Monero to Launch FCMP Privacy Upgrade on May 6

• Monero will launch the FCMP++ and Carrot beta stressnet on May 6, with a hard fork from testnet at block 2,997,100.
• FCMP++ expands Monero’s proof system from 1-of-16 ring signatures to proofs across 150M+ blockchain outputs.

Monero is preparing to launch its FCMP++ and Carrot beta stressnet on May 6, marking another public testing phase for two proposed upgrades focused on privacy, security, and wallet usability. The beta stressnet will hard fork from the current testnet at block 2,997,100.

The release, tagged v0.19.0.0-beta.1.0 gives users access to daemon, CLI, RPC, and GUI binaries for testing. Participants can run the software with the testnet flag, while GUI users need to select the testnet network type through advanced settings. The daemon port for the network is 28081.

FCMP++ is designed to replace Monero’s current ring signature model with full-chain membership proofs. Under the current system, a Monero transaction proves that a spender owns one output among a small ring of possible outputs. FCMP++ changes that structure by allowing a user to prove ownership of one output from more than 150 million outputs across the whole Monero blockchain.

This approach aims to widen the privacy set used in Monero transactions. Currently, each spend is limited to a small group, but FCMP++ will expand the proof to a much larger pool. The upgrade remains under testing and has not yet moved to the mainnet.

Carrot focuses on Monero’s addressing system. The proposed upgrade adds new security, privacy, and usability features while keeping backward compatibility with existing addresses. This means older Monero addresses can continue to work while the network tests the newer addressing structure.

Monero’s Beta Stressnet Opens for Public Testing

Monero’s team has asked the community to join the beta stressnet and report bugs before any wider rollout. Developers want detailed reports that include the steps needed to reproduce errors. They also asked testers to share wallet and daemon logs at log level 2, where possible.

The release notes warn that the software remains in beta and may contain bugs. Users with an existing synced testnet daemon may also face a long database migration process. The first migration can take several hours, and recommended that users copy their database before starting the process.

Testers must also connect FCMP++ wallets to compatible daemons. The release notes add that transactions with many inputs may take more time to build. Several features remain unavailable in this version, including watch-only wallets, cold wallets, hardware wallet support, multisig, and transaction proofs.

The stressnet also carries a privacy warning for node operators. On Monero mainnet, node runners operate within an anonymity set that reaches the thousands. On the beta stressnet, that set may only reach dozens. As a result, a node operator’s IP address, or proxy IP address, can become visible to other nodes on the network. Users with extreme threat models should consider whether that risk is acceptable before joining. 

The May 6 launch follows more than two years of development work on FCMP++ and Carrot. The upcoming beta stressnet will be the second live public network test for the combined FCMP++ and Carrot integration.

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