Monero Is The Dark Horse Rising Through The Dark Net

By Steven Gleiser
Published Aug 23rd, 2016
Monero Is The Dark Horse Rising Through The Dark Net

One of the biggest surprises rising through the market cap ranks, is a truly anonymous cryptocurrency. Probably it is rising because of the very features that make it anonymous, but there is no doubt that Monero has much more to offer than just the anonymity that bitcoin fails to provide. It is a technically sophisticated cryptocurrency that should not be viewed as the fuel powering illegal activity on the dark web, but rather as a true heir to cash in the internet era.

Monero Soars

There must be a critical mass of users that is now seeing Monero for what it is – although many just see it as an instrument for crime on the dark net. This is one of the reasons its value has been soaring lately. In fact, Monero has been one of the few bright spots in the otherwise stagnant cryptocurrency markets over the last few weeks.

Monero Market Cap
This chart clearly shows the sudden surge of Monero, which is now safely within the top 10 ranked cryptocurrencies by market cap. In fact, it was almost the only bright spot in cryptocurrency markets on August 23rd, 2016. Screen shot taken from coinmarketcap.com on August 23rd, 2016 at 17:00 GMT.

From Black Horse to the Next Big Thing

Monero still has a long way to go in order to take over its fair share of the cryptocurrency markets. More users have to get acquainted with it and get to know its advantages before it can rise to the level of bitcoin contender. From the economic point of view, it could be a hard sell for some of the more orthodox cryptocurrency enthusiasts. Monero is a currency that has a built in inflationary element, and many bitcoin die-hards will point to that feature as a disadvantage.

On the practical side, it suffers from a lack of a supporting environment, since it was developed independently from the bitcoin infrastructure. This means that wallets, and other user interface features are still lacking. Nevertheless there are already efforts underway to develop a more user friendly wallet, and complete the whole eco-system around the currency.

The Chicken and the Egg

Many of these developments require a bigger adoption rate, which in some cases can only be achieved through further development. That means that Monero has to promote its advantages more, but even there, users will only be able to enjoy the full advantages of some of Monero’s features once there is enough capital invested in the cryptocurrency. A clear example of this would be its automatic mixing feature, since it relies on trade volume to mix similar transfer amounts and make those untraceable. Currently, any user wanting to transfer bigger amounts of money, would stand out despite the mixing mechanism – as reported by Motherboard.

Turning Disadvantages into Advantages, Momentarily

Nevertheless the fact that users cannot move large amounts of money without being noticed could be a blessing in the meantime. Since Monero has that reputation for being a crime enabler, the fact that only smaller amounts can be transferred at a time without having them stand out, means that would be criminals have to think twice before they move their proceeds around. This should make the cryptocurrency temporarily unattractive to criminals.

As long as Monero stays small, it also suffers from a lack of convertibility. This means that would be criminals might also be deterred by the fact that they cannot enjoy the advantage of their profits fully like they would if they used other currencies. Given the situation then, Monero will remain a dark horse with a lot of unseen potential and with a great opportunity to offer everything that other cryptocurrencies haven’t been able to up until now.