cryptopolitan.com
Monero ($XMR) keeps rising, reaching a new high for 2025. The privacy coin continued to grow, outperforming other assets, as demand returns.
Monero ($XMR) is making a return after posting a new peak for 2025 and the highest level for the past 12 months. $XMR rose to $353.71 after weeks of gradual growth. The coin is now back to price levels not seen since 2021, setting up expectations for an even more active appreciation cycle.
Initially, $XMR was revived after a hacker used the token to swap out stolen $BTC funds. Following the incident, $XMR did not stop its expansion; instead, it retained higher baseline volumes above $80M in 24 hours.
$XMR never returned to levels from before the hack, instead reviving a long-forgotten trade. The asset has limited exposure to mainstream exchanges after delistings but retains its influence as a privately mined coin.
$XMR gets a boost from Asian markets
The recent exposure for Monero on social media does not immediately translate to increased global trading. There are several specifics around $XMR that may cut the rally short.
More than 50% of $XMR volumes are on KuCoin and HTX, exchanges that are usually difficult to access for international traders. $XMR is also traded on smaller markets with significant counterparty risk.
The asset is mostly banned from US-based and EU brokerages and exchanges due to its anonymous origins and untraceable wallets.
Exchanges may also have problems with $XMR withdrawals and reserves in the case of real rising demand for the coin. Some market operators also use a tokenized version of Monero. The asset is difficult to track.
In the past day of growth, the $XMR/$ETH pair on KuCoin also showed anomalous activity, with volumes rising by over 274% in a day. The $XMR/$ETH pair was also highly active at the end of April as the hacker tried to swap out assets, leading to peak volumes.
The other activity hub for $XMR was Kraken, where the busiest pair expanded its volumes by over 1,621%.
The biggest shift came from the smaller market Bitrue, where $XMR activity spiked by 10,000% in an otherwise low-liquidity pair. The available liquidity for $XMR may still be low for a proper bull market. In the short term, $XMR has often outperformed other altcoins and even $BTC.
The revival of $XMR is not only in its market activity. Monero mining is at an all-time high, more than doubling since April 2024. The network hashrate grew exponentially in the past month, showing a trend of returning to the network as a source of newly mined privacy coins.
Miners produce only 432 $XMR per day, comparable to the $BTC mining reward. The coin remains scarce as exchanges carry insignificant balances. Acquiring $XMR may be the most accessible for miners, causing real scarcity for potential buyers.
Monero uses CPU and GPU mining, offering easier access compared to ASIC.