Monero breaks out as privacy demand surges post-Tornado Cash

Monero price has been in a relentless bull run this year, and is not losing steam as bulls target the all-time high. 

Monero (XMR), the biggest privacy-focused coin, has risen for seven consecutive weeks, reaching a high of $402. Last week was its best one in this cycle as it jumped by over 20%. 

XMR price has jumped by almost 300% from its lowest level in 2024, bringing its market cap to $7.4 billion. This performance is notable for a coin delisted by most tier-1 exchanges like Coinbase and Binance. Most of its trading is happening in KuCoin, HTX, and MEXC. 

Observers credit the Monero price jump to rising demand for privacy-focused coins as Tornado Cash, a decentralized, noncustodial privacy protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain, continues to face legal issues. ZCash (ZEC) price rose to $50, its highest level since January, and 95% above its lowest point this year. 

Monero also jumped after a suspicious transfer of over 3,520 Bitcoins (BTC) worth $330 million into XMR. ZachXBT noted that the transfer was likely linked to a hack, although more details have not emerged. 

Some analysts believe that Monero could see more demand as crypto hacks rise. Just last week., Cetus Protocol, a decentralized exchange on Sui, was drained about $223 million by hackers. 

Hackers prefer Monero to stablecoins like USDT and USDC because their transactions are complex to track. Monero ensures this privacy using ring signatures, stealth addresses, and ring confidential transactions. 

In ring signatures, it groups several transactions, making it hard to determine the true sender. It also uses stealth addresses, generating a unique, one-time address for every transaction. And in ring confidential, it hides the transaction amount. 

Monero price technical analysis

The weekly chart shows that the XMR price has surged this year after spending three years in a tight range between $127 and $187. This price action is a sign that it has moved into the markup phase of the Wyckoff Theory, which is usually characterized by higher demand than supply. 

Monero has remained above the 50-week and 100-week Exponential Moving Averages. The Relative Strength Index shows that it has become highly overbought.

Therefore, the bullish trend will likely continue as bulls target the all-time high of $517, about 27% above the current level. After hitting that resistance, it will likely enter the Wyckoff Theory’s distribution phase and pull back.