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Mastering Monero: The future of private transactions
"Mastering Monero - The future of private transactions" is the newest resource to help you learn everything that you want to know about the cryptocurrency Monero. The book, available in electronic and physical form, provides the knowledge you need to participate in this exciting grassroots, open-source, decentralized, community-driven privacy project. Whether you are a novice or highly experienced, this book will teach you how to start using and contributing to Monero. The resource introduces readers to the cryptocurrency world and then explains how Monero works, what technologies it uses, and how you can get started in this fantastic world! For technical people, there are some chapters that provide in-depth understanding of the Monero ecosystem.
The Monero cryptocurrency is designed to address and avoid practical troubles that arise from using coins that do not protect your sensitive financial information. Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized the financial landscape by allowing anybody with an internet connection to instantly access secure, robust, censorship-free systems for receiving, storing, and sending funds. This paradigm shift was enabled by blockchain technology, by which thousands of participants store matching copies of a “public ledger”. While this brilliant approach overcomes many economic hurdles, it also gives rise to a few severe downsides. Marketing corporations, snooping governments, and curious family members can analyze the public ledger to monitor your savings or study your activities.
Monero mitigates these issues with a suite of advanced privacy technologies that allow you to have the best of all worlds! Instead of a public ledger, Monero has a shared private ledger that allows you to reap the benefits of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency, while protecting your sensitive business from prying eyes.
This book contains everything you need to know to start using Monero in your business or day-to-day life. What are you waiting for? Get your copy of Mastering Monero now!
The Monero cryptocurrency is designed to address and avoid practical troubles that arise from using coins that do not protect your sensitive financial information. Cryptocurrencies have revolutionized the financial landscape by allowing anybody with an internet connection to instantly access secure, robust, censorship-free systems for receiving, storing, and sending funds. This paradigm shift was enabled by blockchain technology, by which thousands of participants store matching copies of a “public ledger”. While this brilliant approach overcomes many economic hurdles, it also gives rise to a few severe downsides. Marketing corporations, snooping governments, and curious family members can analyze the public ledger to monitor your savings or study your activities.
Monero mitigates these issues with a suite of advanced privacy technologies that allow you to have the best of all worlds! Instead of a public ledger, Monero has a shared private ledger that allows you to reap the benefits of a blockchain-based cryptocurrency, while protecting your sensitive business from prying eyes.
This book contains everything you need to know to start using Monero in your business or day-to-day life. What are you waiting for? Get your copy of Mastering Monero now!
212 pages, Paperback
Published December 20, 2018
36 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
September 26, 2019
Overall a really interesting and a well written book. It touches on a few important things which I'll mention here as A & B.
A) Bitcoin isn't fungible at a protocol level, which is a problem. To achieve fungibility requires privacy. Monero provides privacy, and thus fungibility through 3 things - stealth addresses (meaning that the public key you provide to receive payments doesn't get stored on the blockchain), RingCT (hiding the transaction value) and Ring Signatures (which hides who sent the transaction).
B) Monero also adds a "tail emisison" - meaning that it doesn't have a finite supply. This could be seen as a weakness, but is proposed as a strength. As Bitcoin halvings continue, the reward to miners decreases continuously, until a point where the block reward reaches zero, and the hashing power is expected to be supported through transaction fees. This could present 2 problems; 1) transaction fees may not be enough to support a strong network 2) it requires maintaining limited block sizes to incentivize a fee market. With a tail emission, like Monero has, this solves the block size issue (it uses an adaptive block size) and some of the concern over the network strength.
The book also includes information regarding some of the core cryptography used - which was a bit above my pay grade, but fascinating nonetheless.
I'm excited to read the next edition, which will incorporate recent protocol updates.
A) Bitcoin isn't fungible at a protocol level, which is a problem. To achieve fungibility requires privacy. Monero provides privacy, and thus fungibility through 3 things - stealth addresses (meaning that the public key you provide to receive payments doesn't get stored on the blockchain), RingCT (hiding the transaction value) and Ring Signatures (which hides who sent the transaction).
B) Monero also adds a "tail emisison" - meaning that it doesn't have a finite supply. This could be seen as a weakness, but is proposed as a strength. As Bitcoin halvings continue, the reward to miners decreases continuously, until a point where the block reward reaches zero, and the hashing power is expected to be supported through transaction fees. This could present 2 problems; 1) transaction fees may not be enough to support a strong network 2) it requires maintaining limited block sizes to incentivize a fee market. With a tail emission, like Monero has, this solves the block size issue (it uses an adaptive block size) and some of the concern over the network strength.
The book also includes information regarding some of the core cryptography used - which was a bit above my pay grade, but fascinating nonetheless.
I'm excited to read the next edition, which will incorporate recent protocol updates.
June 27, 2020
Nice, gentle introduction but lacks indepth and technical examples to provide enough information for a cohesive, wholesome understanding of Monero. Recommend supplementing with videos on YouTube and resources on GitHub
January 30, 2019
Very informative! Would have liked more walk throughs with the programming/math examples.
September 25, 2019
Very informative, perfect resource for newcomers
October 15, 2019
The technical chapter leaves much to be desired.
November 24, 2023
Explica muy bien los principios de Monero (una criptomoneda), porque está diseñada y que problemas intenta resolver.
La parte técnica de criptografía también es muy facil de seguir
Solo echo de menos conceptos de generales de criptomonedas, pero me tendré que leer otro libro
Estoy de acuerdo con casi todos los principios que sigue XMR, voy a seguir explorando y alomejor acabar aportando al projecto
La parte técnica de criptografía también es muy facil de seguir
Solo echo de menos conceptos de generales de criptomonedas, pero me tendré que leer otro libro
Estoy de acuerdo con casi todos los principios que sigue XMR, voy a seguir explorando y alomejor acabar aportando al projecto
September 16, 2019
Nice overview, but does not go very deep.
September 28, 2019
Solid intro to Monero. Starts very approachable to a crypto noob, then gets progressively more technical if you want to go there. Some nice history about the project and community as well.
August 18, 2019
SerHack does an excellent job of presenting blockchains and cryptocurrency concepts in a clear and concise way. I would recommend this book to anyone looking to get a deeper understanding of these topics - even if you're more interested in Bitcoin than Monero.
January 23, 2019
Usage and technology of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero.
The book has an introductory explanation of the process of using Monero: Receiving transactions, sending transactions and understanding what you can see in the system and what can not be seen. It describes the technology used, but you will have to go elsewhere to understand cryptography in a meaningful way.
The introduction and motivation for the project feel a bit over the top. The traditional fiat banking system handles a massive number of payments every day and I think you are likely to lose people when you overstate its problems. That said, privacy enhancing technology is very important. The trade-offs involved are worth understanding.
The book has an introductory explanation of the process of using Monero: Receiving transactions, sending transactions and understanding what you can see in the system and what can not be seen. It describes the technology used, but you will have to go elsewhere to understand cryptography in a meaningful way.
The introduction and motivation for the project feel a bit over the top. The traditional fiat banking system handles a massive number of payments every day and I think you are likely to lose people when you overstate its problems. That said, privacy enhancing technology is very important. The trade-offs involved are worth understanding.
June 5, 2020
I was a member of a blockchain / cryptocurrency study group that met periodically to take in a new chapter of this book. It's written at a learners to intermediate level which was good for me as I do not have a deep programming or technical background. Fortunately our group had both motivated and technically skilled members who spent time before each meeting preparing a chapter review and discussion that I could follow along with.
The author of Mastering Monero did a great job of making the subject approachable and even understandable for me. Yes, there is complexity within Monero and the author did a great job conveying where it was and why it was necessary. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding what Monero is all about.
The author of Mastering Monero did a great job of making the subject approachable and even understandable for me. Yes, there is complexity within Monero and the author did a great job conveying where it was and why it was necessary. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding what Monero is all about.
April 18, 2021
There are too many audiences for this book. The first part explains for lay readers what Monero is and why it is secure, private and anonymous. This part is very readable and helped convince me of the value of using a privacy coin over other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. The rest of the book is complex technical jargon and code snippets for people wanting/needing to understand the cryptographic code under the hood. I skimmed most of this.
Cryptocurrency is undoubtedly the future. The question is whether we’ll use one that is controlled and monitored by a government, or private and secure. Monero is a promising alternative to the surveillance methods of the state.
Cryptocurrency is undoubtedly the future. The question is whether we’ll use one that is controlled and monitored by a government, or private and secure. Monero is a promising alternative to the surveillance methods of the state.
August 16, 2022
Mastering Monero is a book all about the Monero cryptocurrency. The special thing about Monero is its focus on privacy.
The book starts out with a basic, but very well written, explanation of cryptocoins in general and Monero in particular.
Next it goes into details on how to get started with Monero.
And the final chapters are about the technical details. Ranging from the cryptographic systems underlying the coins to the API exposed by the Monero software.
As far as complexity is concerned, this book goes from 0 to 10 really really fast.
Overall this was a very good read. Although I wish that the cryptography chapter would have been a bit longer or contain pointers to more details.
The book starts out with a basic, but very well written, explanation of cryptocoins in general and Monero in particular.
Next it goes into details on how to get started with Monero.
And the final chapters are about the technical details. Ranging from the cryptographic systems underlying the coins to the API exposed by the Monero software.
As far as complexity is concerned, this book goes from 0 to 10 really really fast.
Overall this was a very good read. Although I wish that the cryptography chapter would have been a bit longer or contain pointers to more details.
April 13, 2020
Mastering Monero offers a very good overview of the complete Monero ecosystem and is therefore particularly suitable for beginners. In addition, a lot of useful information and sources are given to further deepen and expand your knowledge in the field of Monero.
November 11, 2019
Excellent read if you are interested in Monero! Just the right length and the author does a great job of explaining some difficult to understand topics.
January 14, 2020
I really enjoyed this book! Although it does not delve into the technical details, it is a great book that gives a high-level overview of Monero and great for anyone to pick up and read.
January 14, 2020
Good Book
I was looking for a book about monero and some knowledge I was not interested just skip it up. But main idea and the important things are understandable
I was looking for a book about monero and some knowledge I was not interested just skip it up. But main idea and the important things are understandable
April 29, 2021
Better than BTC
Maybe not in price per coin just yet, but this is what people with BTC think they have. Loving the reddit community as well.
Maybe not in price per coin just yet, but this is what people with BTC think they have. Loving the reddit community as well.
June 1, 2021
A True Masters-Level book
I'm not a techie so everything after Chapter 5 was over my head. Regardless, it was a great book and worth the purchase!
I'm not a techie so everything after Chapter 5 was over my head. Regardless, it was a great book and worth the purchase!
January 18, 2023
Very good, but at some points become very mathematical.
July 27, 2023
Very easy to read and to understand. Everything is clear.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews