Monero (XMR) has been moving sharply higher and has managed to draw fresh attention from traders even as much of the wider crypto market continues to struggle for direction.
Its new all-time high has been predictably met with high crowd FOMO.
XMR Steals the Show
Several privacy-focused cryptocurrencies have performed well over the past three months. Monero now appears to be leading the sector as other rivals slip into the background. According to Santiment, XMR’s rally has been strong. But the analytics firm said that investors looking for new entry points may want to wait until social hype and fear of missing out ease.
The rally has since extended further, as XMR jumped nearly 20% in the last 24 hours to around $677, pushing its monthly gains above 62%. This is Monero’s highest price level in roughly eight years, after surpassing its previous peak from early 2018. Market participants say the move reflects a broader rotation into privacy-linked assets, which have shown strength since late last year.
While Zcash (ZEC) dominated attention in the fourth quarter, interest has steadily shifted back toward XMR. However, experts also warn that trading in privacy coins remains concentrated on fewer offshore exchanges, as many regulated platforms avoid listing them, which could add volatility going forward.
Vikrant Sharma, Founder and CEO of Cake Wallet, said the uptrend is driven by its core focus on financial privacy. In a statement to CryptoPotato, he explained that Monero stands apart because privacy is built in by default, something rare among crypto assets as governments expand surveillance.
The exec went on to add,
“As governments expand AML, KYC, and on-chain monitoring, Monero’s technology is being validated. Regulatory pressure and exchange delistings have reduced speculative access, but they’ve intensified conviction among users who genuinely need censorship-resistant money. The recent price action suggests markets are beginning to value privacy itself as a scarce and strategic financial property.”
ZEC Sell-Off
Its rival, Zcash, on the other hand, has taken a different turn. The privacy coin saw a sharp sell-off after all members of the Electric Coin Company resigned amid a dispute over governance. ECC CEO Josh Swihart said the decision followed after “constructive” discharge by the Bootstrap board.
However, the move does not mean an exit from Zcash. Swihart said the developers are setting up a new company and will continue working within the Zcash ecosystem. Shortly after the resignations, the team announced plans to develop a new Zcash wallet, known internally as cashZ, which uses the same Zashi codebase. He said that the focus remains on the ZEC ecosystem, but has no plans to introduce a new token.
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