[XMR] Monero - A secure, private, untraceable cryptocurrency

[QuantumQrack]

Update!!

Well I lost it all. My hard died on me. I was able to sync with bitmonerod (thanks for the help by the way). However, my .keys files went down with the hard drive... 534 Monero's!! almost a year worth of mining down the drain.

Well, i still have 1.5 KH/s worth of mining power. Back to the drawing board....

Word of caution to all - BACKUP/SAVE your stuff! Don't be me!!!

Terrible news.

You might want to save the dead hard drive. If there is a "moon" event, taking a shot with an expensive data recovery service might be worth it.

I don't get it.  Can't he recover with seed?

[GingerAle]

Update!!

Well I lost it all. My hard died on me. I was able to sync with bitmonerod (thanks for the help by the way). However, my .keys files went down with the hard drive... 534 Monero's!! almost a year worth of mining down the drain.

Well, i still have 1.5 KH/s worth of mining power. Back to the drawing board....

Word of caution to all - BACKUP/SAVE your stuff! Don't be me!!!

Terrible news.

You might want to save the dead hard drive. If there is a "moon" event, taking a shot with an expensive data recovery service might be worth it.

I don't get it.  Can't he recover with seed?

If he's been mining for a year, he's prolly a way early adopter, which means his keys were made prior to mneumonic seed implementation, and he never upgraded to a new wallet that would have made a word seed for his private key.

[pookielax31]

cant he run anohter old client put it in there then upgrade for the seed?

[explorer]

cant he run anohter old client put it in there then upgrade for the seed?

Yes.  But only with a way back machine.

[smooth]

Update!!

Well I lost it all. My hard died on me. I was able to sync with bitmonerod (thanks for the help by the way). However, my .keys files went down with the hard drive... 534 Monero's!! almost a year worth of mining down the drain.

Well, i still have 1.5 KH/s worth of mining power. Back to the drawing board....

Word of caution to all - BACKUP/SAVE your stuff! Don't be me!!!

Terrible news.

You might want to save the dead hard drive. If there is a "moon" event, taking a shot with an expensive data recovery service might be worth it.

I don't get it.  Can't he recover with seed?

Even if his wallet has a seed (unclear), he would still need to have recorded it. So follow his advice:

Don't be me!!!

[elrippo]

Update!!

Well I lost it all. My hard died on me. I was able to sync with bitmonerod (thanks for the help by the way). However, my .keys files went down with the hard drive... 534 Monero's!! almost a year worth of mining down the drain.

Well, i still have 1.5 KH/s worth of mining power. Back to the drawing board....

Word of caution to all - BACKUP/SAVE your stuff! Don't be me!!!

FCUK!!! Sorry to hear that...that hurts...
Gladfully i am doing backups once a week and using some quality SSD´s 
Man i feel sorry for you...

[Brilliantrocket]

Highly relevant to Monero :

I have one question for goldbugs. Have you ever tested your theory that there will always be a physical blackmarket? I mean have ever really tried to sell some of your gold not at a dealer.

France has already cracked down on gold and cash. Eventually the governments can force all the dealers to report all transactions and expropriate there.

So where do you sell your gold?

And if we are in a severe economic collapse meaning most of the people are suffering economically, selling some gold to someone who is not an established dealer will risk:

1. It is a setup to mug you.
2. It is a government sting to entrap you.
3. Gossip spreads you have gold and marks you as a man/household to mug frequently.

Fantasizing about barter is loony. The youth will grab crypto and their smartphone before contemplating inefficient barter. Currency is a convenience (over barter). People only move to barter if there is no other choice. Ferfal confirms this from experience in Argentina's collapse.

The powers that be are going to leave Bitcoin pretty much open to nefarious activities until it is already adopted as the alternative to barter during this era of financial repression. Once it is too well established as the only crypto that is widely accepted by merchants, then they can start to use the public ledger to expropriate without fear that we nerds can leave en masse. At that point they can close the loopholes we currently use to obtain anonymity on Bitcoin, such as eliminating all unregistered connections to the internet, e.g. no more unregistered WiFi connections and no more unregistered 3G USB dongles. I have been observing the moves they are making to eliminate these options. For example here in the Philippines where we do have unregistered 3G USB dongles, there is a proposed law to make that illegal and also one of the 3 telcom networks (Globe) recently stopped selling simcards with a preset #. Now you have to registered the sim to get a # (so far the registration is over the wire and no name required yet I see this as preparatory step).

If we are going to develop an alternative to Bitcoin which can be anonymous in spite of anything the authorities can do, then we need to do it now because we have to build use value in that coin before it is too late to.

Monero has onchain mixing which is one aspect of anonymity we need. But it doesn't have IP obfuscation and I assert Tor/I2P are compromised because they are low-latency designs, limited number of onion layer hops, and because they have exit nodes (and some other reasons especially around hidden services). The authorities were able to unmask 100s of Tor hidden services. So once the authorities close the loopholes I mentioned above, then we no longer have a way to propagate data anonymously. This must be fixed pronto. Tor needs to be replaced with something that is more suited to the absolute anonymity we need. All crypto-coins will benefit. Also I relayed to smooth and others that I am concerned about  combinatorial attack on the ring sigs in Monero, because the mixing is not adequately structured. I have not followed all issues since relaying that, so I can't make any definitive statement now (perhaps I raise a non-issue and I have no desire to propagate FUD against Monero so pleeeassseee), but I will dig back into that aspect eventually.

Also afaics (correct me if I am wrong) Monero's primary use case at this time is (as always speculation in an altcoin and) as a decentralized mixer and then back to Bitcoin again. I don't think it has any widespread adoption as a currency.

If we are going to get any use as currency for an altcoin that is not Bitcoin, then it needs to have a compelling currency use case that Bitcoin can't do. I have an idea. I already wrote about it publicly on this forum under one of my other user names. I am not going to mention it again, because I might be moving into implementation mode and I'd prefer it to be somewhat dubious (plausible deniability) as to what if any thing I was a developer on.

I am interested to consider the tradeoffs of working with Monero but afaik their business model was not to retain any coins to incentivize developers. Their business model appears to me be Communist. They wanted in their marketing to state that it is the most fair coin because there is no premine nor any ongoing minting to pay developers. So I assume the devs either bought the coin out of their own savings (and suffered for it so far) or they had the early dibs on mining (for example I've read that the guy who optimized the PoW hash code apparently netted himself $100,000 due to having an advantage on mining for a short period of time?). How does someone work with Monero and earn a good ROI?

I'd prefer to be upfront and transparent about the funding of the creators and ongoing development, than leave people wondering. I understand there is an unofficial Monero foundation of sorts formed where donations could be aggregated and parceled out for funding development, marketing, etc.. Who wants to be at the mercy of donations? Not me. That is politics, ripe for corruption, political cat fighting, the need to compromise leadership to least common denominator of groupthink, etc..

Smooth, take note that Anonymint seems to think that Monero's distribution model is suboptimal. In fact, he shares the exact concerns that I brought up several times over the last few months. Setting things up so that you have to rely on donations was clearly a mistake.

[Brilliantrocket]

Smooth, take note that Anonymint seems to think that Monero's distribution model is suboptimal. In fact, he shares the exact concerns that I brought up several times over the last few months. Setting things up so that you have to rely on donations was clearly a mistake.

Monero would not have one tenth of the current support if it had any had of shady or scammy background as the case of other coins, marketcap at this stage is an illusion. Comparison with communism is ridiculous, monero is an open source project that do not aim to make anyone rich quick not even the developers, it should be obvious by now.

It has nothing to do with current market cap! Monero needs the best talent if it is to succeed. If you want the best people to put forth effort, they need to be given a stake. How can you get people like Anonymint to contribute when the funds for development are so scant?

[explorer]

Smooth, take note that Anonymint seems to think that Monero's distribution model is suboptimal. In fact, he shares the exact concerns that I brought up several times over the last few months. Setting things up so that you have to rely on donations was clearly a mistake.

Monero would not have one tenth of the current support if it had any had of shady or scammy background as the case of other coins, marketcap at this stage is an illusion. Comparison with communism is ridiculous, monero is an open source project that do not aim to make anyone rich quick not even the developers, it should be obvious by now.

It has nothing to do with current market cap! Monero needs the best talent if it is to succeed. If you want the best people to put forth effort, they need to be given a stake. How can you get people like Anonymint to contribute when the funds for development are so scant?

By... donating?  Peel off 1% of your stack  and send it in!

[Brilliantrocket]

The best people are already contributing to Monero IMO, and no, I'm not one of them (at least codewise).

I don't disagree. I've said before that I feel that Monero has the best team of any altcoin. But having the funds to get individuals like Anonymint onboard would have been huge. Donations aren't enough to enable that.

[smooth]

Smooth, take note that Anonymint seems to think that Monero's distribution model is suboptimal. In fact, he shares the exact concerns that I brought up several times over the last few months. Setting things up so that you have to rely on donations was clearly a mistake.

Monero would not have one tenth of the current support if it had any had of shady or scammy background as the case of other coins, marketcap at this stage is an illusion. Comparison with communism is ridiculous, monero is an open source project that do not aim to make anyone rich quick not even the developers, it should be obvious by now.

It has nothing to do with current market cap! Monero needs the best talent if it is to succeed. If you want the best people to put forth effort, they need to be given a stake. How can you get people like Anonymint to contribute when the funds for development are so scant?

There are 30 years of history of free and open source software projects that says people with talent (often truly exceptional talent that would he hard to buy at any price) will contribute. More than that, many people have gotten wealthy doing so, by either leveraging their visible work on open source to further their careers, by starting businesses that leverage their work on open source to create conditions conducive to the success of their businesses, or independently doing other less interesting but more lucrative things while enjoying their work on open source far more (and using it to help stay sane).

Also I don't agree with the model of viewing decentralized cryptocoins as equity, because they aren't, but if you want to participate in the appreciation of the coin as a result of your efforts, the coins don't need to be given to you. That model works just as well if you buy them. Perhaps better (people value more what they have purchased or worked for than what was given or obtained easily).

In the case of Anonymint specifically, he's broke, which is unfortunate and limits his options, but that is not really the rule for people with talent.

EDIT: I agree with the previous post that there is a potential role for crowdfunding. So that is something we'll have to observe and see how it works out.

[ArticMine]

Smooth, take note that Anonymint seems to think that Monero's distribution model is suboptimal. In fact, he shares the exact concerns that I brought up several times over the last few months. Setting things up so that you have to rely on donations was clearly a mistake.

Monero would not have one tenth of the current support if it had any had of shady or scammy background as the case of other coins, marketcap at this stage is an illusion. Comparison with communism is ridiculous, monero is an open source project that do not aim to make anyone rich quick not even the developers, it should be obvious by now.

It has nothing to do with current market cap! Monero needs the best talent if it is to succeed. If you want the best people to put forth effort, they need to be given a stake. How can you get people like Anonymint to contribute when the funds for development are so scant?

Funding development by donations either in kind or financial as opposed to using part of the emissions has the advantage of avoiding the kind of regulatory issues that Ripple has recently gone thorough. This is the key reason why FinCEN left the Bitcoin developers alone and went after Ripple Labs. The real test will come with DASH. If FinCEN leaves DASH alone then one could argue that Anonymint has a point; however if FinCEN goes after DASH then the Bitcoin / Monero development model will be vindicated. My take is that it is way better here to be safe than sorry and stick with a donation based development model even if this is at the expense of slowing down development.

[generalizethis]

The best people are already contributing to Monero IMO, and no, I'm not one of them (at least codewise).

I don't disagree. I've said before that I feel that Monero has the best team of any altcoin. But having the funds to get individuals like Anonymint onboard would have been huge. Donations aren't enough to enable that.

Anonymint can buy/mine coins and contribute to the project to maximize their worth or get involved in a periphery project--same as everybody else. Most coins are doing it the premine/instamine/IPO/ninjamine way, but do not have the best Dev team (or even a good Dev team). The ethical road is working (imagine that), not sure why you think the Devs should apologize for it.

I'd have no problem with the Devs instamining the coin and then having their supporters have to defend the action, or Devs creating a centralized solution to lock-up coins to increase the perception of strong financial support at the price of centralization and privacy. The reason, because I'd have no vested interest in a coin like that and would be happy to have the easy ammo as one of its critics.  

[Brilliantrocket]

There are 30 years of history of free and open source software projects that says people with talent (often truly exceptional talent that would he hard to buy at any price) will contribute. More than that, many people have gotten wealthy doing so, by either leveraging their visible work on open source to further their careers, by starting businesses that leverage their work on open source to create conditions conducive to the success of their businesses, or independently doing other less interesting but more lucrative things while enjoying their work on open source far more (and using it to help stay sane).

Also I don't agree with the model of viewing decentralized cryptocoins as equity, because they aren't, but if you want to participate in the appreciation of the coin as a result of your efforts, the coins don't need to be given to you. That model works just as well if you buy them. Perhaps better (people value more what they have purchased or worked for than what was given or obtained easily).

In the case of Anonymint specifically, he's broke, which is unfortunate and limits his options, but that is not really the rule for people with talent.

EDIT: I agree with the previous post that there is a potential role for crowdfunding. So that is something we'll have to observe and see how it works out.

I see this as simplistic idealism. You're just setting up unnecessary limitations in the name of some absurd parody of fairness. The ironic thing is that this idealism actually hurts everyone involved in the project. There is no value to these economic ideals. They just give you a little tingle, while really just hampering progress.

[smooth]

There are 30 years of history of free and open source software projects that says people with talent (often truly exceptional talent that would he hard to buy at any price) will contribute. More than that, many people have gotten wealthy doing so, by either leveraging their visible work on open source to further their careers, by starting businesses that leverage their work on open source to create conditions conducive to the success of their businesses, or independently doing other less interesting but more lucrative things while enjoying their work on open source far more (and using it to help stay sane).

Also I don't agree with the model of viewing decentralized cryptocoins as equity, because they aren't, but if you want to participate in the appreciation of the coin as a result of your efforts, the coins don't need to be given to you. That model works just as well if you buy them. Perhaps better (people value more what they have purchased or worked for than what was given or obtained easily).

In the case of Anonymint specifically, he's broke, which is unfortunate and limits his options, but that is not really the rule for people with talent.

EDIT: I agree with the previous post that there is a potential role for crowdfunding. So that is something we'll have to observe and see how it works out.

I see this as simplistic idealism. You're just setting up unnecessary limitations in the name of some absurd parody of fairness. The ironic thing is that this idealism actually hurts everyone involved in the project.

Where in that post did I mention fairness?

I'll say it again. If you want a direct financial payback for your work, just buy coins, and then work to make them worth more. It's maybe "not fair" that you got in early and cheap, but I fail to see any reason that model doesn't work.

[Brilliantrocket]

Where in that post did I mention fairness?

I'll say it again. If you want a direct financial payback for your work, just buy coins, and then work to make them worth more. It's maybe "not fair" that you got in early and cheap, but I fail to see any reason that model doesn't work.

A desire to preserve fairness or live up to some lofty ideal are the only reasons I can see for the Monero team not having several hundred thousand XMR set aside for development. A clever individual could have found a way to acquire these coins, and then you could have even preserved the image by funneling them into the donation address. It is an anonymous coin, after all  

[generalizethis]

Where in that post did I mention fairness?

I'll say it again. If you want a direct financial payback for your work, just buy coins, and then work to make them worth more. It's maybe "not fair" that you got in early and cheap, but I fail to see any reason that model doesn't work.

A desire to preserve fairness or live up to some lofty ideal are the only reasons I can see for the Monero team not having several hundred thousand XMR set aside for development. A clever individual could have found a way to acquire these coins, and then you could have even preserved the image by funneling them into the donation address. It is an anonymous coin, after all  

You mean clever like Evan? That's not coming back on his coin at all   

Also, are you just ignoring ArticMine's FinCen observation or just don't understand that an IPO type launch could DOOM Developers who used this type of tactic to raise funds? I like my Devs free form controversy and governmental investigation. Your selfish-idealism may prove to be the bigger hampering to any long-term project in crypto.

Also, is the fact that the best, biggest and most successful cryptocurrency project was/is being carried out in the same manner as Monero lost on you? Bitcoin may have technological limitations when it comes to privacy and scaling, but the launch and development are the biggest success in an e-cash ever. Whatever works, works.

[Brilliantrocket]

You mean clever like Evan? That's not coming back on his coin at all  

Also, are you just ignoring ArticMine's FinCen observation or just don't understand that an IPO type launch could DOOM Developers who used this type of tactic to raise funds? I like my Devs free form controversy and governmental investigation. Your selfish-idealism may prove to be the bigger hampering to any long-term project in crypto.

Also, is the fact that the best, biggest and most successful cryptocurrency project was/is being carried out in the same manner as Monero lost on you? Bitcoin may have technological limitations when it comes to privacy and scaling, but the launch and development are the biggest success in an e-cash ever. Whatever works, works.

What Evan did was only clever in a short sighted, make a buck sort of way. I never advocated for an IPO. ArticMine's concerns are not valid under the circumstances I detailed. It would still look like donations, but in reality, it would bring in tens of times what the real donations did. Oh well, the past is the past.

[akula999]

Update!!

Well I lost it all. My hard died on me. I was able to sync with bitmonerod (thanks for the help by the way). However, my .keys files went down with the hard drive... 534 Monero's!! almost a year worth of mining down the drain.

Well, i still have 1.5 KH/s worth of mining power. Back to the drawing board....

Word of caution to all - BACKUP/SAVE your stuff! Don't be me!!!

That sucks.  I lost btc that way.  Education Costs.  One way or another.  On the bright side, it is extremely unlikely to happen to you again!

Oh yeah. I backed up my new wallet onto a 2nd harddrive and onto my google drive. Now I hopefully wont loose anything.

[akula999]

Just tried the latest version of CCminer with a nvidia 980 GPU. I'm getting ~400H/s mining XMR on a pool.
Does this sound about right? Is there a spreadsheet or something online which breaks down hashing speeds?

What link did you use to get  this?

No link, I just downloaded the latest miner saw the Hashes.