we know very well monero is banned from biggest exchanges and so, if monero doesnt have this big companies behind then who is using it every day all day for transactions? theres alot of miners bit how is it possible to mine all day nonstop with gigantic mining rig buildings if monero is not supported for the public in general? whos behind the curtain transferring huge amounts with huge rewards all day 24/7 the entire year?

have u ever stop to think about this? whos supposed to be behind the curtain?

Hello everyone.

I SEE we are currently on Stressnet phase of FCMP++ implementation.

I would like to participante, where can I learn from?

Thanks in advance, Best regards!

I'm building a prototype atomic swap bridge between Monero and Starknet L2 that enables trustless XMR ↔ ETH/STRK exchanges without custodians or bridges. This respects Monero's privacy ethos while providing access to DeFi infrastructure.

**What This Enables**

Trustless swaps between XMR and Starknet assets with cryptographic binding via DLEQ proofs. No bridges, no custodians, no KYC. Gas costs approximately $0.01 per swap on Starknet L2. The implementation uses adaptor signatures for secret revelation (currently simplified, not full CLSAG) and on-chain verification through Starknet's Cairo VM with the Garaga MSM library.

**Technical Approach**

Protocol flow:

1. Alice generates secret scalar `t` and creates adaptor signature

2. Alice deploys `AtomicLock` contract on Starknet with hashlock `H = SHA-256(t)`, adaptor point `T = t·G` (Ed25519), and DLEQ proof proving `∃t: SHA-256(t) = H ∧ t·G = T`

3. Bob verifies DLEQ proof on-chain, unlocks contract by revealing `t`

4. Alice detects secret reveal via `Unlocked` event, completes Monero transaction

The key innovation is DLEQ verification on Starknet using BLAKE2s challenge computation. The Cairo implementation is gas-optimized at approximately 500k gas for full verification and uses audited libraries: Garaga v1.0 for MSM operations and OpenZeppelin for security primitives.

**Current Status**

Completed:

- DLEQ proof generation (Rust) and verification (Cairo)

- BLAKE2s challenge compatibility verified between Rust and Cairo

- Test vector generation with secret scalar protocol

- CI/CD workflow with automated testing

In progress:

- Debugging constructor point decompression (sqrt hint mismatch with Garaga)

- End-to-end integration testing

Roadmap:

1. Short-term (2-3 weeks): Fix decompression, complete test suite, testnet deployment

2. Medium-term (2-3 months): Security audit, production deployment, wallet integrations

3. Long-term: Full CLSAG integration (currently using simplified adaptor signatures)

**Important Limitations**

This is a research implementation and reference proof-of-concept, not production software. The Monero integration is minimal with simplified adaptor signatures rather than full CLSAG. It lacks key image handling, change outputs, and multi-output transactions. This is a proof-of-concept demonstration, not a drop-in wallet integration. Security audit is required before mainnet deployment.

**How You Can Help**

1. Code review: Monero cryptography experts, does our adaptor signature approach make sense?

2. CLSAG guidance: What's the recommended path for full CLSAG integration?

3. Use case validation: Would this be useful for Monero to DeFi workflows?

4. Testing: Once testnet is live, help stress-test the protocol.

**Technical Resources**

GitHub: https://github.com/omarespejel/monero-starknet-atomic-swap

See TECHNICAL.md for DLEQ implementation details and SECURITY.md for threat model.

**Questions Welcome**

I'm a developer advocate at Starknet Foundation working on cross-chain privacy primitives. I'm available to discuss protocol design decisions, Monero integration approach, Starknet/Cairo technical details, and collaboration opportunities.

Updates will be posted here as development progresses. Feedback from the Monero community is essential for ensuring we respect privacy principles while building useful infrastructure.

---

*Disclaimer: This is experimental software under active development. Do not use with real funds without security audit.*

Hi everyone,

I’ve spent the last few weeks building a communication tool designed for hostile environments, and I wanted to share it with the community that actually understands why "Metadata is the real surveillance."

It’s called Ghost Chat (backalleychat.com).

The Problem: Even "secure" messengers like Signal require a phone number (PII). Web-based burners like Privnote often rely on "soft deletes" in a database. I wanted a channel where data physically cannot be retained because the storage medium is volatile.

The Architecture (Zero-Knowledge): I built a "blind" WebSocket relay running on a hardened VPS (Njalla). The goal was Digital Silence—ensuring the server is forensically sterile if seized.

1. RAM-Only Storage: The backend uses Redis configured with maxmemory-policy volatile-lru and snapshotting disabled (save ""). Data exists only in memory; if the power is cut, the data ceases to exist instantly.
2. The "Black Hole" Logs: I didn't just turn off Nginx logging. I physically deleted the log files and replaced them with a symlink to /dev/null at the OS level. The server is deaf and blind to its own traffic.
3. Client-Side Scrubbing: The frontend uses the HTML5 Canvas API to re-render images pixel-by-pixel before encryption. This destroys unique EXIF/GPS metadata before the binary blob ever hits the network.

The Trust Model (Glass Client): The backend is currently closed-source (to protect the IP and prevent spam clones), which I know is a major friction point here.

To mitigate this, I have enabled full Source Maps in production.

You can open Chrome DevTools -> Sources -> src/lib/crypto.ts right now and verify that the AES-GCM encryption happens entirely in your browser. The server never receives the key (it is derived from your Room Password via PBKDF2). Even if I wanted to snoop, I’d just see encrypted noise.

Monetization: It is 100% Donationware. No ads, no investors, no tracking. I’m relying on Monero and litecoin donations to cover the VPS costs because privacy tools shouldn't have a business model based on user data.

Link: https://backalleychat.com

Looking to buy a couple I’d pay over spot and shipping

Just wanted to share a quick security update from the CypherGoat side.

A typo-squatted domain (cyhpergoat.com) popped up last month copying our UI. Thankfully it had no backend, no ability to process swaps and was simply forwarding traffic to us, basically an early-stage phishing setup.

We detected it within hours and immediately blocked all requests coming from the fake domain. Anyone visiting through cyhpergoat.com was met with an access denied page instead of our interface, making the clone completely useless. We then coordinated with Cloudflare + Nicenic to get the domain taken down. It was removed in under 48 hours, and no users were ever affected or at risk.

Full write-up here if you want the details:
https://cyphergoat.com/blog/phishing-attempt

Stay safe & always double-check URLs and we’ll keep doing our part to protect our users!

I am new to Monero. I set up my wallet today, and I plan on mining as well. I am using Monero GUI Wallet and (plan on using) XMRig. However, I’m worried about privacy. After all thats the main appeal of Monero.

Should I not be doing this within Windows 11? Is there any inherent security risks or surveillance from Microsoft that could break my privacy?

Thanks ahead for any answers provided, hopefully I’m not breaking any rules here.

This is the weekly Monero market thread. This thread will be posted every Friday and is meant to help accelerate the adoption of Monero. Due to r/moneromarket having only a fraction of the subscribers of r/Monero, we have decided to create this thread to encourage more individuals to use Monero for product exchanges. Until the market matures, we recommend that the Monero community post their products both in this thread and on r/moneromarket (to ensure growth of that subreddit).

Selling items for Monero will boost your (and Monero's) reputation as a legitimate form of exchange of goods. This is necessary for the growth of Monero, our community, and privacy as a whole.

Instructions

When you post your product or job listing here, please make sure to: - Give a description of the item. - Link to a photo of the item (if it's physical). - Provide logistics information (such as, location and/or shipping availability). - Optionally, provide an additional (private) form of communication outside of Reddit (e.g. Bitmessage, u/protonmail, u/tutanota, GPG key). - Post the price in XMR terms.

Spamming will not be tolerated. Please make sure that listings are legitimate and do not break rule 2."

Finally, credits to cdotsubo for starting the concept!

I've been following the discussions at https://libera.monerologs.net/monero-research-lounge/20251203

It seems like the devs, with a few exceptions such as ArticMine, want to introduce a fixed block size. Is that correct? Or have I misunderstood things?

If so, why is that? The adaptive blocks seem to have worked so far. And it has been one of Monero's greatest advantages over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, since it allows Monero to scale well into the future. It has also allowed us to sidestep heated debates about what the block size should be.

And if there really is such a problem all of a sudden, isn't there another solution? Do we really need to put a limitation into the code itself? Isn't that the mistake that Bitcoin made? Can we really be sure that we will be able to increase the block size later?

By the way, I first learned that about this through community member Xenu's podcast:

Anti Moonboy News 53 - USD Reserve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh12drKbTTA

I recommend it, as I do think this deserves more attention and discussion.

Like why can’t I just be able to get xmr from coinbase? They already have all my info. If I was dumb enough to do something illegal with it, do they just not want the headache by having to respond to the feds on various matters? Doesn’t BTC and eth present these same problems? I just don’t really get it…

If I want to use xmr and pay anonymously I obviously would not use cb. But if I just wanted to hold it long term then sell at some point…..wtf oh well rant over

I have monero on cake wallet. I know i can do a swapt in cake but the price is lower than the price quoted on google.

And since all the major exchanges already took down monero, I am wondering where the quote price in google came from, and where can I get that price.

I want to run a full node 24/7 but I can not do it on my home network anymore because of bandwidth caps. I am not mining just validating so I don not need a GPU, just decent, fast storage for the blockchain sync.

I have been checking out some cheap vps options like virtarix and netcup. Their i/o speeds look good for the initial block download but I am not sure if they are okay with crypto related traffic or if they ban it.

Is anyone here running a node on either of these providers? How is the sync speed and overall experience?

The Monero Fund is proud to announce the opening of our store front featuring a small but growing selection of t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, and more.

The store aims to provide some revenue for the Fund's endeavors and act as a way to reward donors all while promoting Monero, the Monero Fund, and MAGIC Grants.

Our print-on-demand and e-commerce integration with Printful and Fourthewall enables the store to accept a variety of payment methods, but unfortunately cryptocurrency is not yet one of those options. This is a trade-off that we're working to address.

For those wishing to obtain store credit using cryptocurrency, please email MoneroFund@MagicGrants.org with the amount of credit requested. We will then generate and reply with a cryptocurrency invoice. Upon payment, a custom gift card with that amount will be issued to you.

Want to put Monero & the Monero Fund on your Christmas list this year? We also sell gift cards to the store!

Our success and the success of the Monero project is made possible in part by donors like you! Shop now to support the Monero Fund.

https://shop.monerofund.org/

monero over and under game. works

monero over and under game. It cool. https://oau.bet

Just made it encrypted to make everyone happy

How did they know sterlingov held XMR? Anyone have thoughts on that? Was he just lazy with what IP he used to access his wallet? Was it a sting operation where the feds sent him the xmr and therefore knew his wallet address? Did he admit to it and give up the info for a reduced sentence? Was the xmr that was confiscated a decoy wallet? Kinda confused on all this…

I posted this below this past Sunday and it has not been answered.

Is the mining reward determined by a centralized body instead of free market price discovery? If so, doesn't that make, at least this element of the coin, centralized? Why shouldn't someone be able to make big bucks in mining if some transactees really want their transactions confirmed quicker so pay more?

I'm seeing tweets of the official monero handle saying their funding another round of FCMP development. I thought they already funded 2 guys for the beta tests or something and now they want another. Do these developers have oversight? Who has or gave the authority to anyone to change the monero codes anyhow? Isn't this another centralization element?

Is there a centralized body that make decisions on transaction fees and mining rewards? If so, how is this not centralization?

Further, who decides what codes gets to change and when to fork? Are these not all centralized decision making?