Monero (XMR) Surges to Its Highest Level in Four Years as Demand Rose

Monero, the leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency, surged to its highest level in four years as demand rose.

The price of Monero (XMR) surged to its highest level in four years on Thursday, hitting $350 as demand for the leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency increased.

Monero's year-to-date gains now stand at a massive 75%, pushing its market cap above $6.3 billion. The cryptocurrency has also rallied over 155% over the past 12 months, making it one of the best-performing large-cap cryptocurrencies.

However, major crypto exchanges like Binance (NASDAQ:BNB), Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), OKX, and Crypto.com do not currently list Monero despite the recent surge. These platforms previously delisted Monero due to its strong privacy features, which raised potential legal risks, especially in the U.S.

These legal concerns intensified after U.S. authorities sanctioned Tornado Cash and arrested its founder, alleging the protocol facilitated illicit transactions and money laundering involving over $7 billion. But a U.S. court order later scrapped the sanctions.

Monero's price began to rise following the news of the sanctions being lifted and the Trump administration's support for the crypto industry. As such, traders anticipate some exchanges may relist Monero later this year.

Moreover, Monero also rallied recently after it was used to launder stolen Bitcoins worth over $330 million. Hackers reportedly prefer Monero because its technology uses ring signatures, stealth addresses, and ring confidential transactions to provide a high level of privacy.

In ring signatures, transactions are grouped with other potential senders, making it difficult for an entity like a government to follow a specific transaction.

Stealth addresses, on the other hand, ensure that every transaction has a unique one-time output address, further complicating tracking efforts.

Finally, ring confidential transactions effectively conceal the amount of each transaction, adding yet another layer of obfuscation.

XMR price technical analysis

The daily chart shows that XMR has been in a strong uptrend in recent months. It has moved above all major moving averages, while the Average Directional Index (ADX) has surged to 65.75—a sign of strengthening trend momentum.

However, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Stochastic Oscillator have moved to the extreme overbought level.

As a result, while the bullish trend may continue, there is a risk of a short-term pullback—potentially toward the psychological level of $300. A drop below that level could open the door to further downside toward $240, which marked resistance in January and February.

Alternatively, if the uptrend holds, Monero could extend its rally toward the next key psychological level at $400.