Monero has increased in value by 28% in a year, despite various misfortunes: the community wallet lost all funds after an attack in November 2023, and the coin was delisted from OKX and Binance in 2024. What caused such a great performance, and what are the prospects for Monero and privacy coins in general?
Monero is one of the best-known and highest-capitalized privacy coins. This open-source cryptocurrency dates back to 2014. Monero was developed to make transaction information, such as the sender and receiver identities and transaction amount, opaque and obfuscated. The network hides the addresses of both parties.
In this attack, an individual hijacked a CCS wallet with nine transactions. Insiders concluded that the attacker likely used a Monerujo wallet and had enabled the PocketChange feature, which causes the wallet to create additional coin transactions when a user spends funds. To date, there is no evidence to suggest that the attacker has been caught.
Despite relatively solid security features, the overall balance was lost. This has led to the need to strengthen security measures such as policy-based enforcement and zero-trust security to prevent future attacks. Implementing such measures has added value to the XMR token.
OKX and Binance delist XMR
OKX has delisted 20 trading pairs this year, including many privacy coins. The move was not solely due to Monero. Binance did not give a specific reason, only saying that Monero “no longer meets the expected standards.” Experts believe that Monero's private trading feature may be the reason for the delisting.
Reddit users have expressed suspicions that Binance was selling XMR without actually holding it, which is why XMR withdrawals were always “under maintenance.” At the time, the exchange was in trouble with the SEC for alleged money laundering, so this may have been a way to show they were “doing something.” Monero's XMR token fell to a record low when Binance delisted it, but has since recovered.
Monero Price Prediction
Monero (XMR) price has encountered a key level of resistance and technical data suggests that there may be a short-term correction as momentum indicators are showing a bearish trend.
According to some analysts, Monero price will retest the lows. It failed to close above the daily resistance level of $181.22, and the AO and RSI indicators support a bearish outlook. On June 13, the price closed higher but was not followed by the RSI high for the same period. This development is called a bearish deviation and often leads to a short-term price decline.
A bullish market sentiment would emerge if XMR could close above $181.22. This change in market structure would see the price of XMR rise by 5%, returning it to its June 9th high of just above $190.
Monero’s price increased significantly after the MoneroKon event, which took place in Prague from June 7 to 9. The event brought together privacy advocates, leading scientists, and cypherpunks from around the world. They discussed advances in finance and privacy technology. The event highlighted the privacy platform’s focus on decentralization and security.
Monero transactions are untraceable thanks to ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT, which makes Monero a unique and attractive crypto investment.
The outlook for privacy coins
Privacy coins like Monero, Zcash (ZEC), Dash, and PIVX have numerous benefits and use cases: Zcash offers secured yet transparent transactions using zero-knowledge proofs (zk-SNARKs) to keep details private, while PIVX (Private Instant Verified Transactions) anonymizes transactions using zPIV, a custom privacy protocol.
Use cases for these coins include private transactions, confidential payments, and enhanced security. Individuals and businesses can use these coins to make payments without exposing sensitive financial data.
Privacy coins encrypt transaction details, making it more difficult for unauthorized parties to manipulate transactions.
Privacy coins will make strides to address growing data privacy concerns. Despite challenges, their prospects are promising. Regulators are increasing their scrutiny, which is problematic, but the growing demand for security and privacy in digital transactions offers great prospects. Privacy coins will be more widely accepted and intuitive to use.
Network scalability and advances in encryption technology will improve efficiency and functionality, making it attractive to a wider range of users.