Anonymous Cryptocurrency Monero Hits New All-Time High. What's Driving the Growth?

RBK-cryptoPubblicato 2026-01-12Pubblicato ultima volta 2026-01-12

Introduzione

Anonymous cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) reached a new all-time high of nearly $598.50 on January 12, 2026, according to data from Kraken exchange. The price later corrected to around $580. This surpassed its previous peak of over $517 from May 2021. Over the past 24 hours, XMR surged by almost 20%, significantly outperforming major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, which saw minimal price changes. Since the beginning of the year, Monero's price has increased by more than 30%, continuing its strong performance from 2025 when it was one of the top-performing major cryptocurrencies. This growth occurred without significant news, institutional capital inflows, or major events, unlike other leading digital assets. Monero is now the 12th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization at approximately $10.5 billion, making it the largest privacy-focused coin. Its main competitor, Zcash (ZEC), has a market cap of $6.6 billion but has faced recent selling pressure, including a 20% price drop in early January following the announcement that one of its development teams was leaving. The coin's inherent privacy features, which make all transactions anonymous and untraceable by default, have led to its delisting from major exchanges like Binance, OKX, and Bybit due to regulatory pressure. Despite these challenges and increasing regulatory scrutiny—such as a new ban on private cryptocurrencies that took effect in Dubai's DIFC on January 12—analysts note a growing investor inter...

"RBC-Crypto" does not provide investment advice; the material is published for informational purposes only. Cryptocurrency is a volatile asset that may lead to financial losses.

On the night of January 12, the price of the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) reached a new record, hitting nearly $598.5 according to data from the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange. By 14:20 Moscow time on the same day, the XMR price had slightly retreated to around $580. The previous peak was above $517, reached in May 2021.

Over the past 24 hours, the price of XMR has increased by almost 20%, while the price of its closest competitor, Zcash (ZEC), rose by 7%. During the same period, the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) remained virtually unchanged, trading around $90.5K and $3.1K respectively, according to Coinmarketcap.

Since the beginning of the year, XMR quotes have risen by more than 30%, outperforming many major cryptocurrencies in terms of percentage growth. During this period, BTC grew by almost 2%, and Ethereum by 4%.

The dynamics of XMR since the start of 2026 are a continuation of the coin's growth in the previous year when it became one of the growth leaders among the largest cryptocurrencies on the market. As for most of 2025, the current rise in XMR has not been accompanied by any specific events or news. The coin grew without the institutional capital inflows seen with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB, and others.

XMR ranks 12th in the Coinmarketcap ranking of the largest cryptocurrencies with a market capitalization of nearly $10.5 billion and is the largest coin by market cap in the privacy sector, ahead of Zcash (ZEC) with $6.6 billion.

For most of the second half of last year, ZEC showed better performance than XMR, even briefly surpassing it in market capitalization. The Zcash price lost its growth momentum in November 2025, after reaching a local peak of around $730—since then, the price has fallen to $400. In early January 2026, selling pressure on ZEC intensified following the announcement that one of the cryptocurrency's teams of developers was leaving—the asset's price then lost about 20% in a few hours.

Ban on Anonymity

In Monero, anonymity is a basic and mandatory characteristic of all transactions; users cannot choose an alternative format for sending coins. This has led to a consistent refusal to list it by many major platforms, including Binance, OKX, and Bybit, due to pressure from regulators. As a result of exchanges delisting XMR, liquidity on trading markets stagnated for a long time.

Attention on Monero is driven by general interest in coins from the privacy sector, despite regulatory risks, as analysts from 10x Research noted, according to Coindesk.

For example, as of January 12, a ban on private cryptocurrencies, including Monero and Zcash, comes into effect from the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), according to new rules for digital asset circulation in the DIFC international financial zone.

The reason is the inability to ensure transaction transparency and compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) requirements and sanctions legislation.

At the end of 2025, the Bank of Russia proposed a concept for regulating the cryptocurrency and digital asset market, which included a ban on the acquisition of anonymous crypto-assets, i.e., those whose transaction chains cannot be traced.

This means such assets will be unavailable on Russian platforms, even to qualified investors. The regulator did not name specific coins but characterized them as cryptocurrencies "whose smart contracts hide information about token transfers to recipients".

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Domande pertinenti

QWhat is the new all-time high price reached by Monero (XMR) on January 12th, and on which exchange was this recorded?

AMonero (XMR) reached a new all-time high of nearly $598.5 on the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange on the night of January 12th.

QHow did the price performance of Monero (XMR) compare to its competitor Zcash (ZEC) and major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum over a 24-hour period?

AOver a 24-hour period, the price of XMR increased by almost 20%, while its competitor Zcash (ZEC) rose by 7%. During the same time, the prices of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) remained virtually unchanged, trading around $90.5k and $3.1k respectively.

QWhat is a major regulatory challenge facing privacy coins like Monero, as exemplified by a recent event in Dubai?

AA major regulatory challenge is the ban on private cryptocurrencies, including Monero and Zcash, which came into effect on January 12th by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA). This is due to the inability to ensure transaction transparency and compliance with anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions legislation.

QAccording to the article, what is a key reason why many major exchanges have delisted Monero (XMR)?

AMany major exchanges, including Binance, OKX, and Bybit, have delisted Monero due to pressure from regulators. The primary reason is that Monero's anonymity is a fundamental and mandatory characteristic of all transactions, making it impossible to choose a non-private format, which conflicts with regulatory requirements.

QWhat significant event negatively impacted the price of Zcash (ZEC) in early January 2026?

AThe price of Zcash (ZEC) faced increased selling pressure in early January 2026 after the announcement that one of the cryptocurrency's development teams was leaving. This caused the asset's price to drop by approximately 20% in a few hours.

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