Monero is a decentralized cryptocurrency that is considered the top of the privacy coin foodchain as it offers virtual anonymity with users which has made it popular in crypto circles but has also made it a target for criminals. Monero, by its very nature, aims to offer something that major cryptos such as bitcoin and ether do not which is that they allow complete privacy for users.
Monero was first created in 2014 by a team of developers which were comprised of seven people. Five of those people have maintained their identity as a secret but two of the owners, Riccardo Spagni and David Latapie, are known. The initial name of Monero was Bitmonero but a consensus eventually led to a change of name and a hard fork took place after certain disagreements took place within the community. It should be noted that Monero is a very community-driven token and the core team that guides the ecosystem is made up of experts in various areas such as cryptography and public relations.
One of the factors which led to the prominence of Monero was Bytecoin, which began gaining traction in 2014. However, it suffered from the issue which was that 80 percent of Bytecoins had already been mined by the time it began gaining traction. In response to this, the original code was altered into what is called Monero, or Bitmonero as it was called at the time. Another hard fork took place which split Monero from the Bitmonero project and the project has lasted into the future as a token that has caused much controversy.
