send and receive. You can also hand someone, like an accountant, a view key so they can see incoming transfers with no ability to spend.
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