Monero (XMR) Saw a Major Price Surge After Bitcoin (BTC) Worth $330.7 Million Was Stolen

Monero saw a major surge in its price after Bitcoin worth approximately $330.7 million, (3,520 BTC), was suspiciously transferred from a suspected victim's wallet to an unknown address.

Bitcoin (BTC) worth approximately $330.7 million (3,520 BTC) was suspiciously transferred from a suspected victim's wallet to an unknown address on Sunday.

On-chain investigator ZachXBT reported that the event appears to be a theft. The development was quickly followed by the involvement of more than six exchanges and mixers as the stolen BTC was rapidly laundered into Monero (XMR), resulting in a 51% surge in XMR's price.

The price of Bitcoin is currently down 0.2% over the last 24 hours and trades at $70,236.84. Meanwhile, Monero (XMR) is currently down 23.4% over the last 24 hours and trades at $281.55. It has a high of 31.0% on the 7-day chart.

The details of the theft were covered by on-chain investigator ZachXBT, who broke down the events leading up to the incident. Surly, the BTC was stolen from a long-time holder.

As the funds moved through more than six exchanges, they were rapidly swapped into XMR, leading to a 51% increase in the price of XMR to $347.72 within seven hours, from $229 at 23:00 UTC on Sunday to $347.72 at 06:00 UTC on Monday. However, the price later retraced.

The high transaction fees and the users' suspicious movements suggest that it is a case of theft, although there is a high probability that North Korea was not involved.

Due to large swaps and thin liquidity, XMR experienced extremely sharp price movements, and traders have been warned to expect increased volatility and greater regulatory attention. From a trading view, the theft and laundering created new risks and chances across several cryptocurrency pairs.

For instance, XMR's price jumped 8.2% within two hours, suggesting that there has been an overbuy for XMR/USDT and XMR/BTC watchers. On Binance, XMR/USDT volume rose to $42.3 million between 15:30 and 17:30 UTC on April 28, 2025, marking a 55% rise compared to the earlier 24-hour average of $27.2 million.

Monero is the largest privacy-related token with a market cap of $5.3 trillion and the 27th biggest cryptocurrency by value. Unlike other blockchain tokens and networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum, where everyone can see all transactions and track funds across wallets, Monero uses special technologies to hide wallet addresses and activities.