Privacy-centric coin Monero (XMR) soars 50% as on-chain investigators point to a theft event

On-chain investigators have pointed to a theft event as the likely reason behind a 50% surge in privacy-centric coin Monero (XMR) on Monday.

As reported by on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, a “suspicious transfer” of 3,520 BTC (worth approximately $330.7 million at press time) was made early this morning from a potential victim’s wallet.

As part of an effort to obfuscate the activity, the loot was later laundered via six exchanges and converted to Monero. Due to the high fees paid and the suspicious activity after the funds had been moved, ZachXBT believes this to be a theft.

The transfer sparked an immediate 50% surge in XMR’s price due to the large-scale conversion and the platform’s limited liquidity.

The on-chain sleuth later noted in follow-up posts that it is “highly probable” the theft was not orchestrated by the infamous North Korean hackers. He added that the victim was a longtime Bitcoin holder.

While ordinary blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum allow users to track all transactions on the network, Monero’s privacy-preserving nature means that wallet addresses and transactions are not visible to the public eye, making it harder for law enforcement to trace and recover illicit funds. As part of its efforts to counter criminal activity, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) recommends that jurisdictions set forth guidelines for crypto firms to follow.

However, Monero’s privacy-centricity remains attractive to nefarious actors who want unlinkable and untraceable transactions.

According to data from CoinGecko, XMR is priced at $276.22 at press time.

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