Anonymous Cryptocurrency Monero Hits New All-Time High. What's Driving the Growth?
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 interest in the privacy coin sector. The Bank of Russia has also proposed a ban on acquiring anonymous crypto assets whose transaction trails cannot be tracked.
RBK-crypto01/12 12:06
