Launched in Jun 2018 and based on the Cryptonote foundations of Monero, Ryo is headed by fireice_uk and psychocrypt, a duo with development work on opensource mining software proof of work algorithms.

The team claims that the Ryo blockchain does not have the 0-mixin Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) that characterize older Cryptonote chains because Ryo has ring sizes of 25. These settings reportedly reduce the chances of being identified and traced by blockchain statistical analysis. The Ryo developers implemented a uniform transaction ID system that hides the use of payment IDs because all transactions now have a uniform ID that is retrofitted with the old payment ID system. The team claims that Ryo is the first amongst various Cryptonote currencies to implement this feature, which addresses the metadata leak that reportedly affects Cryptonote coins with payment IDs.

Ryo aims to function as a store of value that is suitable for highly confidential transactions. The core mission of the project is to deliver a currency with true fungibility. This means that each coin is equal and interchangeable; the team claims that it is highly unlikely that any coin can ever by blacklisted due to previous transactions.