On the verge of June 8 and 9, Monero (XMR) announced the launch of the much anticipated community-driven “tail emission” update. First of all, let’s define the terminology. Tail emission is a mechanism for continuously paying rewards for computing blocks, even after the last Monero (XMR) is created. Miners will always be paid for mining XMR, and they will never have to rely solely on commissions.
It’s finally here! 🎉
The Monero #TailEmission starts today!
After ~9p ET (~1 UTC), #Monero will issue 0.6 #XMR per block in perpetuity. This ensures a permanent security mining incentive, regardless of the fee market.
A great thread on the tail emission: https://t.co/duHOqB1qCZ
— Monero (XMR) (@monero) June 8, 2022
The essence of the renovation is to fix 0.6 XMR as a reward for miners in every block, instead of allowing the block subsidy to go to 0, contrary to what most other cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, have chosen to do. The chosen number is linear, which means the possibility of reaching a 0% inflation rate in perpetuity. As a result of the update, Monero expects XMR to become a disinflationary asset whose exact supply is certain, predictable and can be projected.
Privacy is not a crime
News of the Monero (XMR) tail emission update comes days after the publication of a Reuters investigation into the use of XMR and Binance by hackers to launder stolen money and by drug dealers to clean up profits from illegal activities.
At the time, a Binance spokesperson stated that the exchange was monitoring transactions and assessing risks to “ensure that any illegal funds are traced, frozen, recovered and/or returned to their rightful owner.” There was also a blog post stating that, contrary to popular belief, cryptocurrencies are not a primary method for criminals to launder funds. The post appeared on Binance before the Reuters investigation was published.
The Monero (XMR) community has said in turn that it does not endorse the use of the coin for illegal activities. It has also noted that the enhanced privacy Monero provides can be useful for a number of legitimate reasons, such as preventing corporate espionage, saving from an abusive relationship or secretly buying a gift for a spouse. The appeal ended with the eloquent phrase: “Privacy is not a crime.”