An unknown donor has given the Monero General Fund a donation of 1711 XMR, valued at around half a million USD, according to their official Twitter.
The fund, valued at 2108.12 XMR last year, has just received a huge boost. Their war chest, now worth over $1 million altogether, goes toward paying for web services and hosting, as well as one contractor’s salary. It also will be used to further develop the network.
Monero is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency released in 2014, featuring a system which hides detailed transaction information from everyone except participants in that transaction. The goal of these measures is to achieve anonymity and fungibility, which are adversely affected when a ledger can be read publicly. Efforts like those of Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary to distinguish “clean Bitcoin” from “blood Bitcoin”, for instance, would result in not all coins being equal — which would potentially result in Bitcoin being harder to use as a currency.
Unfortunately, Monero’s security features have been used for nefarious purposes like ransomware attacks. It also received bad press when prominent members of the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia promoted the cryptocurrency as an alternative payment method, following major processors’ decision to refuse their services.
But the Monero project’s aims remain noble, and extend beyond particular political interests. The idea of money that cannot be censored is an attractive one for those fearful of the power that PayPal, Stripe, Visa, and Mastercard wield in the modern economy. Its supporters and contributors believe that all people are equal and deserve equal opportunities.
This ethos existed right from Monero’s conception. Its developers did not keep any stake for themselves when they launched Monero; they depend solely on the generosity of those who believe in the virtual currency and wish to see it succeed.
binaryFate, a core developer for Monero, stated that his organization will publish a transparency report this month. It is expected to detail the plans the project has for the extra money they received.
