Monero surged to $211.07 earlier today, its highest value since May 2022, before settling at $205.05. The coin saw a 17.8% increase in just one day and has risen 30.6% over the past week. Monero's price spike comes as privacy coins across the market have experienced significant gains. The entire sector has risen over 12% in the last 24 hours, with coins like Haven seeing a 217% rise, Verge up 188%, and Zcash climbing 27.5%. Smaller privacy tokens like Iridium and Haven have also seen major gains, reflecting growing interest in the privacy coin market.
This surge is linked to a recent U.S. Fifth Circuit Court ruling, which overturned the U.S. Treasury's sanctions on the coin mixer Tornado Cash. The court ruled that Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts could not be classified as property, thus exempting them from sanctions. The ruling has been a major victory for privacy advocates and blockchain developers. In response, Tornado Cash's TORN token surged from around $3.60 in November to nearly $18, even briefly reaching $33.64.
Monero and other privacy coins use cryptographic techniques such as zk-SNARKs and ring signatures to protect transaction privacy. These coins are considered more private than traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, where transaction details are publicly accessible. While privacy coins are praised for offering anonymity similar to cash, they face significant regulatory scrutiny. Governments and law enforcement have raised concerns that their privacy features could enable illegal activities. As a result, privacy coins like Monero have been delisted from major exchanges, including Binance and Kraken.
Despite these challenges, Monero remains the leader in the privacy coin space, with its market cap far exceeding that of other privacy coins. Over the past month, Monero has risen 21%, maintaining its position as the largest privacy coin by market capitalization. In addition to its price jump, technical indicators show strong bullish momentum for Monero, with its Directional Movement Index (DMI) reaching 41.4, signaling that buyers continue to dominate. However, rising selling pressure suggests this upward trend could slow, with the next resistance level around $217.
Across the board, the price action for privacy coins has been driven by the growing interest in decentralized, anonymous transactions. In addition to Monero, other privacy coins like Dash, Verge, and Zcash have posted strong weekly gains. Dash, in particular, surged by 167% in November. Ongoing market interest in privacy coins reflects increasing demand for more secure and private cryptocurrency options, following the regulatory developments surrounding Tornado Cash.