India’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU‑IND) has launched a fresh anti‑money‑laundering crackdown aimed at privacy‑focused cryptocurrencies. The move targets Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), and Dash (DASH), which together represent the largest and most widely used privacy coins globally.

India Tightens Crypto Oversight

Details of the action were shared on Friday by market analyst MartyParty on social media platform X (previously Twitter), who notes that FIU‑IND has issued a directive to crypto exchanges registered in India, instructing them to immediately suspend deposits, withdrawals, and trading activity for Monero, Zcash, and Dash. 

At the heart of the regulator’s concerns is the technology underpinning these assets. Privacy coins rely on advanced cryptographic techniques designed to obscure transaction details, wallet balances, and user identities. 

Monero uses ring signatures to hide the sender and receiver, Zcash allows shielded transactions that conceal transaction data, and Dash offers optional privacy features. 

While these tools are valued by users seeking confidentiality, regulators argue they make it difficult for exchanges to meet know‑your‑customer (KYC) and transaction‑monitoring obligations. The regulator views these features as posing elevated risks related to money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctions evasion. 

The latest directive applies to all cryptocurrency exchanges registed in the country, which currently includes crypto platforms operating in compliance with Indian regulations. They have been instructed to stop supporting the assets, including delisting, blocking all deposits and withdrawals, and disabling any associated trading pairs.

Monero, Zcash, And Dash Show Mixed Market Reaction

The latest action builds on a broader regulatory push by Indian authorities. In October 2025, FIU‑IND ordered internet service providers to block access to 25 offshore crypto exchanges that failed to register. 

By contrast, only a handful of exchanges currently remain fully registered and compliant in the country. Binance, Mudrex, Coinbase, CoinSwitch (CoinSwitch Kuber), and ZebPay continue to operate legally in India.

Despite the regulatory pressure, market prices for the targeted privacy coins showed short‑term resilience. Over the past 24 hours, all three assets posted gains after recovering from sharp losses earlier in the week. 

Monero was trading at $524 at the time of writing, up 3.5% on the day. Zcash also rebounded modestly, rising 2.2% to trade at $372. Dash recorded the strongest daily performance, jumping 11.6% during the same period.

However, the broader trend remains negative. According to CoinGecko data, Monero, Zcash, and Dash are still down sharply on a weekly basis, with losses of approximately 21%, 8%, and 20% respectively over the past seven days. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com

2026 got off to a disastrous start for one crypto user, who fell victim to one of the largest social engineering attacks in digital asset history, losing over $282 million in Bitcoin and Litecoin.

How Crypto User Fell Victim To $282M Theft 

According to prominent blockchain sleuth ZachXBT, the crypto theft occurred on January 10, 2026 at around 11:00 pm UTC. Around 2.05 million Litecoin (worth roughly $153 million) and 1,459 Bitcoin (equivalent to around $139 million) was drained from the victim’s hardware wallet after they were tricked into sharing their seed phrase.

The exploiter swiftly transferred the funds across multiple networks to obscure the trail after gaining full control of the crypto wallet. As revealed by ZachXBT, the attacker first began converting the stolen crypto assets into Monero’s native token, XMR, through multiple instant exchanges, leading to a surge in the price of XMR.

Furthermore, the exploiter bridged significant amounts of the stolen Bitcoin across Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin through THORChain, a decentralized cross-chain platform that enables users to swap crypto assets between different blockchain networks. Unsurprisingly, this move reignited the debate around the use — or abuse — of censorship-resistant cross-chain protocols, especially during security breaches.

After the news of the attack made it to social media, conversations around the entity or persons behind $282 million theft started, with many linking it to a state-sponsored hacking group. However, ZachXBT categorically stated that “it’s not North Korea,” potentially exonerating the infamous state-backed Lazarus Group.

In a post on LinkedIn, security firm ZeroShadow described the victim as a Bitcoin wallet “belonging to an individual who had been tricked into sharing their seed phrase by an actor impersonating Trezor ‘Value Wallet’ support.” The firm claimed that it was able to track and flag parts of the stolen funds in real time after being alerted by blockchain monitoring teams.

According to ZeroShadow, roughly $700,000 worth of crypto assets were reportedly frozen before they could be fully swapped into privacy-focused assets. This latest incident sheds light on how the digital asset industry is still being targeted by malicious actors.

XMR Price Rallies To New High Following Security Incident

As described by ZachXBT, the attacker, after gaining control of the victim’s wallet, began converting the stolen crypto assets into Monero’s native token, XMR, through several exchanges. In the background, this activity pushed the price of the privacy-focused XMR to a new all-time high around $800 over the past week.

According to data from CoinGecko, the XMR token rallied almost 80% to $797.73 from a weekly low around $450 following the crypto theft. As of this writing, XMR is valued at around $588, reflecting a nearly 25% drop in the past few days.

The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) is once again in the spotlight after reaching new record highs, even as governments tighten oversight of digital assets.

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XMR recently surged past $700, marking its highest price to date and placing it among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. The rally reflects a broader shift in market behavior, where demand for financial privacy is rising alongside stricter regulatory frameworks across major economies.

Currently, XMR is trading near $715, up more than 55% over the past week. Trading activity has picked up sharply, with both spot and futures markets showing elevated volume as traders position around the breakout.

Regulatory Pressure Fuels Privacy Demand

The latest move comes as regulators in Europe and other regions prepare new rules targeting anonymous crypto transactions. The European Union is expected to ban privacy coins and anonymous accounts by 2027, alongside tighter Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) requirements.

Instead of discouraging interest, these measures appear to be driving users toward assets with built-in privacy features. Monero, which utilizes stealth addresses and ring signatures to conceal transaction details, has become a primary choice for users seeking financial confidentiality.

Market data indicate that the privacy coin sector has performed well since the broader crypto market downturn in October. While some rivals, such as Zcash, experienced sharp volatility linked to internal governance issues, XMR has absorbed much of the rotation in capital from traders seeking exposure to privacy assets.

Leverage And Technical Signals Raise Short-Term Risks

Alongside strong spot demand, derivatives activity has increased rapidly. Futures volume has shown repeated “overheating” patterns, suggesting that leverage is chasing price rather than building from long-term accumulation zones. In past Monero cycles, similar conditions often led to sharp swings once momentum slowed.

Technically, Monero remains in an uptrend, holding above former resistance in the $500–$520 range, which has now flipped into support. The price continues to form higher highs and higher lows, confirming the broader bullish structure.

However, momentum indicators are stretched. The Relative Strength Index (RSI) has climbed into the mid-80s, a level that historically precedes either sideways consolidation or short-term pullbacks. Bollinger Bands are also widening, with price pressing against the upper band, a sign of elevated volatility.

The $715–$717 area remains a major psychological and technical barrier. A sustained break above that zone could open the door toward the $730–$740 range, based on Fibonacci extension levels.

On the downside, traders are watching the $650–$620 zone as a potential support area if leverage unwinds. Deeper corrections could test trend support if liquidations accelerate, though the broader structure would remain intact as long as higher lows are preserved.

Related Reading: Bitcoin’s New Power Buyers: Companies Bought 3 Times What Miners Produced

With increasing regulatory scrutiny and a steady demand for privacy tools, Monero continues to attract attention. While short-term volatility is likely, the asset’s role as a leading privacy coin remains central to its current market position.

Cover image from ChatGPT, XMRUSD chart from Tradingview

Key takeaways

• XMR has hit an all-time high price of $716 after adding 4% to its value in the last 24 hours.
• The rally comes as privacy tokens have been recording gains since the start of the year.

XMR continues its rally, hits an ATH of $716

Monero (XMR) continued its excellent start to the year after hitting a new all-time high. The coin has added more than 4% to its value in the last 24 hours to hit an all-time high of $716 a few hours ago.

At press time, XMR has slightly retraced to now trade at $708 per coin. The rally means that XMR has added more than 50% to its value in the last seven days, outperforming other cryptocurrencies in the top 20.

Thanks to the ongoing rally, Monero is now the 12th-largest cryptocurrency, with a market cap close to $13 billion.  

However, crypto analytics platform Santiment has warned investors that the rising FOMO surrounding Monero could be risky. According to Santiment, XMR’s social dominance peaked on Sunday, while development activity has declined.

“If you are looking for an entry point, consider doing so after social hype and FOMO wears off slightly,” Santiment added. 

The coin is currently facing a retracement after hitting the all-time high price. 

XMR could rally higher amid growing FOMO

The XMR/USD 4-hour chart is bullish and efficient thanks to Monero adding 50% to its value in the last seven days. The coin is trading at $708 per coin and could rally higher in the near term. 

The momentum indicators are in the overbought region, which could result in Monero undergoing a correction. 

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) of 84 shows that XMR is overbought, signaling heightened bullish momentum. Overbought conditions in the RSI often lead to a short-term correction, as evidenced by XMR’s recent moves.

The MACD lines are also in the bullish zone, adding more confluence to the market conditions. 

If the rally continues, XMR could hit an all-time high of $750 or more in the near term. However, if the market undergoes a correction, the leading privacy coin could retrace towards the support level at $601.

The post Monero price prediction: XMR hits an all-time high of $716 appeared first on CoinJournal.

Monero (XMR) has witnessed a sharp rally to a new record during the last few days, but social media suggests FOMO could be brewing in the market.

Monero Has Shot Up To A New All-Time High

Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies have been locked in consolidation recently, but Monero has been an outlier, with its price breaking away with a strong surge.

Below is a chart that showcases how the asset’s recent performance has looked.

The sharp rally has led to new all-time highs (ATHs) for the privacy-focused token, with the latest one coming earlier in the past day around $695. XMR has retraced a bit since this new high, but it’s still in a weekly profit of 51%, which is significantly higher than the returns of other top assets.

For perspective, Bitcoin and Ethereum have seen returns of +1% and -2% in this period, respectively. Fellow privacy coin Zcash (ZEC) was flying earlier, but the asset has faced a steep 23% drop during the same window.

Generally, rallies of the order that Monero has seen attract attention from traders, and data would confirm that the same has been true for the latest one as well.

XMR Has Seen A Peak In Social Dominance Recently

According to data from analytics firm Santiment, the Monero Social Dominance witnessed a spike recently. This indicator keeps track of the percentage of the Social Volume associated with the top 100 tokens that a given cryptocurrency is responsible for.

The Social Volume here refers to a measure of the total number of posts/comments/threads on the major social media platforms that contain mentions of a given asset. In other words, it tells us about the amount of discussion that a particular coin is receiving from social media users.

As such, the Social Dominance contains information about how the degree of talk surrounding a cryptocurrency compares against that of the top 100 coins combined.

Here is a chart that shows the trend in this metric for Monero since the start of 2026:

As displayed in the above graph, the Monero Social Dominance saw a huge spike on Sunday as the asset’s rally took off, suggesting social media interest in the asset shot up.

Historically, a rapid surge in the Social Dominance has often corresponded to Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) developing among traders, which is something that tends to not end well for rallies.

Despite the crowd excitement, however, XMR has only continued to go up since the spike, setting new ATHs. Given the past pattern with digital asset markets, though, it only remains to be seen how long the coin can sustain its move.

Monero (XMR) is leading the crypto market bounce by breaking out of a macro resistance level and breaching above the $600 barrier for the first time. A legendary trader has suggested that the cryptocurrency is mirroring silver’s historical breakout and could see a massive price discovery rally.

Monero Soars To New Highs

On Monday, Monero outperformed the rest of the market, surging nearly 21% toward its new all-time high of $611.01. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency has been leading the start-of-year market rally, experiencing a 43% increase over the past seven days.

XMR’s rally has been fueled by renewed interest in privacy tokens and redirected liquidity toward the project, which has driven its market capitalization to $10 billion for the first time.

Amid this performance, veteran trader Peter Brandt drew a parallel between Monero and Silver’s long-term charts, suggesting that the cryptocurrency could be near a massive breakout.

In an X post, Brandt compared Monero’s current rally to silver’s historical breakout, which led to a massive run toward new highs. Silver saw a multi-decade price setup in which its price accumulated below and retested a macro ascending resistance trendline.

According to the chart, its price formed its long-term resistance during its 2011 peak, when it reached a slightly higher ATH of $49.83 before correcting. During its Q4 2025 rally, silver finally broke above this key level, nearly doubling its price toward its latest ATH of $86.23.

Similarly, Monero has been forming its multi-year ascending trendline in the monthly timeframe since its 2017 high. In 2021, the cryptocurrency retested this area, also hitting a slightly higher ATH before retracing.

Now, XMR has broken out of its ascending resistance and could see a similar path to silver’s recent breakout into price discovery, the post suggested.

XMR to See 50% Breakout Or Breakdown Next?

Market observer TraderSZ recently shared an optimistic outlook for Monero once it broke through its crucial resistance area and turned this level into support. To the trader, the cryptocurrency could reach three main price targets if momentum continues.

Per the post, the initial breakout level could reach the $685 area, a more than 30% rally from the resistance level. Moreover, it could surge between 50% and 80% toward the $790 and $900 levels, like silver’s recent price discovery progression in the monthly chart.

Analyst 0xMarioNawfal also highlighted XMR’s performance as “price continues to trend aggressively higher, breaking through previous resistance levels with strong momentum and minimal pullback.”

To him, the structure remains bullish, with buyers stepping in and “no clear signs of distribution yet.” As a result, he forecasted potential volatility but added that as long as the price holds above recent breakout levels, the trend will remain intact.

Nonetheless, Ali Martinez posted a more concerning forecast for the cryptocurrency, suggesting that a significant correction may be around the corner. According to the chart, Monero has been forming a multi-year rising wedge pattern since 2017, with the price bouncing between the upper and lower boundaries.

Based on this, XMR could likely fail to turn the macro resistance into support and begin a long-term 50% decline toward the $300 area, where the pattern’s lower boundary is currently located.

As of this writing, Monero is trading at $597, a 47.5% increase in the monthly timeframe.

Key takeaways

• Monero has hit a new all-time high of $596 after outperforming the other major cryptocurrencies.
• XMR is currently the 12th-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

XMR hits a new all-time high of $596

XMR, the native coin of the Monero blockchain, is the best performer among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap. It is up 15% in the last 24 hours and is currently trading at $573 per coin.

The privacy coin hit an all-time high of $596 during the early hours of Monday, but has slightly retraced due to the poor performance by Bitcoin and other leading cryptocurrencies. 

XMR is up by nearly 35% since the start of the month as the Zcash developers’ crisis boosts capital rotation to Monero. If the coin crosses the $600 mark, it could rally towards a new all-time high of $640 in the near term.

The rally comes as privacy coins record excellent gains thanks to growing retail demand.  Zcash and other privacy-related assets, such as Canton, also advanced, extending gains that began in late December.

XMR could rally towards $700

The XMR/USD 4-hour chart is bullish but inefficient thanks to Monero’s violent upward movement since the start of the year. The technical indicators suggest that the coin could rally higher in the near term. 

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) is at 80, signaling intense overbought conditions with an underlying risk of unsustainable buying pressure. 

Furthermore, the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) extends the upward trend, suggesting heightened trend momentum.

If the rally continues, XMR could surge towards a new all-time high of $640, with the $700 psychological mark also a possibility in the near term.

However, if the bears regain control of the market, XMR could retest the $569 support level over the next few hours. An extended bearish performance could see XMR gain efficiency on the 4-hour timeframe at $489.

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