Monero Talk

The Privacy Coin Surge: How Monero, Zcash, and Others Are Competing — w/ Diego Salazar | EPI 366

October 28th, 2025  |  1 hr 52 mins

bitcoin, blockchain, crypto, cryptocurrency, diegosalazar, fungible, monero, monerotalk, monerotopia, privacy, privacycoin, surae, xmr, zcash

TODAY'S SHOW: This episode of Monero Talk features the CypherStack team — CEO Diego Salazar and mathematicians Brandon “Surae” Goodell and Luke — for a deep dive into Monero’s Full Chain Membership Proofs (FCMPs) and how they compare to Zcash.

CypherStack is a privacy-focused research and development company behind Stack Wallet. Diego handles strategy while Brandon and Luke lead the mathematical research for Monero. They discussed their contributions to FCMPs, a major upgrade aimed at improving Monero’s privacy and scalability. While critics from the Zcash community call FCMPs “unproven,” the team explained that it uses well-established mathematics, not untested theory.

They also compared Monero’s community-driven model with Zcash’s corporate structure, noting strengths and trade-offs in both approaches. Despite praising Zcash’s Halo 2 privacy tech, they argue Monero’s privacy-by-default design gives it a real-world edge.On timelines, Diego said FCMPs are “three steps from the finish line” but still tackling technical challenges. The episode ends with a candid look at funding struggles in open-source development and a call for continued community support.

Monero’s FCMP+ Upgrade Status with Diego Salazar of Cypher Stack | EPI 353

June 17th, 2025  |  1 hr 43 mins

bitcoin, blockchain, cbdc, crypto, cryptocurrency, cypherstack, diegosalazar, fungible, lukeszramowski, monero, monerotalk, monerotopia, privacy, privacycoin, rarar, xmr

TODAY'S SHOW: In this episode of Monero Talk, Douglas Tuman chats with Diego Salazar (Rarar) and Luke Szramowski from Cypherstack about Full Chain Membership Proofs (FCMPs), a breakthrough that will dramatically boost Monero’s privacy. Diego, a longtime Monero contributor and founder of Cypherstack, discusses Stack Wallet—an open-source, multi-platform wallet for privacy coins—and stresses the importance of user-friendly design in privacy tech.

The conversation dives into FCMPs, which will expand Monero’s anonymity set from around 16 to potentially every transaction ever made, with only a logarithmic increase in size. Luke, a mathematician and cryptographer, details the recent hurdles involving 'divisors'—key components that improve FCMP efficiency—and how they overcame complex security challenges to develop a secure version now under review by the Monero Research Lab.

Diego ranks privacy levels across cryptocurrencies, placing current Monero at a 1, Firo’s Lelantus Spark at 4, and Zcash’s Halo 2 Orchard at 10. With FCMPs, he believes Monero could reach 9 or 10—on par with Zcash. The discussion also covers post-quantum cryptography as the next big frontier, with Cypherstack already exploring solutions. Despite earlier setbacks, FCMP development is back on schedule, targeting a Q1 2026 deployment pending code compatibility checks led by MRL’s Justin Ehrenhofer.

Diego Salazar aka rehrar on Defcon27!

August 11th, 2019  |  6 mins 55 secs

bitcoin, blockchain, crypto, cryptocurrency, decentralized, defcon, defcon27, diegorerhar, diegosalazar, lasvegas, moneorvillage, monero, moneronews, privacy, privacycoin, rerhrar, technology, xmr, xmrnews

Diego Salazar aka rehrar on Defcon27!

Monero Village at Defcon and Importance of Open Source w/ Diego plus CasaDeMonero in Denver!!

May 23rd, 2019  |  57 mins 44 secs

bitcoin, blockchain, casademonero, crypto, cryptocurrency, decentralized, defcon, diegosalazar, monero, monerokon, moneronews, monerovillage, privacy, privacycoin, rehrar, technology, xmr, xmrnews

Diego "rehrar" Salazar on the Monero Village at Defcon, how open source software plays a huge role in Monero & talk about CasaDeMonero in Denver during MoneroKon!