Monero (XMR) Price Rockets 2x Since April: Key Triggers Behind This

During the past two months, the popular privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) has spiked approximately twice, raising eyebrows from such a hasty surge and making some traders rub their hands with delight.

Monero has remained committed to its values of anonymity and decentralization since its launch in 2014, when it emerged as a fork of Bytecoin, one of the first-generation cryptocurrencies that was created in 2012. Unlike other cryptos in the space, particularly Bitcoin and Ethereum, Monero allows concealing the sender, recipient, and the transaction amount thanks to its core technologies: stealth address, ring signatures, and confidential transactions.

Thanks to its strong focus on privacy, Monero has remained in a unique utility niche in the crypto space for more than a decade.

XMR’s dramatic price jump

From April 7 to May 26, Monero experienced a dramatic spike from around $198 to $411, doubling its price in less than two months. While various cryptocurrencies in the market also saw large gains during the same period, XMR’s surge was much more noticeable due to a mix of several major events, including a major recent crypto theft, pulled off by a hacker who blew the dust off XMR’s utility for the first time in years.

One of the factors that is believed to have helped XMR rise was a major hack attack involving 3,520 BTC valued at $330.7 million. On-chain researcher ZachXBT drew the community’s attention to that crypto theft, saying that the hacker laundered that BTC via six instant crypto exchanges and converted the crypto into XMR, thus causing the coin’s price to surge as much as 50%. That news made multiple headlines in the crypto space back in April. While this raised alarm among regulators and blockchain surveillance companies, this case also served as a great reminder of Monero’s initial key selling point: complete transaction privacy.

It is quite likely that the surge in demand for XMR from the hacker drove the price upwards but also sparked a hot debate about how legitimate and illegal can be usage of privacy-oriented coins.

More drivers that gave XMR bullish momentum

The spike in criminal interest recently was not the only driver behind Monero’s price surge. Another encouraging development here has been the increasing political support for the FIT21 bill, short for the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act. This bipartisan bill has been gaining traction in the US Congress, seeking to make a shift in which regulatory agencies will have control over digital assets and their legal status. Many commentators in this space believe that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) will gain more oversight responsibilities, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will see its role in labelling crypto as securities limited. Should that happen indeed, coins like Monero, which previously could have been targeted by the SEC, may soon be seen in a more favorable light.

It is likely that this prospect has changed investor view of XMR, making this coin much more appealing for long-term bets among privacy-focused assets.

Another important trigger that drove Monero’s price up is the approaching FCMP++ upgrade, which is expected later this year. This abbreviated title stands for Full Chain Membership Proofs++. This much-anticipated upgrade has a goal of improving the efficiency and anonymity of ring signatures – the core cryptographic tech used by Monero for obscuring transactions. The upgrade also aims to reduce the transaction size and increase the verification speed. This is bound to make this privacy-focused blockchain more scalable while keeping its privacy. The XMR community believes that this upgrade will not only enhance Monero’s privacy offering but will also strengthen its position as the leader among privacy coins.

The last but not the least driver that has pushed the XMR price up recently was a major surge in Monero’s hashrate. During the past month, the coin’s hashrate has undergone a notable surge. This indicates a rising interest in XMR mining activity. This could be tied to the coin’s increasing price, since the community continues to support the proof-of-work consensus algorithm geared for CPI mining and resistant to ASICs. This helps to prevent concentration of mining power in a few hands, maintaining it fair and decentralized. Besides, this way, mining remains accessible to individual miners, unlike the case with Bitcoin.

Monero remains in demand despite legal pressure

Unlike many other blockchains that are increasing transaction speed and are adding interoperability, smart contracts, DeFi, etc, Monero remains focused on its initial goal – maintaining financial privacy for users. These days, this aspect seems to be becoming increasingly popular with stricter KYC/AML requirements and centralized exchanges’ control over transactions, many users are seeking to protect their private data. Monero gives them this option, helping to protect their privacy. Even though centralized exchanges have begun to delist privacy coins, yielding to regulatory pressure, decentralized exchanges help Monero to remain an accessible and liquid asset in the vast cryptocurrency market.