Monero Reaches 2-Year High, Taking YTD Gain to 200%

The privacy-centric monero (XMR) continues to rally despite lingering regulatory concerns.

• The cryptocurrency rose to $139 early Monday, the highest level since September 2018, according to data compiled on the CoinDesk 20.
• At press time, monero was changing hands at $135, up 200% on a year-to-date basis.
• Monero has rallied by over 50% the past seven weeks.
• A month ago, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a bounty to anyone who can develop solutions to trace monero's transactions.
• "The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants the same level of insight [into monero] as they have over digital dollars in bank accounts; however, cryptographers and researchers are always going to be one step ahead on privacy," the protocol's maintainer, Riccardo "Fluffypony" Spagni, told CoinDesk.
• The European Union's law enforcement agency Europol cited popular privacy-enhancing cryptocurrency wallets and other technologies as "top threats" in Europol's "2020 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment" published earlier this month.
• Regulatory scrutiny has likely garnering more attention for monero amid an upward-trending broader market.
• "Speculators, algorithmic traders look to have fueled the price rally," David Jevans, CEO of blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace, told CoinDesk earlier this month.

Also read: Cryptographers Are Always Going to Be ‘One Step Ahead’ of Regulators: Monero’s Spagni