{"id":7916,"date":"2018-04-10T11:23:22","date_gmt":"2018-04-10T18:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/?p=7916"},"modified":"2018-04-11T16:34:16","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T23:34:16","slug":"monero-a-tale-of-five-forks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coincentral.com\/monero-a-tale-of-five-forks\/","title":{"rendered":"Monero: A Tale of Five Forks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monero Gets Five New Mints<\/h1>\n

It was the best times, it was the worst of times. It was the season of Monero ASIC mining, it was the season of frequent hard forks to prevent such mining. On April 6, popular privacy coin Monero<\/a> hard forked\u2026five times. MoneroC, Monero 0, Monero Original, Monero Classic, and Monero-Classic (again) will all continue running version 11 of the Monero protocol, while Monero itself has moved on to version 12.<\/span><\/p>\n

What the fork just happened?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Diagram<\/p>\n

The Monero project has consistently hard forked every 6 months to upgrade its protocol with the latest features, and each fork has historically been supported by the community. However, this fork came with a controversial change in code that has splintered the Monero community, even though most<\/em> of the developers and user community were on board. Namely, the fork looked to change the CryptoNight Proof of Work<\/a> mining algorithm Monero uses.<\/span><\/p>\n

This change aims to prevent anyone from mining Monero using ASICs<\/a>, or Application-Specific Integrated Circuits, computers that can only do one specific thing (like mine Monero). The CryptoNight algorithm is vulnerable to attacks by ASIC mining, and this fear led the developers and many community members to get behind making a change.<\/span><\/p>\n

The decision comes after Bitmain, Halong Mining, and other mining hardware companies announced that they have developed CryptoNight ASIC miners and would begin sales soon. The mining script change renders all of the new hardware useless for mining Monero, unless one of these forks can gain a foothold in the market.<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story with these new coins?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

While all of the new Monero-based coins are, in reality, the same coins on the same network, they are being identified with different names and logos by their respective projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monero 0 (XMZ)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to Bitcoin Magazine<\/a>, this Monero team is a group of \u201cproof-of-work maximalists\u201d that run hobby mining operations.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the Monero 0\u00a0<\/span>websit<\/span>e<\/span><\/a>, the team writes that they have \u201cdecided that the Monero Project\u2019s strategy to continuously hard fork is no longer a stable or a sane strategy. We believe that Satoshi\u2019s Proof of Work is the only mechanism for decentralized consensus.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Monero Original (XMO)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There is little information available about the Monero Original project other than a <\/span>github repository<\/span><\/a> and a <\/span>press release<\/span><\/a> sent to several media outlets. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the press release the \u201clead developer\u201d states that \u201cMonero has always been about freedom of choice, about diversity and about the strong community behind it. We are providing the Monero fans [with] a possibility to support the iconic coin and stay on the original chain. \u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

At time of press, HitBTC <\/span>supports trading<\/span><\/a> XMO\/BTC, XMO\/USDT and XMO\/ETH, and is trading around $6.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Monero<\/p>\n

Monero Classic (XMC)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A representative of the Monero Classic project, Bento Tan, spoke to Bitcoin Magazine and described the team as a group of Monero enthusiasts from Singapore who believe that ASIC development is healthy for the growth of a cryptocurrency.<\/span><\/p>\n

On their website, they highlight the issues they have with the apparent power of Monero’s core developers, stating that \u201c<\/span>the main message of Monero classic is that we believe that the developers changing the proof of work creates more centralisation and harms decentralisation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This objection seems to be with the centralization of decision-making power within the development team, as Monero Classic’s team observed that Monero’s<\/span>\u00a0\u201cdevelopers are saying that they can and will change the consensus rules whenever it suits them and the community seems to be conditioned into following the wishes of the developers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Tan told Bitcoin Magazine that the Monero Classic project has no connection with any of the other fork projects and does not plan on cooperating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Monero-Classic (XMC)<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Monero-Classic website reveals that an individual who goes by <\/span>PZ<\/span><\/a> (an \u201cearly Bitcoin evangelist\u201d and the Secretary-General of the Litecoin Roundtable) is behind this project. He claims that he has watched the Monero community\u2019s growing fear over ASIC mining and, like the other Monero Classic team, thinks that it is unfounded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cActually, the emergence of specialized mining machine for a cryptocurrency is [a] normal market economy phenomenon,\u201d PZ writes, adding \u201cwe believe that for any kind of valuable algorithm, the emergence of mining machine [sic] is only a matter of time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

PZ acknowledges the community support of the ASIC-resistant fork but holds that there are also many in the community that accept ASIC involvement in Monero mining and will stay with the old protocol. He finishes with a unifying message and the belief that \u201cthese two thoughts should be given equal opportunities for development.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Antpool, Bitmain’s<\/a>\u00a0mining pool, has tweeted <\/span>support<\/span> for this project, signaling that Bitmain (who clearly stands to benefit from an ASIC-minable Monero) may be involved with its development.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Monero (XMR) has forked. If you had XMR before 6 April, you can get an equivalent amount of Monero Classic (XMC) after 6 April. Find out more by joining its official group chat at https:\/\/t.co\/gbyd3JydZQ<\/a> (doesn't work inside the GFW) pic.twitter.com\/zvjrUVC2zi<\/a><\/p>\n

— ANTPOOL (@AntPoolofficial) April 6, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n