Monero XMR

What is Monero?

Monero (XMR) is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that hides the sender, the receiver, and the amount of every transaction by default. The project launched on April 18, 2014 as a fork of the Bytecoin codebase, which itself was built on the CryptoNote protocol. Riccardo Spagni, known online as fluffypony, led the project until 2019. Since then a rotating group of core contributors maintains the code, and decisions go through public mailing lists and community meetings.

Monero is the largest privacy coin by market capitalization. It uses a proof-of-work algorithm called RandomX that is intentionally CPU-friendly, so the network resists takeover by specialized ASIC mining hardware. There is no foundation that controls XMR, no premine, and no fixed supply cap. The protocol upgrades through scheduled hard forks, historically every six months and now closer to once per year.

Monero price today

XMR/USD trades on a smaller pool of venues than most large-cap coins because of regulatory pressure on privacy assets. Kraken (US), KuCoin, MEXC, Gate.io, and a handful of European platforms still list it. Many aggregators sample these books to produce a reference price, weighted by reported liquidity. The number on this page refreshes every 60 seconds.

What tends to move the XMR price:

• Delisting and relisting headlines. When a major exchange announces it will drop XMR support, the price often drops with it; relistings or new venue announcements run the other way.
• BTC correlation. Monero correlates with Bitcoin most of the time, then breaks away during privacy-specific news.
• Hard-fork events. Network upgrades historically draw attention and short-term volatility around the fork block.
• Hashrate shifts. Big jumps or drops in RandomX hashrate signal miner sentiment and can foreshadow price moves.
• Privacy regulation. EU MiCA wording, FATF travel-rule debates, and OFAC actions all feed back into XMR demand.

Live data above is the source of truth. The analysis below uses the levels visible at page load.

How Monero privacy actually works

Most chains, Bitcoin included, are pseudonymous. Addresses are not directly linked to a real name, but every transaction is public and easy to trace. Monero takes a different path. Privacy is on by default, and the protocol stitches together three separate techniques to make a transaction hard to deanonymize.

• Ring signatures. Each input is signed alongside a set of decoy outputs pulled from the chain, so a watcher cannot tell which one is the real spender.
• Stealth addresses. The sender derives a one-time destination address for every payment, so the same recipient never receives funds at the same on-chain address twice.
• Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT). Mandatory since January 2017, RingCT hides the transaction amount while still letting nodes verify that nothing was created out of thin air.
• Bulletproofs and Bulletproofs+. Activated in October 2018 and August 2022 respectively, these zero-knowledge range proofs cut transaction size and verification time without weakening privacy.

Auditing is supported through the view-key model. Every Monero account has a separate view key and spend key. Hand the view key to an auditor, exchange, or accountant and they can read incoming transactions without being able to spend anything. The spend key stays with the owner. Network metadata is a separate layer; serious users run a full node behind Tor or I2P, because IP addresses can leak through plain RPC connections regardless of how good the cryptography is.

Monero supply and tail emission

Monero has no fixed cap. Roughly 18.4 million XMR were issued before the main emission curve flattened in mid-2022, at which point a permanent tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block kicked in. Blocks land about every two minutes, which adds around 157,680 XMR per year, forever.

The reasoning is straightforward. Bitcoin is hard-capped at 21 million coins, with the last fraction expected to be mined around 2140. After the rewards stop, the network has to pay miners with transaction fees alone. Monero developers argue that a small, predictable inflation gives miners a permanent baseline reward, keeps the security budget honest, and avoids the fee-market gamble.

Tail emission is also a slowly shrinking inflation rate. At current supply, 157,680 new XMR per year is well under 1% inflation, and that percentage drops every year as the denominator grows. Holders trade a fixed cap for a stable security model.

Monero exchange delistings: where you can still buy XMR

Privacy assets sit awkwardly under EU MiCA rules and US state-level money-transmitter laws. Several large venues responded by dropping XMR rather than fight the compliance battle.

• Binance removed Monero for European users in February 2024.
• Kraken delisted XMR for UK customers in 2023, while keeping it listed for US clients.
• OKX dropped Monero from its US and EU offerings.
• Bittrex pulled XMR back in 2021.
• Huobi removed Monero from several jurisdictions over recent years.

Where XMR is still available:

• Kraken in the US still offers XMR/USD trading.
• KuCoin, MEXC, Gate.io, and Bitget keep XMR pairs for non-restricted regions.
• European decentralized platforms like Haveno run on top of Tor and provide non-custodial fiat onramps.
• Atomic swaps. BTC to XMR atomic swaps, supported by COMIT, Farcaster, and Haveno since 2021, let you trade Bitcoin for Monero without using a centralized exchange or going through KYC.

For deeper venue comparisons, our exchange ratings page tracks which platforms still list privacy coins by region.

How to buy Monero in 2025

The path you take depends on whether your country still has a regulated exchange that lists XMR, and whether you want a KYC or non-KYC route. Five common steps cover most cases.

1. Check regional availability. Compare exchange options that still support Monero in your jurisdiction. US users typically default to Kraken; many European users now rely on Haveno or atomic swaps.
2. Open and verify the account. KYC platforms ask for a passport or national ID and a selfie. Verification usually completes in under an hour on Kraken, longer on smaller venues.
3. Fund the account. Bank transfer is cheapest. USDT or USDC deposits settle in minutes. Card purchases work but cost 2 to 4 percent in fees.
4. Place the XMR order. A market order fills at the best available price. A limit order lets you set the price you are willing to pay, which matters more on thinner books like XMR.
5. Withdraw to a Monero wallet. Cake Wallet on mobile, Feather Wallet on desktop, and the official Monero GUI all support self-custody. Run a full node when you can; it gives stronger privacy than relying on a remote node.

For a fully non-KYC route, you can buy Bitcoin first and then atomic-swap it to XMR. The trade settles directly between two wallets without an intermediary holding the funds. Liquidity is thinner than on a centralized exchange, so test with a small amount before moving size.

Monero vs Zcash: privacy by default vs optional privacy

Monero and Zcash are the two most-quoted privacy coins, and they take different approaches to the same goal. The split usually comes down to whether privacy is mandatory or opt-in.

• Privacy model. Monero hides every transaction by default through ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT. Zcash uses zk-SNARK shielded pools, but transparent t-addresses are the default; users have to actively send to z-addresses to get the strong privacy guarantees.
• Anonymity set. Because every Monero transaction is shielded, the anonymity set is the entire network. Zcash shielded transactions share an anonymity set only with other shielded transactions, which historically has been a smaller share.
• Supply. Monero has no fixed cap, with 0.6 XMR per block in tail emission. Zcash is hard-capped at 21 million ZEC, mirroring Bitcoin.
• Mining. Monero uses RandomX, optimized for CPU mining. Zcash uses Equihash, which has long been ASIC-dominated.
• Exchange listings. Both have faced delistings, but Monero is delisted more aggressively in the EU and parts of Asia. Zcash retains slightly broader listings because it offers transparent transactions that satisfy some compliance frameworks.

For users who want privacy as a default, Monero is the stricter design. For users who want optional privacy with mainstream exchange support, Zcash is the more accommodating one.

Risks of holding Monero

Regulatory pressure and exchange delistings are the headline risks. Volatility and protocol concentration matter as well.

• Regulation. EU MiCA, FATF travel-rule guidance, and US state-level money-transmitter laws all create ongoing pressure on platforms that list XMR. More delistings are possible.
• Liquidity. Fewer venues list Monero than Bitcoin or Ethereum, so spreads widen during stress and large orders can move the market.
• Custody. Self-custody puts the keys on you. Lose the seed and the spend key, and the coins are gone. View-only auditing helps with bookkeeping but does not recover lost funds.
• Privacy is strong, not absolute. Timing analysis, IP-level leaks via plain RPC, and chain-analysis attempts on early ring-signature transactions are real concerns. Running a full node behind Tor or I2P is recommended for sensitive use.
• Mining concentration. RandomX is CPU-friendly, but a small number of pools still account for a large share of hashrate. A determined attacker with enough hashrate could attempt a 51% attack, though the cost is non-trivial.
• Drawdown. XMR has fallen 70 to 90 percent in past bear markets. Position sizes should assume similar moves are possible.

For longer-term price scenarios and technical levels, see our Monero price forecast. For comparison with the broader market, our Bitcoin page covers the dominant non-private benchmark.

This page is information, not financial advice. Talk to someone licensed before allocating real capital, and check that XMR is legal to hold in your jurisdiction.