XMR made a new high for 2025 as demand slowly returns

Monero (XMR) keeps rising, reaching a new high for 2025. The privacy coin continued to grow, outperforming other assets, as demand returns. 

Monero (XMR) is making a return after posting a new peak for 2025 and the highest level for the past 12 months. XMR rose to $353.71 after weeks of gradual growth. The coin is now back to price levels not seen since 2021, setting up expectations for an even more active appreciation cycle. 

Initially, XMR was revived after a hacker used the token to swap out stolen BTC funds. Following the incident, XMR did not stop its expansion; instead, it retained higher baseline volumes above $80M in 24 hours. 

XMR never returned to levels from before the hack, instead reviving a long-forgotten trade. The asset has limited exposure to mainstream exchanges after delistings but retains its influence as a privately mined coin.

XMR gets a boost from Asian markets

The recent exposure for Monero on social media does not immediately translate to increased global trading. There are several specifics around XMR that may cut the rally short. 

More than 50% of XMR volumes are on KuCoin and HTX, exchanges that are usually difficult to access for international traders. XMR is also traded on smaller markets with significant counterparty risk. 

The asset is mostly banned from US-based and EU brokerages and exchanges due to its anonymous origins and untraceable wallets. 

Exchanges may also have problems with XMR withdrawals and reserves in the case of real rising demand for the coin. Some market operators also use a tokenized version of Monero. The asset is difficult to track. 

In the past day of growth, the XMR/ETH pair on KuCoin also showed anomalous activity, with volumes rising by over 274% in a day. The XMR/ETH pair was also highly active at the end of April as the hacker tried to swap out assets, leading to peak volumes. 

The other activity hub for XMR was Kraken, where the busiest pair expanded its volumes by over 1,621%. 

The biggest shift came from the smaller market Bitrue, where XMR activity spiked by 10,000% in an otherwise low-liquidity pair. The available liquidity for XMR may still be low for a proper bull market. In the short term, XMR has often outperformed other altcoins and even BTC. 

The revival of XMR is not only in its market activity. Monero mining is at an all-time high, more than doubling since April 2024. The network hashrate grew exponentially in the past month, showing a trend of returning to the network as a source of newly mined privacy coins. 

Miners produce only 432 XMR per day, comparable to the BTC mining reward. The coin remains scarce as exchanges carry insignificant balances. Acquiring XMR may be the most accessible for miners, causing real scarcity for potential buyers. 

Monero uses CPU and GPU mining, offering easier access compared to ASIC.