Kraken exchange co-CEO Arjun Sethi has apologized for emails sent to Monero [XMR] buyers.
The infamous emails contained questionnaires asking XMR buyers to state their employers, proof of income, bank statements, and what they plan to do with the withdrawn funds.
Part of the email sent by Kraken Support, and widely shared across social networks, including Reddit, read,
We noticed Monero [XMR] withdrawals from your Kraken account. Could you explain the rationale and purpose of these transactions, including the intended use of XMR following withdrawals
Source: Reddit
Many in the community warned that Kraken is taking the Monero crackdown to “another level,” with some cautioning other users to expect similar questions.
Following widespread community backlash, Kraken co-CEO responded to the same. He noted that the emails have been withdrawn.
Kraken’s Sethi: Monero’s XMR stays listed
In an X post, Arjun Sethi clarified that the exchange’s reaction was not based on any required rule, but a false red flag.
The $XMR emails were ours. They were wrong, unacceptable. No rule required it. Someone saw a young client with a lot of money and called it a red flag. That is not a red flag. That is our customer and client.
He added,
Where your money came from is a fair question. What you do with it after it leaves is not. XMR stays listed. Buy it here, take it home.
Source: X
Most of Kraken’s operations in the EU, UK, and Canada have banned XMR trading. This is partly due to compliance. In fact, the EU plans to ban crypto custody of privacy coins from mid-2027.
Still, individual ownership is not outright illegal via self-custody wallets. What’s banned is trading them across regulated venues.
Kraken U.S is the last platform yet to ban XMR. However, since August, it has placed individual and corporate monthly caps on the privacy coin. Individuals can deposit a maximum of $3,500 worth of XMR and only withdraw up to $1,500 per month. For firms, the limits are $30K and $10K, respectively.
Impact on XMR’s price
The infamous emails triggered a wave of selling pressure as XMR exchange inflows spiked over the past two days across Kraken and Bitfinex platforms.
It dragged XMR’s price from the recent high of $659.6 to a low of $564, marking a 14% price pullback. Still, the decline could stop if buyers defend the support zone above $520, in alignment with the exponential moving averages (EMA).
Source: XMR/USDT, TradingView
Final Summary
Kraken’s co-CEO Sethi said they scrapped the XMR withdrawals, calling it ‘wrong’ and ‘unacceptable.’
XMR slumped by 14% amid the FUD, but whether Sethi’s statement will renew demand remains unclear.
Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi said the exchange’s Monero emails were “wrong” and confirmed that XMR stays listed, after Kraken asked customers who bought Monero with their own money and withdrew it to disclose their employer, source of funds, and what they planned to do with the coins. Sethi said no rule required the inquiries, and that the questions have now been withdrawn. The statement, posted on X on October 24, came in response to a public call-out over the messages.
the $XMR emails were us. they were wrong. here is what happened and what changed. what happened – clients who bought xmr with their own money and withdrew it got an email asking for employer, source of funds and what they planned to do with their coins – no rule required it. someone saw a young client with a lot of money and called it a red flag. that is not a red flag. that is our customer and client what changed – those requests are withdrawn and the clients have been told nothing is required of them – the “what will you do with your coins” question is gone and unacceptable. where your money came from is a fair question. what you do with it after it leaves is not xmr stays listed. buy it here, take it home. that is the product.. we’ll keep making it better. thx for the call out.
— Arjun Sethi (@arjunsethi) October 24, 2026
What the Emails Asked, and Why Kraken Says They Were Wrong
According to Sethi’s account, the emails went to clients who had already bought XMR with their own funds and moved the coins off the platform. The message asked for three things: the customer’s employer, the source of the funds, and what they intended to do with the withdrawn coins. Sethi wrote that “no rule required it,” and traced the trigger to a single judgment call. “Someone saw a young client with a lot of money and called it a red flag. That is not a red flag. That is our customer and client.”
The correction is procedural as much as it is reputational. Sethi said the requests have been withdrawn and the affected clients have been told nothing is required of them. The question about what a customer would do with their coins after they left Kraken is “gone and unacceptable,” he wrote.
The Line Kraken Now Draws
The episode turns on a distinction Kraken is now making explicit: the origin of funds is a legitimate compliance question, but their destination is not. “Where your money came from is a fair question. What you do with it after it leaves is not,” Sethi wrote. That framing separates the anti-money-laundering obligation that exchanges actually carry from an inquiry into a customer’s post-withdrawal activity, which Kraken has no legal requirement to police and now says it will not.
Monero remains listed. “XMR stays listed. Buy it here, take it home. That is the product,” Sethi wrote, adding that Kraken will keep improving the product. The confirmation matters because Monero is the most prominent privacy coin, and its availability on major exchanges has been a recurring point of tension as regulators pressure venues over anonymity-enhancing assets.
What the Walkback Does Not Settle
The correction is limited to Kraken’s own conduct. It does not change the broader regulatory environment for privacy coins, and it does not mean other exchanges will follow. Sethi’s statement resolves one episode at one venue; the questions of whether and how exchanges should gather information on self-custodied privacy-coin withdrawals remain open across the industry.
Monero traded near $602 with a market capitalization of about $11.3 billion on October 24, up roughly 2% over the prior 24 hours and about 11.5% over the prior week, according to CoinGecko. The token has traded in the range of roughly $584 to $606 over the past day, and sits below its January 2026 record near $798. The walkback is a customer-service and compliance-policy event, not a market event; the price figures are context, not a reaction to the statement.
Kraken’s retreat from the withdrawal questions lands in the middle of a longer conversation about how exchanges treat privacy coins, a subject BlockchainReporter has tracked through Monero’s privacy trade and the exchange’s own regulatory expansion. The next observable signal is whether other venues that have restricted or questioned Monero activity adjust their own approaches, and whether any regulator weighs in on post-withdrawal questions of the kind Kraken has now disowned.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
AUTHOR
Jide Idowu is a skilled freelance writer with expertise in blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, and digital finance. Known for his ability to break down complex topics into clear, engaging content, Jide crafts articles, blog posts, and analyses that resonate with both beginners and seasoned professionals. His work spans a wide range of subjects, from emerging crypto trends to in-depth explorations of blockchain innovations. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for educating readers, Jide is a reliable voice in the rapidly evolving world of digital assets.
THORSday Community Podcast #244 ft. CBarraford, KentonC137 & Patriotsounds | October 22, 2026 | Watch the full episode on YouTube
By Raynalytics
TL;DRv3.21 was about 13 hours from adoption. Chad expects to cut v3.21.1 next week once two more pull requests merge, and once the paused churn resumes, $XMR is ready to launch.In its second week, SwapKit Rev-Share spent $841.60 in credits on swaps that earned THORChain $3.72K in fees, a 4.4x return that held steady as spending doubled.Chad is turning block time into an adjustable mimir so THORChain can step down from 6 seconds to 2 seconds one second at a time, and step back up without a new binary.About 20% of nodes have started voting to end rewards to liquidity pools. Kenton wants a formal ADR, while Denny and Chad made the case for protocol-owned liquidity (POL) instead.Chad unveiled Visual Review, a tool that turns any code change into an explainer page, and the solvency checker halted a small IBC exploit on its own at a loss of about $800.1. Monero Is Two Pull Requests and a Churn AwayAt recording time, v3.21 was roughly 13 hours from adoption. Chad said two more pull requests need to merge before the team can cut v3.21.1, which he expects next week. The churn is currently paused for issues that v3.21 fixes, so the remaining sequence is: adopt v3.21 and v3.21.1, restart the churn, and launch Monero.
"Once that's out and the churn is churning, we're live." (Chad)A community member asked whether THORChain could be a reorg target, citing the Qubic selfish-mining incidents on Monero. Chad said it comes down to confirmation counting. He described a method JP created years ago: wait enough blocks that the block rewards in that window exceed the value coming into the protocol. More confirmations mean slower trades, but because THORChain has no decentralized competition for $XMR and competes mainly with centralized exchanges, speed matters less at launch. Chad leans toward a higher confirmation count to start, with the exact number still to be researched. For contrast, he recalled Erik Voorhees telling him that ShapeShift used a single confirmation on Bitcoin for its whole history without a reorg incident.
Shielded Zcash addresses are not coming soon. Chad used AI to generate a full implementation in about 12 hours, but it added roughly 20,000 to 30,000 lines of code, and the devs pushed back on the complexity. What tipped Chad was Maya Protocol's data: only about 15% of its Zcash volume uses shielded addresses. The Zcash community is also working on rotating transparent addresses, which Chad expects would need no changes on THORChain's side. He will be at Zcash Foundation's Zcon7 in Cancún next week.
Beyond Monero, BSC is now on Router v6 alongside Base and Avalanche, and churnless chain additions are targeted for the next release or the one after. Asked about Zano, Chad said it is still well back in the queue. He named Substrate-based chains, Bittensor's $TAO and Dash as the short list after Monero, which he called by far the hardest chain THORChain has integrated.
2. SwapKit Rev-Share Holds at 4.4x in Week TwoChad returned to Ray's SwapKit Revenue Share dashboard for a second weekly check-in. Under the 20% Rev-Share, SwapKit has accrued $7.03K in credits and spent $841.60 of it on quote discounts, leaving a $6.19K balance. Swaps carrying those discounts earned THORChain $3.72K in fees, a 4.4x return, slightly below the 4.6x of week one. The discounted swaps added up to $1.96M in volume across 778 swaps, an average of about $2,500 each.
Chad's summary was that the numbers held. Spending roughly doubled over twice the time, and the ratio barely moved, which the hosts called a great sign.
The open question is still scale. Chad expects SwapKit to raise its spending after v3.21, and the hosts noted that the release fixes an affiliate code bug that should let SwapKit add more partners. If the ratio stays around 4.4x to 4.5x, he said raising the share from 20% to 25% would create the flywheel discussed last week, where every dollar SwapKit spends returns more than a dollar to its bucket, until SwapKit's market saturates. Week one is covered in last week's recap.
3. Should THORChain End LP Rewards?Kenton raised a vote already in motion: roughly 20% of nodes, about 27, have started voting to cancel rewards going to liquidity pools. Because it would be a big change to THORChain's economics, he suggested someone write a formal ADR.
The backdrop: for months the incentive pendulum sent nearly all rewards to nodes, then 20% of system income began flowing to POL. Now the pendulum is swinging back, and rewards are reaching legacy LPs again. Kenton's concern is that LPs need $RUNE to outperform to break even, but that same outperformance erodes the value of their accumulating rewards through impermanent loss. He believes POL should replace LPs over time. He also steelmanned the other side: if $RUNE never outperforms enough, those rewards could help pay LPs back. Boone has proposed paying rewards out to LPs directly to shield them from impermanent loss, and wrote in chat that most LPs would not benefit from rewards at current prices because synth leverage is so severe.
Denny, speaking as an LP, backed POL over LP rewards. Ray's POL Income dashboard shows 1.23M $RUNE of system income collected for POL, about $791,500 at current prices. Kenton added that $RUNE tracks volume, volume needs liquidity, and THORChain has lost roughly 75% to 80% of its liquidity since THORFi. He would end the rewards if it were his call, while acknowledging that node operators are also struggling on low yields. Node income is tracked on Ray's THORChain Financials page.
"We are grinding our way out of this hole. It's happening." (Denny)Chad favored POL because it is not mercenary capital. If there were another hack, POL would likely be first in line to absorb losses, rather than the Treasury, which paid for most past incidents. He said he wished THORChain had launched with both streaming swaps and POL from day one. For background, see the recap covering POL's launch.
4. A Gradual Path to 2-Second BlocksChad is revisiting 2-second blocks. The original code was merged about a year and a half ago, then pulled back because a hard switch felt risky and difficult to undo. His new approach is to make block time a mimir rather than a code change, so THORChain can move one step at a time and roll back if needed without releasing a new binary.
"We can walk it down from 6 seconds, what it is now, to 5 seconds to 4 seconds to 3 seconds to 2 seconds." (Chad)His analysis of mainnet suggests 2 seconds is a safe target: about 99% of blocks already complete in under 2 seconds. Around 1.5 seconds might be possible with Cosmos SDK performance gains, but Chad would be cautious. The mimir will be hard-coded to a range of 1 to 10 seconds, and going below 1 second would mean forking or replacing CometBFT, the consensus layer underneath.
On paper, the benefits are clear: streaming swaps would execute three times faster, arbitrage bots would rebalance pools more often, and the Rujira app layer would gain from faster blocks. Chad wants to measure how much of that shows up in practice before pushing lower, and hopes to move ahead within the next month or two. The idea first resurfaced in last week's recap.
5. The Quote-Versus-Fill Test Gets CheaperThe test proposed last week, comparing swap providers' quotes with what users actually receive, is moving forward with Treasury support. Kenton said he and Ray are working out the procedure, and credited Ray for running the numbers. The original plan of $1,000, $10,000 and $100,000 swaps would have meant a few million dollars in volume and, once fees and spreads were included, a cost of a couple hundred thousand dollars. The revised plan uses only $1,000 swaps: around 400 to 500 of them, roughly $400,000 to $500,000 in volume, for a cost of a few thousand dollars. Kenton said THORChain already wins larger quotes, and the low end of the size curve is where it misses volume, so that is the range worth studying.
On marketing, Kenton listed THORChain on a no-KYC exchange directory and asked the community to leave a review. THORChain will appear on the directory's exchange list once it has an XML quote feed, which Liquify agreed to build. He also asked the Unstoppable Wallet devs about Tor (.onion) and I2P addresses for THORChain Swap and set up a THORChain page on Bitcointalk.
Kenton's focus remains AI search. thorchain.org sits in the top 500 of about 120,000 sites on an AI-visibility tracker, though still at a B grade, and new affiliates requesting API keys say they found THORChain through ChatGPT, Claude or Google search. He is also looking into ChatGPT's new advertising, which could open a paid channel crypto lacks on Google.
After a press outlet turned a post about a 140 $RUNE Zcash pool bug into a negative story, Kenton said issues will still be disclosed on Discord and GitLab, but the main X account does not need to spotlight every minor bug.
6. Visual Review Turns Code Changes Into ExplainersChad unveiled Visual Review, a skill he built that turns a code change into a web page explaining it visually. He showed it on his dynamic fee merge request. The page includes a five-minute explainer video with chapters, interactive graphs, and a narrated walkthrough of every changed line, with fuzzy search by file name, function or snippet of code. The goal is to let anyone, technical or not, understand a change before it merges.
"It's my attention and my focus that is the most valuable resource in this process." (Chad)The merge request he showed runs to about 27,000 lines, of which roughly 1,483 are logic changes; the rest are tests and documentation. Huginn will generate these pages automatically, with a button at the top of each pull request. Chad has open-sourced the skill on GitLab, and Kenton added a Visual Review link to the thorchain.org footer during the show.
The dynamic fee change itself replaces the current step search, which moves 1 bps at a time, with a bracket search. Instead of trying 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 bps, the model jumps from 1 bps to 20 bps, then tests the midpoint and narrows in. Bigger jumps make the market's reaction clearer and reach the best fee in fewer epochs. The change also lets the team switch an affiliate such as Symbiosis off and on to reset its data. Chad hopes to merge it for v3.22.
7. The Solvency Checker Stops an IBC ExploitTHORChain had what Chad called a tiny mini hack this week. A bug in the IBC implementation let an attacker make THORChain believe it had received $ATOM it never received. The first fake deposit was about 16 $ATOM, roughly $20, sent with a bad memo that triggered a refund. The attacker kept doubling that amount across five transactions.
The solvency checker only acts once a shortfall reaches $500, a buffer that avoids halting the chain over small discrepancies. Once that line was crossed, it halted things within about 20 to 30 seconds, with no human involvement, after an attack lasting seven or eight minutes. Chad expects the roughly $800 shortfall to be refilled from the reserve, probably in the next release. In chat, a viewer offered to open a merge request setting the threshold at $42,069.
"It's a success story in my mind, even though it's only $800." (Chad)Chad also wants more math-based safety checks. AI recently helped solve how to account for synthetics in LUVI, a measure that separates pool earnings from price moves and should almost always rise, so it can now act as an invariant that flags broken pool accounting without knowing the cause. LUVI checks were added to regression testing last week, and Chad plans to add them to mainnet code eventually, though it is not a top priority.
A community member also asked why the reserve holds about 25M $RUNE. Chad was not sure and suspects it relates to accounting from the summer hack. Kenton thought a store migration in v3.21 might address it. Long term, Chad said, the reserve would have a cap, with anything above it paid out as system income.
8. Faster CI and Huginn's Growing RoleChad shared a summary of recent changes to THORChain's continuous integration (CI), the automated tests every code change must pass. The team now runs nearly three times as many CI jobs per day, has added more than 1,300 unit tests, and introduced fuzz testing, mutation testing and adversarial-quorum testing. Typical CI time fell from 97 minutes to 24 minutes, and even the worst cases now finish in under 50 minutes, down from waits as long as seven hours.
Asked whether a large language model could formally verify the THORChain stack using Lean, Chad said Lean is a language for mathematical proofs and he does not think it applies to code. Instead, Huginn reviews every change and continuously audits the codebase, tracking which files it has scanned. By Chad's count, Huginn has found more security issues in the past year than every human contributor combined, by orders of magnitude, and it currently reports only the two highest priority levels. A full audit by the security team also turned up a few dozen issues, which are being addressed.
The bottleneck is human review. A community developer recently opened six or seven merge requests; generating one can take five minutes, while reviewing it can cost several engineers 45 minutes each. Chad estimated THORChain could merge 10 to 20 times more code per release without that constraint, though he stressed humans still review everything. Huginn now runs on its own Treasury-funded accounts, which freed Chad's own AI usage for projects like Visual Review.
"If you write code without having AI involved in that process, you're probably doing it wrong." (Chad)What to Watchv3.21 adoption, the v3.21.1 cut expected next week, and the churn resuming ahead of the $XMR launch.Whether SwapKit scales its Rev-Share spending after v3.21, whether the return holds near 4.4x, and whether the share moves to 25%.Whether an ADR on ending LP rewards is written, and how many nodes join the vote.The 2-second block mimir, hoped for within the next month or two.The dynamic fee bracket search in v3.22, and Visual Review pages on every pull request.The quote-versus-fill test, once Kenton and Ray finalize the procedure.Kenton's quarterly report, which he hopes to work on this weekend.Chad at Zcon7, a possible technical Rujira session with Pragmatic Monkey or CodeHans, and Chad's planned appearance on Joel Valenzuela's show.Schedule changes: Zodl on Friday, October 23, and the Saturday show moving an hour later.More THORChain data, check out raynalytics.net
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Here's everything most interesting surrounding XMR, ZEC, and BTC.
The popular privacy coin XMR has taken center stage lately after its price surged to an eight-month high. Its biggest rival, ZEC, also posted a substantial uptick, but bears stopped the rally, and the asset remains in the red on a weekly basis.
For its part, BTC slipped 1% within the same period, yet the recent whale activity suggests the price may soon head north.
XMR’s Pump The token registered a double-digit price increase yesterday (October 22), surpassing $650 for the first time since January. A potential catalyst for the rally was the announcement that GUI v0.18.5.4 ‘Fluorine Fermi’ has been released. Monero’s team explained that this minor upgrade reopens testnet and stagenet wallets and includes bug fixes.
Some analysts expected XMR to continue its upward trajectory, with X users Sweep and Alaoui Capital predicting an explosion to a new all-time high of $1,000.
Contrary to their projections, though, the privacy coin headed south and is currently worth $605 (per CoinGecko). In fact, Dr Profit recently warned that XMR’s open interest has hit a historic high (a claim Santiment rejected) and noted that the last time OI jumped this much, the price crashed 66% in just 20 days.
ZEC’s Turbulence Zcash also performed well earlier this week and, on October 21, reached a nine-day peak above $1,360. At the time, its ascent likely followed reports that the team behind the asset plans to triple block production speed, with developers targeting November 5 for the NU7 upgrade.
It also coincided with two major investors opening approximately $37 million in long positions on ZEC with 10x leverage. However, the surge was short-lived, and the token now trades near $1,200, down about 2% on a weekly basis.
You may also like: What Falling USDT Supply Means for Bitcoin’s Price Recovery XRP and DOGE Look Undervalued by MVRV Measures, but Will Traders Take Notice? BlackRock Enters the Buffered Bitcoin ETF Race With New SEC Filing Meanwhile, X user Crypto With Gopal suggested bearish pressure has been building and anticipates a further plunge in the near future. He believes bears are now pushing the $1,050 neckline support on a head-and-shoulders pattern and said bulls need to defend support and reclaim $1,300+ to weaken the setup.
What About BTC? The leading cryptocurrency looked ready to touch $85,000 on October 22, but got rejected and now hovers near $81,500. Factors that may have negatively impacted its performance include rising global geopolitical tensions and weak financial markets overall.
Despite the volatility and uncertainty, whales seem reluctant to wave the white flag and have actually increased their exposure to BTC. As Crypto Potato reported, 40 newly created wallets have withdrawn over $770 million worth of the asset since October 1.
Before that, market participants holding between 10 and 10,000 BTC accumulated almost 90,000 units in just one month. Such a buying spree leaves fewer assets available on the open market and could drive prices up (assuming demand doesn’t cool off). It may also encourage smaller players to buy, bringing fresh capital into the ecosystem.
In BriefMonero (XMR): Trades near $629 after breaking above the September peak near $635, with the RSI near 70.Stellar (XLM): Trades near $0.1777 below all major moving averages, with support at $0.172.Bitcoin (BTC): Trades near $81,500 after rejection at $84,000, with $80,000 the key support.Hyperliquid (HYPE): Trades near $78.17, testing key support near $77.60 after a 20% drop.Monero (XMR) Trades Above September High as Rally ExtendsMonero is one of the strongest charts in the market right now. XMR trades near $629 after a daily range between $604 and $656. The coin has more than doubled from its July low near $300, and the trend is still pointing up.
The main news is the move above the September peak, which sat near $635. That level stopped the price in mid-September, and now XMR is trading on top of it. A daily close above this area would confirm the breakout.
XMR/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe price also tested $656 during the day and pulled back. That upper wick suggests some sellers are active near this level. It is a small warning, but not a reason to call the trend broken.
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All the major moving averages slope upward and sit below the price. The short-term ones are near $565 and $548, the medium one is near $538, and the longer ones are near $492 and $443. The wide gap between the price and the long averages shows how fast this rally has been.
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A strong trend like this usually pulls back to the fast averages before moving higher. The $565 to $540 area is the first place where buyers may step in.
The RSI is near 70, which is the edge of overbought territory. This means the move is strong, but it may pause or cool down. Volume has risen over the past few days, which supports the breakout.
On the upside, $656 is the first target, followed by $700. The January high near $800 is the major resistance above. On the downside, $565 is the first support, then $540 and $490.
If XMR holds above $635, buyers stay in control. A fall back below it could turn this breakout into a failed move.
Stellar (XLM) Slips Under $0.18 as Sellers Hold the TrendStellar is moving in the wrong direction for now. XLM trades near $0.1777 on Binance, down from an open of $0.1838. The daily range was tight, between $0.1768 and $0.1845, and buyers have not been able to sustain any bounce.
XLM/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe price fell from approximately $0.237 in late September to the current level, a drop of approximately 25%. XLM now sits below all of its major moving averages, which are clustered between $0.19 and $0.196. This cluster is now resistance.
Every attempt to move up will first need to clear this area. Until that happens, rallies are more likely to fade than to turn into a trend.
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The nearest support is $0.172, where the price bounced earlier this week. That low has held so far, but the price is sitting only approximately 3% above it. A clean break below it might open the way to $0.17 and then to the August low near $0.1525.
The RSI is near 38, below the midpoint of 50. This suggests sellers have the upper hand, although it is not yet oversold, so there is room to fall further. Volume has also stayed low in recent weeks. Low volume means few traders are showing strong interest, which keeps the price stuck in a slow drift.
If XLM bounces, the first target is $0.19, followed by $0.20 and then $0.22. A move back above $0.19 would be the first sign that the downtrend is ending. If it fails to hold $0.172, the price could slide toward the lower end of its summer range.
For now, the safer view is that XLM needs a strong volume spike before the trend changes.
Bitcoin (BTC) Rejected at $84,000 Bitcoin trades near $81,500 after a rejection from the top of the day's range. BTC opened near $84,000, touched $84,294, and then dropped to a low of $81,483. The red candle erases the previous day's gains and suggests that sellers are still active above $84,000.
Since mid-September, Bitcoin has moved in a wide range. The top sits near $87,000, where the price failed twice, once in September and again in early October. The bottom sits near $80,000, where buyers stepped in at the start of this month. The price is now close to the bottom of this range.
BTC/USDT Chart by TradingViewEach bounce has been weaker than the last, and the highs are getting lower. That is a small sign of fading strength.
The shorter averages are bunched between $80,800 and $82,500, and Bitcoin is sitting right on top of them. This region is the first line of defense. The longer averages are rising and sit lower, near $77,400 and $76,100.
All of the averages point up, which keeps the larger trend positive since the August rally. The large gap above the long averages also means a deeper pullback is possible without breaking the trend.
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The RSI is near 43, below the midpoint of 50. Momentum has slowed from the strong readings seen in late August and September. Volume is average, with no sign of panic selling.
Support begins at $80,800, then $80,000, and then $77,400. A daily close below $80,000 could push the price toward the $77,000 to $76,000 zone. On the upside, Bitcoin needs to climb back above $84,300 to challenge $87,000.
For now, $80,000 is the most important level. As long as it holds, the range remains intact.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) Tests Key Support Hyperliquid is under pressure. HYPE trades near $78.17 on Coinbase, after opening at $80.64 and falling to a low of $77.69. The price is now approximately 20% below the late September top near $98.
After reaching nearly $98, HYPE has made a series of lower highs. A bounce to $95 in early October failed, and the price has fallen nearly every week since. Sellers have controlled the trend for approximately a month.
HYPE/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe price is also below the short and medium moving averages, which sit between $82.5 and $85.8. This area is now resistance, and any bounce will first need to clear it.
The orange moving average near $77.60 is now the key level. HYPE is sitting almost on top of it. The price touched this area a few days ago and bounced, but the bounce was small and faded quickly.
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This is the third test in a short time. Each test of a support level makes it a bit weaker. A clean break below it would be a negative signal.
The RSI is near 40, which indicates weak momentum but not oversold conditions. There is still room to fall before buyers might be expected to react. Volume has dropped to low levels, so neither side is showing strong conviction.
If $77.60 fails, the next support is near $75, the low from earlier this month. Below that, the long average near $65.50 is the next major area, which would mean another 15% drop. On the upside, HYPE needs to reclaim $82.50 to turn the short-term picture around. After that, $85.80 and $90 are the next targets.
The long-term trend is still up, since the price remains well above the long average. But in the short term, buyers must defend $77.60 to avoid a deeper pullback.
In BriefMonero (XMR): Trades near $629 after breaking above the September peak near $635, with the RSI near 70.Stellar (XLM): Trades near $0.1777 below all major moving averages, with support at $0.172.Bitcoin (BTC): Trades near $81,500 after rejection at $84,000, with $80,000 the key support.Hyperliquid (HYPE): Trades near $78.17, testing key support near $77.60 after a 20% drop.Monero (XMR) Trades Above September High as Rally ExtendsMonero is one of the strongest charts in the market right now. XMR trades near $629 after a daily range between $604 and $656. The coin has more than doubled from its July low near $300, and the trend is still pointing up.
The main news is the move above the September peak, which sat near $635. That level stopped the price in mid-September, and now XMR is trading on top of it. A daily close above this area would confirm the breakout.
XMR/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe price also tested $656 during the day and pulled back. That upper wick suggests some sellers are active near this level. It is a small warning, but not a reason to call the trend broken.
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All the major moving averages slope upward and sit below the price. The short-term ones are near $565 and $548, the medium one is near $538, and the longer ones are near $492 and $443. The wide gap between the price and the long averages shows how fast this rally has been.
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A strong trend like this usually pulls back to the fast averages before moving higher. The $565 to $540 area is the first place where buyers may step in.
The RSI is near 70, which is the edge of overbought territory. This means the move is strong, but it may pause or cool down. Volume has risen over the past few days, which supports the breakout.
On the upside, $656 is the first target, followed by $700. The January high near $800 is the major resistance above. On the downside, $565 is the first support, then $540 and $490.
If XMR holds above $635, buyers stay in control. A fall back below it could turn this breakout into a failed move.
Stellar (XLM) Slips Under $0.18 as Sellers Hold the TrendStellar is moving in the wrong direction for now. XLM trades near $0.1777 on Binance, down from an open of $0.1838. The daily range was tight, between $0.1768 and $0.1845, and buyers have not been able to sustain any bounce.
XLM/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe price fell from approximately $0.237 in late September to the current level, a drop of approximately 25%. XLM now sits below all of its major moving averages, which are clustered between $0.19 and $0.196. This cluster is now resistance.
Every attempt to move up will first need to clear this area. Until that happens, rallies are more likely to fade than to turn into a trend.
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The nearest support is $0.172, where the price bounced earlier this week. That low has held so far, but the price is sitting only approximately 3% above it. A clean break below it might open the way to $0.17 and then to the August low near $0.1525.
The RSI is near 38, below the midpoint of 50. This suggests sellers have the upper hand, although it is not yet oversold, so there is room to fall further. Volume has also stayed low in recent weeks. Low volume means few traders are showing strong interest, which keeps the price stuck in a slow drift.
If XLM bounces, the first target is $0.19, followed by $0.20 and then $0.22. A move back above $0.19 would be the first sign that the downtrend is ending. If it fails to hold $0.172, the price could slide toward the lower end of its summer range.
For now, the safer view is that XLM needs a strong volume spike before the trend changes.
Bitcoin (BTC) Rejected at $84,000 Bitcoin trades near $81,500 after a rejection from the top of the day's range. BTC opened near $84,000, touched $84,294, and then dropped to a low of $81,483. The red candle erases the previous day's gains and suggests that sellers are still active above $84,000.
Since mid-September, Bitcoin has moved in a wide range. The top sits near $87,000, where the price failed twice, once in September and again in early October. The bottom sits near $80,000, where buyers stepped in at the start of this month. The price is now close to the bottom of this range.
BTC/USDT Chart by TradingViewEach bounce has been weaker than the last, and the highs are getting lower. That is a small sign of fading strength.
The shorter averages are bunched between $80,800 and $82,500, and Bitcoin is sitting right on top of them. This region is the first line of defense. The longer averages are rising and sit lower, near $77,400 and $76,100.
All of the averages point up, which keeps the larger trend positive since the August rally. The large gap above the long averages also means a deeper pullback is possible without breaking the trend.
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The RSI is near 43, below the midpoint of 50. Momentum has slowed from the strong readings seen in late August and September. Volume is average, with no sign of panic selling.
Support begins at $80,800, then $80,000, and then $77,400. A daily close below $80,000 could push the price toward the $77,000 to $76,000 zone. On the upside, Bitcoin needs to climb back above $84,300 to challenge $87,000.
For now, $80,000 is the most important level. As long as it holds, the range remains intact.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) Tests Key Support Hyperliquid is under pressure. HYPE trades near $78.17 on Coinbase, after opening at $80.64 and falling to a low of $77.69. The price is now approximately 20% below the late September top near $98.
After reaching nearly $98, HYPE has made a series of lower highs. A bounce to $95 in early October failed, and the price has fallen nearly every week since. Sellers have controlled the trend for approximately a month.
HYPE/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe price is also below the short and medium moving averages, which sit between $82.5 and $85.8. This area is now resistance, and any bounce will first need to clear it.
The orange moving average near $77.60 is now the key level. HYPE is sitting almost on top of it. The price touched this area a few days ago and bounced, but the bounce was small and faded quickly.
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This is the third test in a short time. Each test of a support level makes it a bit weaker. A clean break below it would be a negative signal.
The RSI is near 40, which indicates weak momentum but not oversold conditions. There is still room to fall before buyers might be expected to react. Volume has dropped to low levels, so neither side is showing strong conviction.
If $77.60 fails, the next support is near $75, the low from earlier this month. Below that, the long average near $65.50 is the next major area, which would mean another 15% drop. On the upside, HYPE needs to reclaim $82.50 to turn the short-term picture around. After that, $85.80 and $90 are the next targets.
The long-term trend is still up, since the price remains well above the long average. But in the short term, buyers must defend $77.60 to avoid a deeper pullback.
Monero surged above its September peak, outpacing most major cryptocurrencies as bullish momentum returned to the market. Meanwhile, Stellar slipped below $0.18, Bitcoin faced resistance at $84,000, and Hyperliquid continued to face selling pressure at key support levels.
Monero extends rally after breaking key resistanceMonero (XMR) currently trades near $629, extending its rally after clearing the September high of $635. With a daily range between $604 and $656, XMR has more than doubled since July’s nadir of $300. All moving averages point upward, further supporting the ongoing trend.
The advance above $635 marks an important technical breakout, although a brief retracement from $656 signals some profit-taking near the highs. If Monero closes above the breakout level, the bullish case strengthens, with $656 and $700 serving as immediate upside targets.
Short-term moving averages are clustered around $565 and $548, with medium and long-term support at $538, $492, and $443. The wide gap between price and long-term averages reflects the speed of the move, suggesting any pullback may find buyers between $540 and $565.
The RSI sits close to 70, bordering on overbought territory and hinting at potential consolidation in the near term. However, rising volume supports the sustainability of the trend. As long as XMR remains above $635, buyers are likely to retain control, while a drop back below this level could undermine the breakout.
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Stellar struggles under resistance clusterStellar (XLM) continues its downward trend, trading near $0.1777 after opening at $0.1838. The price action remains subdued in a tight daily range from $0.1768 to $0.1845, and sellers are defending every rally. XLM has declined approximately 25% from its late September high of $0.237.
The coin now trades below all major moving averages, which are clustered in the $0.19 to $0.196 region—a significant resistance zone. Until XLM regains this area, upside attempts are expected to stall. Support is found at $0.172, with further downside possible toward $0.17 and August’s low of $0.1525 if breakdowns continue.
The RSI stands at 38, indicating bearish momentum but not yet oversold conditions. Volume levels remain low, suggesting limited trading interest and keeping the price within a narrow drift lower.
Should Stellar manage a recovery, first upside targets include $0.19, $0.20, and $0.22. A sustained move above $0.19 would be the initial signal that selling pressure is reversing. For now, without a spike in volume, the trend remains in favor of sellers.
Bitcoin retreats from resistance, holds near $81,500Bitcoin trades near $81,500 after encountering resistance at $84,000. The leading cryptocurrency briefly touched $84,294 before sellers pushed it back to a daily low of $81,483. This move erased previous gains and confirmed ongoing resistance above the $84,000 mark.
BTC has been oscillating between $87,000 and $80,000 since mid-September, with highs gradually declining—a sign of waning strength. The critical support lies at $80,000, and a break below this level could trigger a deeper pullback to the $77,000–$76,000 range.
The RSI for Bitcoin is near 43, pointing to slowed momentum compared to readings observed during the late August and September rallies. Current volume remains average, with no evidence of panic selling.
Short-term moving averages are clustered between $80,800 and $82,500, with longer-term averages rising near $77,400 and $76,100, indicating the larger trend remains constructive for now. To challenge resistance, Bitcoin must reclaim $84,300 and retest the $87,000 high.
Hyperliquid tests critical support after 20% dropHyperliquid (HYPE) trades near $78.17, following a significant pullback from its late September high of $98. After opening at $80.64, HYPE declined to a low of $77.69. The asset has displayed a persistent pattern of lower highs, punctuated by a failed bounce to $95 in early October.
HYPE currently tests key support at $77.60, represented by a major moving average. Multiple tests in a short period have weakened this support, raising the risk of a breakdown.
A decisive close below $77.60 could draw prices toward $75 and potentially to longer-term support near $65.50, marking another steep drop. On the upside, HYPE would need to move above $82.50, followed by $85.80 and $90, to reverse the short-term bearish momentum.
With an RSI around 40 and declining volume, momentum remains weak while neither buyers nor sellers dominate trading. The long-term trend remains positive as prices are still above major long-term averages, but near-term action hinges on the defense of $77.60.
Bitcoin fell below $82,000 as a sell-off in technology stocks and renewed conflict in the Middle East weighed on markets. Its intraday loss reached 2.9%, with the price sliding to $81,650 in its sharpest decline in two weeks. With oil prices rising roughly 3%, losses across most major cryptocurrencies exceeded 2%.
Third-quarter results from Tesla and Meta brought questions about artificial intelligence spending back into focus. Shares in both companies fell roughly 3% in premarket trading. Chipmaking equipment supplier Lam Research, meanwhile, warned that supply chain bottlenecks could affect its revenue outlook despite beating expectations in its fiscal first quarter. Its shares dropped 8% before the market opened.
The sell-off also spread to Asian markets. Chinese stocks entered a bear market, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell more than 3%, South Korea’s Kospi declined 3.5%, and Japan’s Nikkei 225 dropped 2.7%. Around 90 minutes before U.S. markets opened, Nasdaq 100 futures were down 1.7%, while S&P 500 futures had lost 1%.
ETF inflows continue, but a sustained rally requires consistent demandDespite falling prices, demand for U.S.-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs recovered. According to SoSoValue, the funds recorded more than $1 billion in net inflows over the first three trading days of the week. Giottus CEO Vikram Subburaj said early signs of improving institutional demand were emerging, but inflows would need to continue before a stronger recovery could be confirmed.
Historical data shows that ETF demand was higher and more consistent during Bitcoin’s strongest rallies. Between January and March 2024, Bitcoin rose 79%, with average daily net inflows of $294 million. During the 96% rally from August to December 2024, that figure stood at $202 million, while the 53% advance between April and July 2025 was accompanied by average daily inflows of $248 million.
Across the combined 199 trading days in these three periods, the funds attracted $46.7 billion. Average daily inflows reached approximately $235 million, exceeding $500 million on 39 days and $1 billion on six days. By comparison, daily inflows have averaged roughly $86 million since July 1. Only seven days during that period recorded inflows above $500 million, and none reached $1 billion.
In derivatives markets, trading volume increased while the dollar value of open interest declined. Crypto derivatives volume rose 19% to $226.6 billion, and liquidations climbed 52% to $431.1 million. Open interest fell 2.46% to $141.8 billion. The relatively even split between long and short positions indicated that liquidations were not concentrated entirely on one side of the market.
The decline in the value of Bitcoin and Ether open interest largely tracked their price losses. In contrast, open interest in ZEC, NEAR, UNI, LINK, and SUI fell faster than prices, indicating more pronounced position closures. Open interest increased in contracts linked to gold, tokenized gold, silver, and crude oil.
Altcoin losses deepen as Monero breaks away from the marketAltcoins suffered steeper selling than Bitcoin. The CoinDesk 80 index fell 3.2%, while the CoinDesk 5 index declined 2.5%. Ether lost 2.6%, falling to around $2,400. Despite Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade going live overnight, SOL dropped 2.4% to trade at approximately $104.
The DeFi sector fell 5.6%, making it one of the hardest-hit areas. Curve dropped 8.2% to $0.37, while Ethena declined 7.2% and Uniswap lost 5%. Ethena’s monthly loss reached approximately 25%, while Uniswap fell roughly 20% in October despite recording all-time-high trading fee revenue in September.
Celestia declined 3.7%, bringing its weekly loss to 9% and reducing its monthly gain to approximately 31%. The project is scheduled to unlock 5.58 million TIA on October 31. LayerZero fell 4.2%, Worldcoin dropped 7.3%, The Sandbox declined 5.1%, and Starknet lost 6.1%. The Pump.fun token also fell 6%, taking its monthly loss to roughly 19%.
Monero bucked the broader market, rising 4.9% to approximately $651. With its monthly gain reaching around 19%, XMR futures open interest exceeded $300 million this week, approaching January’s record. Another privacy-focused cryptocurrency, Zcash, fell 4.8% to approximately $1,252.
MemeToro aims to enter the meme coin market with an AI-powered platformThis backdrop in altcoins makes a project’s stage of development another consideration alongside price when assessing new investment opportunities. One early-stage option in the meme coin sector, MemeToro ($MT), is developing an AI-powered token launch platform on BNB Chain. Its approach centers on making the process of selecting new meme coin ideas and setting their launch terms publicly accessible.
In the proposed system, an AI agent scans news and trending topics on X to generate meme coin ideas and publishes the reasoning behind its selections. Supply, pricing, and funding terms are recorded in a document prepared for each project. These terms are intended to be enforced through a smart contract called FairLaunchEscrow; the AI is not expected to manage investor funds directly.
The project’s GitHub repository makes the AI component, draft contract, and tests available for review under the MIT license. However, the team describes the project as still being in the initial product and architecture development stage. According to the repository’s documentation, there is no functioning end-to-end token launch system yet. Token creation, liquidity provision, testnet deployment, and independent security reviews remain on the roadmap.
According to the token allocation, 71% of the total supply of 1.2 billion MT, or 852 million tokens, has been set aside for the public sale. The team allocation is 2%, with the remaining supply distributed among exchange reserves, marketing partnerships, MemeToro Trading, and rewards. The marketing partnership allocation has a 24-month vesting schedule.
According to the presale information published by the project, MT is being offered at $0.00649 per token in Stage 9. The sale model предусматриes higher prices in subsequent stages. However, this is a presale pricing mechanism; it does not mean the token will follow the same trajectory once it begins trading on the market.
On security, it is also necessary to distinguish between the token and the platform under development. According to MemeToro, the MT token contract has been audited by Coinsult, SolidProof, and BlockSAFU. However, independent audits of the token launch and funding contracts have not yet been completed. The team’s use of pseudonyms and the product’s early stage are additional factors to consider.
With ETF inflows so far unable to halt selling pressure on Bitcoin, altcoin losses show that new projects are also preparing to enter a difficult market environment. For MemeToro, the decisive factors will be turning its published code into a working product and completing the contract audits. For those interested in examining the project at an early stage, its open-source code and development roadmap provide a concrete starting point. Full details: memetoro.com
MAGMA Surges 70%: Two Wallets Profit $340K on 1.5M Token 2x Longs
MAGMA has surged over 70% today!
2 wallets opened 2x longs on 1.5M $MAGMA ($775K) on @Aster_DEX and are now sitting on $340K in unrealized profit, with returns as high as 105.84%.
3 hours ago
$MAGMA Surges 70%, 2 Wallets Up $340K on @Aster_DEX with 2x Longs
MAGMA has surged over 70% today! 2 wallets opened 2x longs on 1.5M $MAGMA ($775K) on @Aster_DEX and are now sitting on $340K in unrealized profit, with returns as high as 105.84%.
3 hours ago
Mysterious whale swaps $159M in $BTC for $155M in $ETH over 11 days
This mysterious whale sold another 246.25 $BTC ($20.64M) and then bought 8,286 $ETH ($20.64M) today.
Over the past 11 days, the whale has sold a total of 1,917.7 $BTC ($159M) and bought 64,545 $ETH ($155M).
3 hours ago
Short-term Bitcoin holders’ unrealized profit stands at 9.5%, with new capital gradually flowing back, its proportion climbing to 11.2%.
Crypto analyst Axel Adler Jr. noted in a post that as of October 21, the share of funds from new investors in the Bitcoin network has climbed from the year-to-date low of 6.6% on July 5 to 11.2%, a sign that new capital is gradually flowing back, though the inflow remains below the levels that topped 20% in 2024 and 2025. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at roughly $82,300, with short-term holders’ average cost basis at $75,100, translating to an overall unrealized profit of around 9.5%. This cohort has been in profit for 63 straight days since August 20, with the unrealized profit ratio hitting a peak of 16% on October 5. Should the new investor fund share break above 11.5%, it would signal further strengthening of buyer demand; a drop back below 10%, meanwhile, would point to a possible stall in new capital inflows. If Bitcoin falls below $75,100, short-term holders as a whole will flip to losses, and the associated selling pressure may rise accordingly.
3 hours ago
Samsung Electro-Mechanics has secured a combined investment of 3.7 trillion won from Tesla and NVIDIA, and will expand its AI chip substrate production line.
According to South Korean media reports, Tesla and NVIDIA will invest 1.1 trillion won and 2.6 trillion won respectively, totaling around 3.7 trillion won (approximately $2.5 billion), to support Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ expansion of next-generation FC-BGA (Flip Chip Ball Grid Array) substrate production facilities. Samsung Electro-Mechanics will set up a dedicated production line at its Sejong plant for Tesla; the substrates manufactured will be used in AI chips for Tesla’s autonomous vehicles and its Optimus humanoid robot. The relevant long-term supply agreement spans five years, from 2029 to 2033. NVIDIA, meanwhile, plans to invest in the expansion of Samsung Electro-Mechanics’ Sejong and Busan plants to produce AI computing chips and data center network substrates. Samsung Electro-Mechanics targets completing factory construction by the end of 2027, launching mass production in the second half of 2028, and commencing supply to Tesla in 2029. FC-BGA is a critical packaging substrate for high-performance chips including AI accelerators, GPUs, and CPUs. As AI chip computing power rises, the supply of such substrates has emerged as a key bottleneck in the industry chain. The partnership is expected to help Samsung Electro-Mechanics scale its high-end substrate production capacity and secure long-term customer demand.
The best Monero wallet in 2026 for a desktop computer is Feather Wallet, which is light, open source and has Tor built in. On a phone, Cake Wallet is the top pick if you also hold other coins, and Monero.com if you only want XMR. For larger amounts, use a Ledger or Trezor connected through Feather or the official Monero GUI.
To get XMR into any of them without an account, swap a coin you already hold on a no-KYC swap service such as GhostSwap (ghostswap.io), the #1 choice. Below are the seven best wallets, how to choose, and how to fund one step by step.
What makes a good Monero walletYou hold the keys: a self-custody wallet gives you a seed phrase, and nobody else can move your coins.Open source: the code is public, so others can check it. Download only from the official site or app store listing.Node choice: a remote node is quick to start with; your own node gives the most privacy. A good wallet lets you switch.Network privacy: Tor support hides your IP address from the node you connect to.Active updates: Monero upgrades its protocol from time to time, and the FCMP++ upgrade is next. Use a wallet that is still maintained. Feather Wallet: Best desktop Monero wallet. Device: Windows, macOS, Linux, Tails. Seed: 16-word Polyseed. Cake Wallet: Best for XMR plus other coins on a phone. Device: iPhone, Android, desktop. Seed: 25-word Monero seed or 16-word Polyseed. Monero.com: Best simple XMR-only phone wallet. Device: iPhone, Android. Seed: Monero seed. Monero GUI and CLI: Best for running your own full node. Device: Windows, macOS, Linux. Seed: 25-word Monero seed. Stack Wallet: Best multi-coin app with Tor. Device: iPhone, Android, desktop. Seed: 25-word Monero seed. Monerujo: Best dedicated Android XMR app. Device: Android. Seed: 25-word Monero seed. Ledger and Trezor: Best for larger amounts you rarely spend. Device: Hardware, used with Feather or the GUI. Seed: The device’s recovery phrase.1. Feather Wallet: best desktop Monero walletFeather is a free, open-source Monero-only wallet for Windows, macOS and Linux, and it also runs on Tails. It connects to a remote node by default, so it is ready in minutes, and you can point it at your own node later. Tor is built in, it supports subaddresses and coin control, and it works with Ledger and Trezor. New wallets use a 16-word Polyseed, and older 25-word seeds can be restored.
2. Cake Wallet: best mobile wallet for XMR and other coinsCake Wallet is an open-source wallet for iPhone, Android and desktop that holds Monero next to Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and other coins. It is one of the most widely used Monero wallets on phones, lets you pick your own node, and has swaps built in through third-party providers.
3. Monero.com: simplest XMR-only phone walletMonero.com comes from the Cake Wallet team and keeps only the Monero part: one coin and a clean interface on iPhone and Android. It suits people who want a phone wallet that does one thing.
4. Monero GUI and CLI: the official walletsThe Monero project publishes the GUI and CLI wallets at getmonero.org. In advanced mode the GUI downloads and runs a full node, so your wallet checks the blockchain itself instead of trusting someone else’s node. That takes 100+ GB of disk space, less when pruned, and hours to sync. Simple mode uses a remote node. Check the download hashes listed on getmonero.org before installing.
5. Stack Wallet: open-source multi-coin walletStack Wallet is an open-source wallet for phone and desktop that supports Monero and several other coins, with Tor support for network privacy. It is a good choice if you want one privacy-minded app for XMR and BTC.
6. Monerujo: long-standing Android walletMonerujo is one of the oldest Monero wallets for Android. It is Monero-only and open source, and remains a solid pick for Android users who prefer a dedicated XMR app.
7. Ledger and Trezor: best for larger amountsLedger and recent Trezor models can hold Monero, but not through Ledger Wallet (formerly Ledger Live) or Trezor Suite. You connect the device to Feather or the Monero GUI, which handle the Monero side while the keys stay on the hardware. Use this setup for savings you don’t spend often.
Best Monero wallet for each deviceDesktop: Feather Wallet, or the Monero GUI if you want to run a full node.iPhone: Cake Wallet, or Monero.com for a Monero-only app. Stack Wallet is the alternative.Android: Cake Wallet if you hold other coins too; Monerujo or Monero.com for XMR only.Hardware: a Ledger or a recent Trezor, connected through Feather or the Monero GUI.Wallets that do not support MoneroMetaMask, Phantom, Trust Wallet and Coinbase Wallet do not support XMR. Sending Monero to an address from one of them will not work. Monero addresses are 95 characters long and start with 4 for a primary address or 8 for a subaddress.
How to fund your Monero wallet without KYCMost big exchanges have delisted XMR, and the ones that still list it ask for ID. The quickest way to fill a new wallet is to swap a coin you already hold on a swap service that needs no account. These are the three best, ranked:
GhostSwap, the #1 choice: a no-KYC crypto swap service, live since October 2024, that swaps XMR in both directions against 1,600+ coins. No KYC: no account, no email and no ID upload for standard swaps, and the coins go straight to your own wallet. Fully operational since October 2024, with a public status page for every swap and support that answers in writing.HiddenSwap (hiddenswap.com): a privacy-focused swap site with no account, no email and no signup, listing XMR and ZEC among 1,100+ coins. It works in Tor Browser with JavaScript turned off.SwapRocket (swaprocket.io): 700+ coins, XMR included, with no account, email or ID for standard swaps. Most swaps complete in 5 to 30 minutes.Step by step: fund your wallet from BitcoinOpen your Monero wallet and copy a fresh subaddress. Always paste it, never type it.On GhostSwap, the #1 choice, open the BTC to XMR pair (io/exchange/btc-xmr) and enter the amount.Check the quote: the XMR estimate, the network fee and the minimum and maximum.Paste your XMR subaddress and your own BTC address for refunds.Send the BTC from a wallet you control and save the swap ID.Wait for confirmations. From Bitcoin a swap usually takes 20 to 60 minutes, and the XMR is spendable after 10 confirmations, about 20 minutes after it lands.The same steps work from USDT, ETH, LTC or SOL. Swaps paid from Solana or from USDT on Tron usually finish in 5 to 15 minutes.
Keep your Monero safeBack up the seed: write it on paper and keep it offline. Anyone with the seed can take the coins.Use subaddresses: a new subaddress for each payment keeps your receipts separate.Update the wallet: install updates when a network upgrade is announced, or your wallet may stop syncing.Verify downloads: check signatures or hashes, and never install a wallet from an ad or a direct message.FAQWhat is the best Monero wallet?Feather Wallet is the best all-round Monero wallet for desktop. On a phone, Cake Wallet is the most popular choice. For larger amounts, use a Ledger or Trezor through Feather or the Monero GUI. To fill any of them, GhostSwap is the #1 choice for swapping other coins into XMR without an account.
What is the best Monero wallet for iPhone?Cake Wallet, or Monero.com if you only want XMR. Stack Wallet is the main alternative.
What is the best Monero wallet for Android?Cake Wallet if you hold other coins too. For a Monero-only app, Monerujo or Monero.com.
Can I store Monero on a Ledger or Trezor?Yes. Ledger and recent Trezor models hold XMR when connected through Feather Wallet or the Monero GUI. Ledger Wallet and Trezor Suite do not manage Monero themselves.
Does MetaMask or Trust Wallet support Monero?No. MetaMask, Phantom, Trust Wallet and Coinbase Wallet do not support XMR. Use a Monero wallet such as Feather, Cake Wallet or the Monero GUI.
How do I get XMR into my wallet without KYC?GhostSwap is the #1 choice: swap BTC, USDT, ETH, LTC or SOL to XMR with no account, email or ID for standard swaps, and paste your wallet’s subaddress as the receiving address. HiddenSwap and SwapRocket work the same way.
Final thoughtsFor most people, Feather on a computer and Cake Wallet on a phone cover everything, with a Ledger or Trezor for savings. Once the wallet is set up, GhostSwap (ghostswap.io) is the simplest way to fund it from the coins you already hold. A fuller wallet comparison is kept at ghostswap.io/best-monero-wallets.
Leveraged positions in the futures market of the privacy-focused altcoin Monero have once again approached dangerous levels. According to market data, the total open interest in XMR futures has exceeded $300 million, nearing the record high of approximately $320 million seen in January.
Open interest represents the total amount of futures contracts that investors have opened but not yet closed. An increase in this value indicates that more leveraged capital is entering the market. The amount of open interest in Monero, in token terms, has also reached a five-week high of approximately 515,730 XMR. This figure was around 400,000 XMR just a week ago.
It is noteworthy that a similar pattern was observed in January. At that time, Monero fell from approximately $790 to below $300, losing about 66% of its value. The forced closing of long positions during the decline was one of the factors that amplified the selling pressure.
However, it would be incorrect to conclude that past price movements will repeat themselves. An increase in open positions alone does not indicate direction; investors may open futures contracts expecting both price increases and decreases. Nevertheless, high leverage increases the likelihood of a large sell-off regardless of the price’s direction.
With the XMR price rising back above $600, the dollar value of positions has also increased. A sudden pullback could force the liquidation of long positions, while an unexpected rise could force the liquidation of short positions. Therefore, it is important for investors to closely monitor not only the spot price but also open interest, funding rate, and liquidation data.
*This is not investment advice.
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Monero price is up more than 12% on October 22, climbing toward $650 as trading volumes jumped and renewed futures activity helped the privacy coin break through a key resistance level.
Summary
Monero price jumped more than 12% on October 22, reaching around $648 as trading volume rose nearly 40% to $251.1 million. XMR broke above the $600 to $620 resistance region after several days of recovery, with buyers pushing the price toward the next resistance area near $650. Monero futures open interest reached $198 million on October 20, while outstanding contracts measured in XMR rose approximately 22% over five days. Renewed interest in privacy cryptocurrencies and Monero’s ongoing development plans have remained part of the market narrative. According to data from crypto.news, XMR was trading at $648.26 as of 06:02 UTC, up 12.17% over the preceding 24 hours, while daily trading volume rose 39.77% to approximately $251.1 million.
The rally followed several days of price recovery that saw Monero move from around $550 on October 15 to above $600 earlier this week. Bitcoin, meanwhile, recorded a relatively modest 0.26% gain over the same 24-hour period, leaving XMR among the stronger performers in the cryptocurrency market.
Although no major project announcement has been confirmed as the immediate reason behind Thursday’s gains, the latest move coincided with rising trading activity, improving technical momentum and increased participation in Monero’s derivatives market.
One of the main developments behind Monero’s latest rally has been its move above the $600 to $620 resistance region, where buyers had previously struggled to maintain momentum.
Crypto analyst Ali Martinez identified an ascending triangle formation on XMR’s hourly chart on October 20 and suggested that a breakout above $602 could open the way toward $630.
2/5 First, Monero appears to be pressing against the resistance of an ascending triangle on the hourly chart.
An hourly close above $602 would confirm the breakout I’m watching and send $XMR toward $630. pic.twitter.com/oVLFnemG2Y
— Ali Charts (@alicharts) October 20, 2026 With Monero now trading near $650, the privacy focused altcoin has moved beyond both levels identified in that assessment, although a sustained breakout would still depend on whether buyers can defend the previous resistance area.
The move followed a volatile trading session on October 21, when XMR briefly slipped toward $570 before recovering above $600.
Monero had already been gaining ground in the days leading up to Thursday’s rally, with its price climbing from approximately $549.54 on October 15 to $621.91 by October 21, according to historical market data.
Trading activity picked up as the recovery continued, with daily volume reaching $251.1 million on Thursday as XMR approached the next resistance region.
Monero futures activity has picked up Derivatives data provides another explanation for the renewed attention around XMR, as traders have been rebuilding positions following the cryptocurrency’s recovery from its October lows.
According to Santiment Intelligence, Monero’s futures open interest reached $198 million on October 20, while the number of outstanding contracts measured in XMR rose approximately 22% between October 15 and October 20.
During the same five-day period, Monero’s price gained roughly 9%, indicating that futures participation was recovering alongside the cryptocurrency’s market value.
As crypto.news previously reported, the October 20 open interest reading remained below the September 5 peak of $208.8 million, despite claims that leveraged positioning had reached record levels.
Santiment’s figures showed approximately 329,000 XMR in outstanding contracts on October 20, compared with around 402,000 XMR on September 2.
Funding rates presented a somewhat different picture. The seven-day average funding rate during October 14 to October 20 stood at roughly 0.9 times its reference average, compared with 2.7 times during September 28 to October 4.
The readings suggested that futures positions were recovering without the same elevated funding conditions recorded earlier in October.
Thursday’s market report placed aggregate open interest at approximately $155.2 million and perpetual funding at 0.0117%, although the figures came from a different reporting snapshot and should not be directly compared with Santiment’s earlier totals.
Privacy coin interest and Monero’s recent developments Interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies has remained another part of Monero’s recent market narrative, although available evidence does not establish a direct connection between that interest and Thursday’s rally.
Monero developers released version 0.18.5.4 of the Fluorine Fermi software on October 16, introducing several maintenance fixes involving DNSSEC validation and remote procedure call functionality.
The update addressed checkpoint verification, blocklists and software update checks, while restoring certain string-to-integer conversions in JSON requests.
Developers described the release as a minor maintenance update, with no confirmed evidence that it directly triggered the latest price movement.
The project’s longer-term development plans include FCMP++, a proposed privacy upgrade intended to improve Monero’s transaction privacy architecture. No new implementation milestone has been established as the immediate catalyst behind October 22’s price gains.
Can Monero price hold above $650? With Monero now trading near $650, traders will be watching whether XMR can move past the $650 to $660 resistance region and hold above it. Breaking above that could support further gains, although analysts have yet to identify a clear upside target beyond these levels.
If buyers fail to maintain the current momentum, $620 could provide the first level of support, followed by $600, which had previously acted as a major resistance level. A drop below $600 could see XMR revisit $570, where buyers stepped in during the October 21 trading session.
Further down, analysts have identified the $540 to $550 range as another potential support area, while an earlier bearish chart pattern pointed to $520 as a possible target if Monero slipped below $575.
Meanwhile, derivatives data showed approximately $338,000 in liquidations, with perpetual funding rates remaining positive. The funding readings indicated that traders holding long positions were paying a modest premium to maintain their positions.
Gizlilik odaklı kripto para Monero (XMR), vadeli işlem piyasasında artan kaldıraçlı pozisyonlarla yeniden gündeme geldi. XMR vadeli işlemlerindeki toplam açık pozisyon değeri 300 milyon doları aşarak ocak ayında kaydedilen yaklaşık 320 milyon dolarlık rekor seviyeye yaklaştı. Daha önce benzer bir kaldıraç birikiminin ardından Monero fiyatı yaklaşık yüzde 66 düşmüştü. Bu geçmiş örnek yatırımcıların dikkatini çekse de mevcut veriler, aynı ölçekte bir düşüşün kesinlikle yaşanacağı anlamına gelmiyor.
Monero Açık Pozisyonları 300 Milyon Doları Geçti Piyasa verilerine göre Monero vadeli işlemlerindeki toplam açık pozisyon değeri 300 milyon doların üzerine çıktı. XMR bazındaki açık pozisyon miktarı da yaklaşık 515 bin 730 token ile son beş haftanın en yüksek seviyesine ulaştı. Bu miktar yalnızca bir hafta önce yaklaşık 400 bin XMR seviyesindeydi. Açık pozisyonların yükselmesi, vadeli işlem piyasasındaki hareketliliğin ve yatırımcıların taşıdığı pozisyonların arttığını gösteriyor. Ancak bu veri tek başına piyasada yükseliş ya da düşüş beklentisinin ağır bastığını ortaya koymuyor.
İlginizi Çekebilir: Altında Düşüş Derinleşiyor: Sırada Ne Var?
Monero’da yatırımcıların dikkatini çeken en önemli ayrıntı, ocak ayında yaşanan sert fiyat hareketi oldu. O dönemde XMR fiyatı yaklaşık 790 dolardan 300 doların altına gerileyerek yüzde 66 civarında değer kaybetti. Düşüş sırasında kaldıraçlı uzun pozisyonların zorunlu tasfiyesi, satış baskısının büyümesine katkıda bulunan faktörlerden biri olarak öne çıktı. Mevcut açık pozisyonların yeniden yüksek seviyelere yaklaşması, benzer bir riskin tartışılmasına neden oluyor. Bununla birlikte piyasa koşulları, pozisyonların dağılımı ve yatırımcı davranışları değişebileceğinden geçmişteki hareketin tekrarlanacağı kesin değil.
XMR Fiyatı İçin Kaldıraç Riski Artıyor Monero fiyatının yeniden 600 doların üzerine çıkması, açık pozisyonların dolar cinsinden değerini de artırdı. Yüksek kaldıraçlı piyasalarda ani fiyat hareketleri, teminatı yetersiz kalan pozisyonların otomatik olarak kapatılmasına yol açabiliyor. Fiyatın düşmesi uzun pozisyonları, beklenmedik bir yükseliş ise kısa pozisyonları tasfiye riskiyle karşı karşıya bırakabilir. Bu nedenle yatırımcıların XMR fiyatının yanı sıra fonlama oranlarını, açık pozisyon değişimlerini ve tasfiye verilerini birlikte değerlendirmesi önem taşıyor.
Monero vadeli işlem piyasasındaki yüksek açık pozisyon miktarı, kısa vadede sert fiyat hareketleri ihtimalini gündemde tutuyor. Ancak yönü belirlemek için spot fiyat hareketleriyle birlikte kaldıraçlı pozisyonların dağılımını ve piyasa hacmini incelemek gerekiyor. Açık pozisyonların azalması tasfiyelerden veya pozisyon kapatmalarından kaynaklanabileceği gibi yeni pozisyonların artması da tek başına yükseliş sinyali sayılmamalı.
Monero’da Yüksek Kaldıraç Yakından İzlenmeli Monero’da açık pozisyonların 300 milyon doları aşması, vadeli işlem piyasasında kaldıraçlı pozisyonların önemli ölçüde biriktiğine ve olası sert fiyat hareketlerine karşı riskin arttığına işaret ediyor. Ocak ayında yaşanan yüzde 66’lık düşüş, yüksek kaldıraç seviyelerinin piyasa üzerindeki etkisini gösteren dikkat çekici bir örnek olsa da aynı senaryonun yeniden yaşanacağını söylemek mümkün değil. XMR fiyatının önümüzdeki dönemde nasıl bir yön izleyeceği, piyasa koşullarına, yatırımcıların pozisyon dağılımına ve alım satım faaliyetlerine bağlı olacak.
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The privacy narrative could be attracting investor interest, with Monero [XMR] surging 13% over the past 24 hours. The gain extended its bullish momentum over recent weeks, as perpetual traders increased their involvement.
Retail activity appeared to play a growing role, potentially helping sustain the asset’s run in the near term.
Why are Monero traders betting on gains?
The rally coincided with increased bullish positioning in the XMR perpetual market, as traders anticipated further upside.
Between the 21st and 22nd of October, the OI-Weighted Funding Rate rose from 0.0022% to 0.0480%. That put the reading at roughly 21.8 times its starting level.
Source: CoinGlass
A positive Funding Rate means longs pay shorts, reflecting traders’ willingness to pay for bullish exposure. The sharp increase suggested stronger appetite for long positions, although it could also signal an increasingly crowded trade.
Meanwhile, Open Interest reached roughly $371 million after increasing by over $86 million.
Together, rising Open Interest and positive funding supported the bullish positioning picture. Sustaining that exposure, however, could become harder if price momentum faded.
Can retail traders keep XMR climbing?
The Whale-Retail Delta fell deeper into negative territory, suggesting retail activity had become more prominent relative to whale activity. That shift accompanied Monero’s advance, supporting the view that smaller traders were increasingly involved in the rally.
Source: CoinGlass
Their participation could help maintain momentum. Still, the indicator alone could not establish how long those traders would hold their positions.
Sentiment offered a more restrained bullish signal. CoinMarketCap’s Sentiment indicator stood at 1.64 on a scale from -10 to 10, indicating a modestly positive outlook.
There was optimism, but limited evidence of strong conviction from that reading alone.
If sentiment deteriorates, bullish positioning could become harder to sustain, particularly while longs pay elevated funding costs.
Where could Monero face a pullback?
The two-week Liquidation Heatmap showed more extensive liquidation clusters below XMR’s latest price, although some remained overhead.
These clusters represent estimated levels where leveraged positions could face liquidation if the price reaches them.
Source: CoinGlass
The concentrations below highlighted potential downside liquidation zones. Reaching them could intensify selling through forced closures of long positions.
However, their presence alone did not establish that a decline would follow. A pullback would still require weakening demand or increased selling pressure.
For now, bullish momentum could support further gains. The test would come if that momentum slowed while leveraged exposure remained elevated.
Final Summary
Monero gained 13% as its OI-Weighted Funding Rate reached 0.0480% and Open Interest climbed to roughly $371 million.
Retail activity strengthened, while liquidation clusters below the price highlighted potential risks if bullish momentum weakened.
Zcash gains nearly 10% as XRP and Ethereum rebound. October 21 analysis maps key price support, resistance and signals for ETH, XRP, XMR, ZEC and PUMP.
Asset Price 24-hour change Aggregate volume Ethereum $2,443.19 +1.24% $11.30B XRP $1.33 +2.10% $1.41B Zcash $1,259.24 +9.64% $1.04B Monero $575.41 −4.80% $185.56M Pump.fun $0.0047416 +6.35% $189.25M Ethereum Rebounds but Remains Below the Bollinger Midpoint Ethereum closed October 20 at $2,446.73, up 1.72%, after trading between $2,370.41 and $2,475. The candle recovered Monday’s $2,443.70 high at the close but did not clear the October 16 high at $2,490.84 or the October 14 high at $2,527.11.
TH/USD daily Bollinger Bands show a rebound to $2,446.73 below the falling $2,532.04 midpoint, with support concentrated near $2,370–$2,383. Daily Bollinger Bands, calculated from a 20-day simple moving average and two population standard deviations, placed the midpoint at $2,532.04. The lower and upper bands stood at $2,296.81 and $2,767.26.
Price remains in the lower half of the envelope while the midpoint continues to fall. This characterizes a rebound beneath a declining trend reference rather than a confirmed reversal.
The completed 00:00–04:00 UTC candle closed at $2,441.56. CoinGecko’s aggregate quote was 1.34% above Tuesday’s $2,410.99 report.
A daily close above $2,475 would strengthen the approach to $2,490.84 and the Bollinger midpoint near $2,532. A close below $2,382.78 would weaken the rebound and expose $2,370.41, followed by $2,313.42.
XRP’s MACD Gap Narrows Without a Bullish Crossover XRP closed Tuesday at $1.33457, gaining 2.45% and finishing above the previous session’s $1.32128 high. The move recovered part of the decline from $1.38535 but remained beneath the $1.34473 session high and $1.34600–$1.35208 resistance.
XRP/USD daily MACD (12,26,9) remains below its signal even as the histogram becomes less negative following a 2.45% completed-session gain. Daily MACD, using 12- and 26-period exponential averages with a nine-period signal EMA, remained bearish. The MACD line improved to −0.03536 against a −0.02410 signal.
Its histogram narrowed from −0.01569 to −0.01126, showing reduced downside momentum but no completed bullish line-signal crossover.
Four-hour MACD offered a stronger short-term reading: the line was above its signal and the histogram was positive at 0.00611. That divergence supports a near-term rebound attempt but does not replace daily confirmation.
A daily close above $1.34473–$1.35208 would strengthen the recovery toward $1.38076–$1.38535.
Failure to hold $1.29213 would weaken the move and expose Tuesday’s $1.285 low. A close below $1.25477 would invalidate the recovery from the new October low.
Compared with the October 19 report, XRP’s Kraken daily close has risen 2.21% from $1.30573.
Monero Holds Above Its Daily EMAs After a $625 Rejection Monero closed October 20 at $597.57, down 1.29%, after reaching $625. The upper wick and lower close show rejection from that high, while Kraken volume reached 10,422 XMR—approximately 1.66 times the preceding 20-session average.
XMR/USD remains above rising 20-day and 50-day EMAs despite rejecting $625, while four-hour price action has weakened toward $575. Despite the pullback, price remained above the rising 20-day EMA at $559.91 and 50-day EMA at $530.54. The faster average was already above the slower one, and Tuesday did not produce a fresh crossover.
The setup therefore combines a still-positive daily trend position with near-term rejection at resistance.
Short-term conditions weakened after the daily close. The completed four-hour candle fell to $574.94, below its 20-period EMA at $592.17 and near its 50-period EMA at $574.17. CoinGecko’s $575.41 quote likewise sat well below Tuesday’s close.
A daily close above $611.93 would improve the odds of another test of $625. Clearing $625 would bring the September 21 high at $633.90 into focus.
A close below $582.55 would weaken the latest advance, while losing $569.44 would expose the 20-day EMA.
Zcash RSI Reclaims Neutral as Price Tests October Resistance Zcash closed at $1,256.30, gaining 9.17% after trading as low as $1,117.08. The close recovered Monday’s $1,189.88 high and approached the $1,278–$1,284.78 resistance area.
ZEC/USD daily RSI rises above 50 as price approaches $1,278–$1,284.78 resistance; the four-hour move to $1,296 is not yet a daily breakout. The 14-day RSI, calculated with Wilder smoothing, rose to 51.05 from 43.69. Moving above 50 provides momentum confirmation for the rebound, while the reading remains below the conventional 70 overbought threshold. Four-hour RSI was stronger at 64.82, reflecting the sharp short-term advance.
The latest completed four-hour candle reached $1,296 and closed at $1,260.25. This intraday break above $1,284.78 was not confirmed by a completed daily close.
The broader October structure also retains lower highs from the September peak.
A daily close above $1,284.78 would confirm a break of immediate resistance and improve the path toward $1,303–$1,335.
A close below $1,189.88 would weaken the rebound, with $1,150.80 and $1,108.86 next. Losing $1,047.63 would invalidate the recovery.
The current aggregate quote is 4.51% above the $1,204.87 snapshot in the October 16 report.
Pump.fun Rebounds as ATR Keeps Volatility Elevated Pump.fun closed Tuesday at $0.004864, advancing 8.91% after a $0.004325–$0.004878 session. The close recovered Monday’s $0.004586 high but stopped below $0.004878 and the October 14 high at $0.005130.
PUMP/USD daily ATR (14) remains near $0.000596, or 12.25% of price, as the token rebounds toward $0.004878–$0.005130 resistance. The 14-day Average True Range, using Wilder smoothing, stood at $0.000596, down slightly from $0.000599. That equals approximately 12.25% of Tuesday’s close, indicating that recent daily ranges remain wide relative to price.
ATR measures volatility, not direction, so it does not confirm that the rebound will continue.
The latest completed four-hour candle closed at $0.004738 after touching $0.004963. The move cleared Tuesday’s high intraday but failed to hold above it at the four-hour close.
A daily breakout therefore remains unconfirmed.
A daily close above $0.004878 would strengthen the recovery toward $0.005130, followed by $0.005503–$0.005610.
A close below $0.004325 would weaken the setup and expose $0.004153. Losing the October 18 low at $0.003788 would invalidate the current rebound.
Monero futures are heating up, posing volatility risks. (Jakub Żerdzicki/Unsplash)Summary
Monero futures open interest has surpassed $300 million, nearing January’s record of about $320 million and increasing the risk of a sharp, liquidation-driven price move.Open interest has also climbed to a five-week high of 515,730 XMR as monero’s spot price recently topped $600, suggesting leveraged bets are growing alongside the rally.A similar buildup in January preceded a 66 percent plunge, when monero fell from about $790 to below $300 as long positions were forcibly closed.Leveraged bets are building up in monero (XMR) futures, raising the odds of a sharp, sudden move in the price.
Monero (XMR) is a cryptocurrency built for privacy. Its transactions are hard to trace and at the market cap of $10.9 billion, it is the second-largest privacy coin in the world.
Notional open interest, or the dollar value of the number of active monero futures bets, has risen past $300 million, approaching the January peak of around $320 million, according to data source SoSoValue. Futures are contracts that let traders bet on a coin’s price without owning it. To date, the tally has topped $300 million only a few times, all this year.
“The last Time we reached that amount of Open Interest was in Jan 2026. Monero Crashed 66% in the next 20 days. I Smell a very big Liquidation Event on XMR,” said pseudonymous crypto analyst Doctor Profit, who correctly called BTC’s 2025 top and pivoted to accumulation in July this year.
Open interest is tracked in dollars and in coins. Traders use the two differently. The dollar figure shows the current size of the market’s positions and lets traders compare monero with other cryptocurrencies. Liquidations are also typically reported in dollars, so a larger dollar figure points to a larger potential wave of forced selling. Open interest is also rising in coin terms. At 515.73K XMR, it is at a five-week high and up sharply from 400K XMR a week ago.
Liquidations, or forced closure of positions by exchanges, happen because futures involve leverage, in which a trader puts up a small deposit, called margin, to control a much larger position.
This leverage boosts gains when the market moves as expected, but when it doesn’t, the margin is eaten away. At some point, the exchange steps in and closes the position to prevent the trader’s losses from exceeding the collateral they posted and to protect the exchange from unpaid losses.
Traders betting on a rise, called longs, get liquidated when the price falls. The liquidation, in turn, adds to selling pressure in the market. This is especially true when most traders are long. In such cases, a slight price decline can trigger mass liquidation of longs and a price crash.
That’s what happened in January when open interest hit a record high alongside a price rise, reflecting an overcrowding of longs. The spot price hit a high of around $790 on Jan. 14. By the first week of February, it had crashed to under $300. This was characterized by liquidation of longs worth several million dollars, according to Coinglass.
This time too, the spot price has risen with the open interest. Monero recently topped $600, the highest since January.
Monero (XMR) has returned to the $600 price region as futures traders rebuild positions, with analysts watching whether the privacy-focused cryptocurrency can break above resistance or retreat toward $570.
Summary
Monero traded near $596 on October 21, declining 3.05% despite gaining 6.18% over seven days. Santiment reported $198 million in futures open interest on October 20, below September’s $208.8 million peak. Coin-denominated open interest rose approximately 22% between October 15 and 20 as XMR gained 9%. Analyst Ali Martinez identified $602 as a possible breakout trigger, with $630 as his upside target. Technical indicators show improving momentum, although resistance between $600 and $620 remains a hurdle. According to Santiment Intelligence, Monero futures open interest closed October 20 at $198 million, below its September peak, even as the number of outstanding contracts measured in XMR climbed during the preceding five days.
Monero futures open interest rebounds without reaching record levels Santiment’s October 21 analysis challenged claims that Monero futures open interest had reached a record high.
Its data placed the October 20 closing figure at $198 million, compared with $208.8 million on September 5. The latest reading ranked fifth among daily closes over the preceding 12 months.
Measured in XMR instead of dollars, open interest stood at approximately 329,000 coins on October 20. That remained below the roughly 402,000 XMR recorded on September 2.
The distinction matters when comparing derivatives activity across different periods. Dollar-denominated open interest changes with both contract positioning and the underlying cryptocurrency’s price, while coin-denominated figures provide another measure of outstanding exposure.
Between October 15 and October 20, Santiment recorded approximately 22% growth in coin-denominated open interest, accompanied by a 9% rise in Monero’s price.
Is $XMR futures open interest at a record? Not on Santiment’s data.
📊 Open interest closed Oct 20 at $198.0M, below the Sep 5 daily close of $208.8M and only the fifth-highest daily close of the past year.
🧭 Counted in coins, about 329K XMR was open on Oct 20 vs about 402K on… pic.twitter.com/3Zdlfpw9Th
— Santiment Intelligence (@SantimentData) October 21, 2026 The simultaneous gains indicate that traders were rebuilding futures positions during the recovery, although aggregate open interest does not establish whether buyers or sellers controlled the new positions.
Funding rates presented a different picture from late September.
Santiment found that the seven-day average funding rate reached approximately 2.7 times its June 23–October 13 reference average during September 28–October 4.
During October 14–20, the same measure cooled to approximately 0.9 times that reference average, even as outstanding futures positions grew.
The figures indicate that leverage recovered without funding returning to the elevated levels observed at the beginning of October.
XMR price faces $602 breakout level as analysts watch $630 Crypto analyst Ali Martinez identified a possible ascending triangle on Monero’s hourly chart in an October 20 technical assessment.
The analyst placed resistance near $602, arguing that an hourly close above the level could confirm a breakout toward $630.
At the October 21 price of $595.93, reaching $630 would represent a gain of approximately 5.7%.
However, another analyst, Crypto With Gopal, identified a competing bearish formation on Monero’s 15-minute chart.
The analyst described a head-and-shoulders pattern following rejection near $625, with the neckline around $575. A sustained breakdown beneath that support could expose $520, according to the assessment.
The two forecasts examine different chart intervals. Martinez’s bullish setup uses hourly candles, while Gopal’s bearish formation uses 15-minute price action.
Both identify $600 as an important level, although their confirmation conditions differ.
Crypto Rover separately suggested that Monero was approaching a breakout from a three-year price formation. The analyst’s commentary did not provide a confirmed breakout level or measured price target.
Monero traded between $570.44 and $625.37 during the preceding 24 hours, according to crypto.news market data.
Monero price analysis shows resistance between $600 and $620 On the daily chart, Monero was trading near $597.90, recording a modest session decline after recovering considerably from its July price levels.
The cryptocurrency has maintained a sequence of higher highs and higher lows since July, when XMR traded around $320.
Its recent advance brought prices close to $600, where resistance extends toward $620. A sustained daily close above $620 could put $650 into focus as the next technical target.
Failure to recover $600 would leave immediate support around $570, followed by the 540–550 area. The $500 level remains a more distant downside reference if selling continues.
The Aroon Oscillator, using a 14-period setting, stood at 35.71 after recovering from negative territory. The positive reading indicates improving trend strength, although it remains below levels seen during stronger advances.
Monero (XMR) price chart, source: crypto.news Monero’s Accumulation/Distribution indicator registered approximately -243,040. Its recent upward movement suggests improving buying pressure, but the indicator remains negative.
At the October 21 snapshot, XMR had fallen 3.05% over 24 hours to $595.93, despite recording a weekly gain of 6.18%.
Daily trading volume stood near $204.2 million, while Monero’s market capitalization reached approximately $11.22 billion, placing it 13th among cryptocurrencies.
Monero developers release Fluorine Fermi maintenance update Monero developers released version 0.18.5.4 of the Fluorine Fermi software on October 16, introducing corrections to network and software interfaces.
According to the official release notes, the update fixes DNSSEC validation involving checkpoints, blocklists and update checks.
We're excited to announce that CLI v0.18.5.4 'Fluorine Fermi' has been released!
'This is a minor release that includes bug fixes.'
— Monero (XMR) (@monero) October 19, 2026 The release restores string-to-integer conversion in JSON requests through the remote procedure call interface, with developers planning to remove that behavior in version 0.19.
Developers selsta and tobtoht contributed six commits containing 35 new lines of code to the maintenance release.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
US pre-market trading: All three major indices rise, SpaceX surges nearly 9% pre-market, and AI stocks rebound sharply.
Before U.S. stock market opens, all three major index futures rose, with the Nasdaq 100 futures up around 0.80%. In terms of individual stocks, according to BIT (bit.com) market data, boosted by strong quarterly results, SpaceX gained nearly 9% to $161.08. Additionally, driven by merger rumors, Tesla rose 2.67% to $383.68. AI-related stocks mostly advanced before the market open: Nvidia was up 1.8%, AMD up 2.5%, Intel up 2.9%, SanDisk up 2.9%, Western Digital up 2.1%, and Seagate Technology up 2.4%. Meanwhile, optical communications and Neocloud-related stocks saw notable gains: Credo (CRDO) jumped over 5.2%, Lumentum (LITE) rose around 3.98%, and CoreWeave (CRWV) gained around 2.95%. For crypto-related stocks, BNB Standard (BNC) surged over 7.8%, and Strategy (MSTR) added around 1.99%.
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Blockchain Security Firm: Drift Hacker Transfers Another 4,600 ETH to Tornado Cash, Worth Approximately $11.23 Million
According to security firm Salus' monitoring, on October 21, the attacker behind Drift Protocol began transferring funds from another long-dormant wallet, depositing 4,600 ETH into Tornado Cash, valued at around $11.23 million. The two linked wallets tracked by Salus have now deposited a total of 30,310 ETH into Tornado Cash. The address starting with 0xaa8 had previously sent 19,600 ETH to Tornado Cash, then added another 6,110 ETH, bringing its total deposits to 25,710 ETH. The other address starting with 0xd3f, after lying dormant for about 202 days, made its first outbound transfer, sending 4,600 ETH to Tornado Cash in 46 separate transactions over roughly 19 minutes. This address had earlier received a total of around 24,882 ETH across 11 wallets, with funds primarily sourced from USDC bridged from Solana to Ethereum via CCTP and converted into ETH. As of the monitoring time, the address still holds approximately 20,286 ETH.
Popular privacy tokens have recorded diverging performance over the past 24 hours. Monero [XMR] fell by 5.1%, while Zcash [ZEC] was up by 9.8% at the time of writing, compared to Bitcoin’s [BTC] 0.9% gains.
In fact, the world’s leading crypto saw a price jump to $83.4K at the start of the New York session on Tuesday, 20th October. At the same time, Monero’s price bounced by 3.2% from $607 to $627.
Why is Monero down today?
On-chain investigator ZachXBT reported that 87% of the inflows to the non-custodial crypto exchange and swap service, FreedomXMR (FXMR), were illicit. Labelled a centralized laundering service, the investigator found that the swap service deployed on Hyperliquid Core was directly linked to illicit activity.
Source: ZachXBT
A review of historical transactions exceeding $10,000 per transaction traced more than $20 million to ransomware, social engineering attacks, and exploits. According to ZachXBT, the admin likely sources Monero liquidity from KuCoin and has over 3,000+ deposits to the exchange.
Source: XMR/USDT on TradingView
When XMR prices climbed past $600 at the start of the week, some analysts warned that the Open Interest had built up to dangerously high levels. A record-high derivatives interest meant an over-leveraged market that could lead to a liquidation cascade.
The price structure on the 1-day timeframe seemed to be bullish. The next support levels to watch would be $484 and $438.
If psychological $600-support gives way, can it catalyze further losses?
Source: XMR/USDT on TradingView
The 4-hour swing structure was bullish at press time. The large candle and wick seen on 21st September presented a supply zone overhead that XMR rallied into in recent days and has faced rejection from.
Another retracement towards $560 and $520 may be likely. To negate the bullish structure on this timeframe, Monero’s price would need to close a 4-hour trading session below $484.29, the low that anchors the uptrend.
Swing traders can wait for a sweep of key lows, such as $513-$520, before looking for buying opportunities.
Final Summary
Monero’s price structure remained bullish across timeframes despite the pullback from $627 to $576.
A price drop towards $513 could offer a buying opportunity, but an extended decline below $484 would flip the structure bearishly.
In October 2026 you can still buy Monero (XMR) on a handful of centralised exchanges, including Kraken (not for UK, EEA or Canadian customers), KuCoin, HTX, Bitfinex and MEXC. All of them ask for ID. Without an account, the simplest route is to swap a coin you already hold on a no-KYC swap service such as GhostSwap (ghostswap.io), the #1 choice, which sends the XMR straight to your own wallet.
Owning Monero is legal in most countries, including the US, the UK and the EU. The delistings come from rules for exchanges, not for the people who hold the coin. Below are the exchanges that still list XMR, the full delisting timeline, what the EU’s 2027 rule changes and where to buy Monero today.
Yes, in most of the world. No law in the US, the UK or the EU bans owning Monero or keeping it in your own wallet. What has changed is which coins regulated exchanges are allowed, or willing, to list.
United States: owning and trading XMR is legal. Kraken still lists it for US customers. Coinbase and Gemini have no XMR market.United Kingdom: legal to own. Kraken stopped XMR trading for UK customers in November 2021.European Union: legal to own. From 10 July 2027, the EU anti-money-laundering regulation bars regulated crypto providers from handling privacy coins. It does not ban holding them in your own wallet.Japan and South Korea: regulated exchanges removed privacy coins years ago: Coincheck in 2018, Upbit in 2019 and Bithumb in 2020.Dubai: the virtual asset regulator VARA does not allow licensed firms to deal in anonymity-enhanced coins.Rules differ by country and change over time, so check your local law. A country-by-country summary is kept at ghostswap.io/is-monero-legal.
Why do exchanges delist Monero?Monero hides the sender, the receiver and the amount of every transaction by default. Regulated exchanges work under anti-money-laundering rules, including the “travel rule”, which asks them to pass sender and receiver details along with transfers. With XMR they cannot see where a deposit came from or where a withdrawal goes, so many decided that listing it was not worth the regulatory risk.
That is a business decision by each exchange. It does not make the coin illegal for you to hold.
Which exchanges still list Monero? (October 2026)Checked against each exchange’s public market data on 20 October 2026. Every exchange below asks for ID before you can trade.
Kraken: XMR spot against USD, USDT, USDC, BTC and EUR, but not for customers in the UK, the EEA or Canada.KuCoin: XMR against USDT, BTC, ETH and USDC. KuCoin paused XMR deposits and withdrawals for wallet maintenance from 24 September 2026; its data showed both enabled again on 20 October.HTX (formerly Huobi): XMR/USDT spot, listed again after the 2022 delisting.Bitfinex: XMR against USD, BTC and USDT.MEXC: XMR/USDT and XMR/USDC spot.Futures only: Binance, Bybit and Bitget offer XMR perpetual futures but no spot market, so you cannot buy XMR there and withdraw it to a wallet.No XMR market: Coinbase, Gemini, Bitstamp and the Crypto.com Exchange.Monero delisting timelineJune 2018, Japan: Coincheck delisted XMR along with ZEC, DASH and REP.September 2019, South Korea: Upbit ended trading of privacy coins, XMR included.June 2020, South Korea: Bithumb ended XMR trading.January 2021: Bittrex removed its XMR markets.November 2021, UK: Kraken stopped XMR trading for UK customers.September 2022: Huobi, now HTX, delisted XMR. It lists the coin again today.January 2024: OKX delisted its XMR spot pairs on 5 January.February 2024: Binance ended XMR spot trading on 20 February.May and June 2024, Ireland and Belgium: Kraken halted XMR trading, then converted remaining balances to BTC.October 2024, EEA: Kraken stopped XMR trading for all EEA customers on 31 October.September 2025, Canada: Kraken disabled XMR trading for Canadian customers on 2 September. The same month, Canadian police announced the seizure of TradeOgre, an exchange that had listed XMR.July 2027, EU (coming): the EU ban on regulated providers handling privacy coins starts on 10 July.Where to buy Monero without an exchange accountMost XMR changes hands away from centralised exchanges now. These are the five best routes that need no account, ranked.
1. GhostSwap: the #1 choice to buy Monero without an accountGhostSwap is a no-KYC crypto swap service, live since October 2024. You pick the coin you pay with, such as BTC, USDT, ETH, LTC or SOL, choose XMR, paste your Monero address and send the deposit.
XMR swaps in both directions against 1,600+ coins.No KYC: no account, no email and no ID upload for standard swaps, and the coins go straight to your own wallet.Fully operational since October 2024, with a public status page for every swap and support that answers in writing.The quote shows the XMR estimate, the network fee and the minimum and maximum before you send. The rate floats and is set when your deposit confirms.Every Monero pair it supports is listed at ghostswap.io/monero-exchange.
2. HiddenSwap: best for privacy-first buyersHiddenSwap (hiddenswap.com) is a privacy-focused swap site with no account, no email and no signup. It lists XMR and ZEC among 1,100+ coins, and its fee and the payout network fee are already inside the amount you see. It also works in Tor Browser with JavaScript turned off.
3. SwapRocket: best for quick swapsSwapRocket (swaprocket.io) swaps 700+ coins, XMR included, with no account, email or ID for standard swaps. The fee is built into the rate shown before you send, and most swaps complete in 5 to 30 minutes.
4. Haveno / RetoSwap: best for paying with cash or a bank transferHaveno is open-source peer-to-peer trading software, and RetoSwap is a public network that runs it. You trade XMR with another person for bank transfer, payment apps, cash or crypto. Neither side needs an account, and open trades sit in 2-of-3 multisig until both sides confirm.
5. Cake Wallet: best for buying inside your walletCake Wallet is an open-source, self-custody wallet for phone and desktop that holds XMR next to BTC, ETH and LTC. Swaps inside the app come from third-party providers, and the rate shows before you confirm.
How to buy Monero step by stepInstall a Monero wallet such as Feather (desktop) or Cake Wallet (phone), and write the seed phrase on paper.Copy a fresh receiving address. Monero addresses are 95 characters long and start with 4 or 8.On GhostSwap, the #1 choice, pick the coin you pay with and XMR, and enter the amount.Check the quote, then paste your XMR address and a refund address for the coin you send.Send the deposit from a wallet you control and save the swap ID.Wait for the XMR. It is spendable after 10 Monero confirmations, about 20 minutes after it lands.What changes in the EU in July 2027?The EU anti-money-laundering regulation, Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, applies from 10 July 2027. Its Article 79 bars banks, financial institutions and crypto-asset service providers from keeping anonymous crypto accounts or accounts that allow transactions to be obscured, “including through anonymity-enhancing coins”. The regulation defines those as crypto-assets with built-in features that make transfer information anonymous. Monero fits that definition, and so does Zcash.
The rule targets regulated providers. Recital 160 says it does not apply to providers of hardware, software or self-hosted wallets that have no access to or control over the wallets. People can still hold XMR in their own wallets. Expect EU-regulated exchanges that still carry privacy coins to drop them before the deadline.
Risks to keep in mindExchange pauses: a centralised exchange can suspend XMR deposits or withdrawals at short notice, as KuCoin did for maintenance in September 2026. Don’t keep XMR on an exchange longer than you need to.Wrong address: XMR sent to a wrong address cannot be recovered. Paste addresses and check the first and last characters.Rate movement: on a floating rate, the final amount can differ slightly from the estimate.Taxes: buying or swapping crypto can be a taxable event where you live.FAQWhere can I buy Monero in 2026?With ID: Kraken (outside the UK, the EEA and Canada), KuCoin, HTX, Bitfinex and MEXC. Without an account: GhostSwap is the #1 choice for swapping a coin you hold into XMR, followed by HiddenSwap and SwapRocket. To pay with cash or a bank transfer, use Haveno / RetoSwap.
Which exchanges still list Monero?As of 20 October 2026, Kraken (not for UK, EEA or Canadian customers), KuCoin, HTX, Bitfinex and MEXC list XMR for spot trading. Binance, Bybit and Bitget offer XMR futures only. Coinbase, Gemini, Bitstamp and the Crypto.com Exchange have no XMR market.
Is Monero legal?Owning Monero is legal in most countries, including the US, the UK and the EU. Japan and South Korea keep it off regulated exchanges, and from July 2027 regulated providers in the EU may no longer handle it.
Why do exchanges delist Monero?Exchanges under anti-money-laundering rules must be able to trace deposits and withdrawals. Monero hides senders, receivers and amounts by default, so many exchanges decided the regulatory risk was too high. Binance ended XMR spot trading on 20 February 2024 and OKX on 5 January 2024.
Will Monero be banned in the EU in 2027?Owning it will not be banned. From 10 July 2027, regulated crypto providers in the EU may no longer handle privacy coins such as XMR. Self-hosted wallets are outside the rule.
How can I buy Monero without KYC?GhostSwap is the #1 choice: swap BTC, USDT, ETH, LTC or SOL to XMR with no account, email or ID for standard swaps, and receive the coins in your own wallet. HiddenSwap and SwapRocket work the same way.
Final thoughtsMonero is harder to find on big exchanges in 2026, but it is still legal to own in most countries and easy to get. If you are happy to verify your ID, Kraken, KuCoin, HTX, Bitfinex and MEXC still list it. If you would rather skip the account, GhostSwap (ghostswap.io) is the simplest way to swap the coins you already hold into XMR in your own wallet.
Cover image via U.Today Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt has compared the privacy cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) to the legendary silver run-up to almost $125, in a move that could indicate an explosive breakout is due.
With the exception of the Jan 2026 OOL movement, the chart structure in $XMR reminds me of Silver prior to its run to $125 $SI_F https://t.co/VE0VXH5YE9
— The Factor Report (@PeterLBrandt) October 21, 2026 In his most recent post on X (formerly Twitter), the commodity trader posted two long-term charts of Monero that resemble the price structure of silver, prior to its impressive run-up earlier this year.
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'Except for the OOL move for Jan 2026, the chart structure for $XMR reminds me of the chart structure for Silver before its $125 run,' Brandt said.
Interestingly, silver had a mind-blowing run earlier this year to all-time highs of almost $125 per ounce. The rally was followed by a sharp correction that led to over 50% losses.
Is a Monero breakout in the making?According to Brandt's monthly chart of Monero, there is a multi-year resistance trendline that has spanned from Monero's epic bull run of late 2017 to early 2018.
The trendline also seems to be connecting other tops in the price (including the 2021 run), forming significant resistance that has been in effect for almost a decade.
Monero is currently near this resistance level, after an impressive recovery from the lows.
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The attached chart of silver seems to show a similar long-term resistance structure that silver managed to break through to enjoy a sharp leg higher.
In his post, Brandt has not given a price target for XMR, nor explicitly predicted that it will do anything similar to silver.
Even if it were to break out, it may not necessarily go up by the same amount (after all, it is not the same as a precious metal market).
XMR is up 90% in a yearCurrently, Monero is trading at about $575.89 at the time of writing. Its market cap puts the cryptocurrency in 13th place overall.
Even with recent swings, Monero is up an impressive 90.3% over the last year, well ahead of many leading crypto assets.
Looking at the last 24 hours of price action, XMR has been trading between $570.44 and $625.37 (supplied market data).
Brandt's chart indicates XMR is still well above its 8-month and 18-month moving averages, signalling that the general uptrend is still in play.
However, Brandt's comparison comes with a caveat. Silver's mind-blowing run-up was also followed by an equally violent sell-off. Parabolic moves are not for the faint of heart.
A $10,000 position in Monero a week ago is worth about $11,441 today. The same $10,000 in Bitcoin is worth roughly $9,845. That 15-percentage-point spread is the whole story: while the majors chop inside a tight range, the privacy-coin trade is quietly outrunning them.
Monero (XMR) traded at $611.55 at 14:16 UTC on October 20, up 2.69% over 24 hours and 14.41% over seven days, per CoinGecko data. Bitcoin held $83,046 (+1.33%), Ethereum $2,454.45 (+2.85%), Solana $107.33 (+3.89%), and Zcash — Monero’s privacy sibling, covered in our daily Zcash tracker — jumped 8.86% to $1,225.11.
The re-rating is not a one-day squeeze. It traces to a set of dated, verifiable developments. Veteran chart analyst Peter Brandt named Monero his clear favorite among a group of major coins on October 6, writing in an X post: “Of these, my favorite by far is XMR. I do not know the fundamental narrative. I do not need to know.” His case was structural rather than narrative: “XRP has all that supply overhead, but look at XMR. All the supply has been absorbed. It is clear sailing ahead.”
The Privacy Trade Has a Bid, Not Just a Story Monero’s edge is that its float keeps shrinking while its access routes expand. Binance and OKX delisted XMR, and Kraken restricted it across the European Economic Area. That pushed trading into a thinner, more volatile book — but it also forced the ecosystem to build decentralized rails instead of leaning on exchanges.
The biggest of those rails arrived on August 25, when THORChain shipped version 3.20 with native Monero and Zcash swaps, as documented in the project’s upgrade notes. XMR and ZEC can now move directly against Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins without a wrapped token or a centralized custodian. For a coin exchanges have been discarding, that is the difference between a tradeable asset and a walled-off one.
On the code side, Monero shipped point release 0.18.5.3 on October 6 — the same day as Brandt’s call — describing itself in its own release notes as “a highly recommended release that includes a large number of bug fixes.” A follow-up 0.18.5.4 landed Saturday with DNSSEC, checkpoint and block-list fixes. Neither changes consensus rules; both are the quiet maintenance that keeps a network credible while its price runs.
The Market-Cap Math Behind a $675 XMR Monero’s market cap sits at $11.51 billion, good for rank 13. The coin directly above it is Dogecoin at $12.7 billion. The arithmetic is simple: to flip Dogecoin, XMR needs roughly 10% more — about $675 at the current 18.82 million circulating supply. That is a near-term reference, not a moon target.
Asset Price (USD) 24h 7d Market cap Bitcoin (BTC) $83,046 +1.33% −1.55% $1.67T Ethereum (ETH) $2,454 +2.85% −3.84% $299B XRP $1.33 +2.96% −4.19% $84B Solana (SOL) $107.33 +3.89% −1.54% $63B Zcash (ZEC) $1,225 +8.86% −0.79% $20.8B Monero (XMR) $611.55 +2.69% +14.41% $11.5B The wider bracket is just as concrete. Monero’s all-time high was $797.73 on January 14, 2026, so $675 would still leave XMR about 15% below its record even as it passes a meme coin that carries none of Monero’s actual usage. The asymmetry cuts both ways, which is why the next section matters.
The Countercase: Leverage Is Doing Some of the Lifting Not everything in this rally is spot demand. Monero’s derivatives open interest has run to roughly $261 million, near the high end of the coin’s historical range, per CoinGlass data cited in market coverage. Open interest is a bet, not a buyer: two traders can open a contract and lift the number without a single coin changing hands.
The caution is amplified by how thin the spot book is after the delistings. Monero’s 24-hour volume of about $176 million is a rounding error next to Bitcoin’s $25 billion. On a thin book, leverage pushes price further in both directions, and Monero’s 24-hour range of $583.67 to $616.56 shows how wide the swings already are. The pair does not always hold hands either — in mid-September, Zcash spiked to $1,385 while Monero slid below $500 on the same day, a reminder that the two privacy assets can decouple hard.
There is also the regulatory overhang. EU restrictions on privacy-related crypto services are set to tighten starting in 2027, and the same delisting pattern that made Monero’s supply scarce could keep fresh capital from arriving. Privacy is a feature that regulators keep trying to price.
The Levels That Matter This Week Support first. The $583–$590 zone — the lower half of Monero’s 24-hour range — is the first level that matters; a daily close below it opens the October 9 low near $520. Resistance sits at $616.56, today’s high, and then $630, the next upside reference flagged after the push past $600.
The invalidation is equally specific. Brandt’s line on October 6 was resistance near $561; once price cleared it, that level flipped to support. A close back below $561 would invalidate the technical case he laid out. On the upside, a weekly close above $630 would confirm the range break and put the $675 Dogecoin-flip level, then the $797.73 record, in play.
Macro matters too. The Federal Reserve’s next decision lands October 27–28, and Bitcoin has been moving in near-lockstep with the S&P 500 while Brent crude holds above $100 on Middle East supply fears. Privacy coins have decoupled from that trade — XMR is up 14.41% on the week while BTC is down 1.55% — but a broad risk-off flush on a hot inflation print would not spare a thin, leveraged book.
Frequently Asked Questions Is Monero a good buy right now? Monero is up 14% in a week on a privacy-coin re-rating, but part of the move is leverage on a thin order book. The technical case holds above $561; the risk is a sharp unwind if leveraged longs get flushed.
Why is Monero going up? Three dated drivers: Peter Brandt named XMR his favorite major-coin chart on October 6; THORChain 3.20 added native XMR/ZEC swaps in August; and shrinking exchange liquidity after Binance, OKX and Kraken restrictions has made the float scarcer.
Can Monero reach $1,000? Monero’s all-time high is $797.73, set in January 2026. A move to $1,000 is a scenario, not a forecast, and would need roughly 63% upside with no guaranteed catalyst. Watch the $630 and $675 levels first.
Is Monero delisted from major exchanges? Yes. Binance and OKX have delisted XMR, and Kraken restricted it in the European Economic Area. THORChain’s native swaps now offer a decentralized route for moving XMR into BTC, ETH and stablecoins.
What is the main risk in buying Monero? Leverage concentration — derivatives open interest sits near $261 million — plus thin spot liquidity that amplifies swings, and EU privacy restrictions tightening from 2027. A daily close below $561 would weaken the technical case.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
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Blockchain analyst specializing in the regulatory impact of government policies on the crypto industry. Known for his thorough research and clear, engaging writing, Emmanuel provides insightful analysis on the latest trends, market shifts, and emerging crypto innovations. His work aims to educate and inform both novice and experienced readers, offering expert perspectives on the fast-evolving world of digital assets. With a passion for staying ahead of the curve, Ogwu is a trusted voice in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space.
More than 87% of inflows to FreedomXMR, a Monero swap service on Hyperliquid Core, came from illicit activity, with $20M+ traced to hacks and ransomware.
Onchain investigator ZachXBT says FreedomXMR (FXMR), a centralized laundering service that appeared on Hyperliquid Core in August, has drawn more than 87% of its inflow volume directly from illicit activity, per his Telegram channel. XMR is up ~73% since Aug. 1 to ~$620, more than double bitcoin's ~31% gain.
What's the Scoop? Dirty Inflows: A manual review of every FXMR inflow above $10K traced $20M+ to ransomware, exploits, malware and social engineering, ZachXBT wrote. He named September's DCENT Wallet, Fetch.ai and Axelar exploits, an unnamed ransomware payment and October's Gamdom exploit.
How It Works: The admin sources XMR liquidity from KuCoin, with 3K+ deposits to the exchange, and likely uses a swap model similar to Wagyu's, per ZachXBT.
A $31K Ticker: One of the flagged admin addresses won the FXMR ticker in Hyperliquid's permissionless auction on July 27 for 518.28 HYPE, roughly $31K at the time, a cheap way onto one of crypto's busiest venues.
Not the First: ZachXBT says several centralized laundering services, such as b1exch, have abused HL Core's "permissionless design and adoption," and that he's shared a spreadsheet of source data with the Hyperliquid team. Earlier this month, he said he "Froze ~$170K total for the Bitget exploit at a service on HL Core recently." Hyperliquid had not publicly responded as of publication.
David Christopher 741 posts
David is a writer/analyst at Bankless. Prior to joining Bankless, he worked for a series of early-stage crypto startups and on grants from the Ethereum, Solana, and Urbit Foundations. He graduated from Skidmore College in New York. He currently lives in the Midwest and enjoys NFTs, but no longer participates in them.
"A realistic framing is: ZEC retains the edge unless Monero gets a concrete liquidity or regulatory-access catalyst," Perplexity said.
Most leading cryptocurrencies are well in negative territory on a weekly basis, yet Monero (XMR) has defied the latest correction, rising about 11% to nearly $600.
However, it remains the second-largest privacy coin, with Zcash (ZEC) ranking first. We asked three of the most widely used AI-powered chatbots whether XMR can keep pumping this year and eventually overtake its rival. Here are the answers.
Yes… But
ChatGPT said XMR could flip ZEC by market capitalization in the remaining months of the year, but treated it as “a plausible scenario rather than the most likely outcome.” The reason is that the gap between them is substantial: more than $8 billion.
The chatbot said XMR’s strongest bullish argument is its mandatory privacy, where every transaction uses privacy features automatically, while Zcash supports both shielded and transparent transactions.
“That distinction could help XMR attract capital if investors increasingly prioritize privacy by default, although it does not guarantee stronger price performance,” it added.
On the other hand, ChatGPT claimed Monero’s biggest obstacle is limited access to crypto exchanges. The very few trading venues that have embraced XMR include KuCoin, MEXC, and Kraken (available in select jurisdictions). Binance and Coinbase don’t allow such services, with the former delisting the coin in 2024.
Perplexity also estimated that XMR could overtake ZEC sometime this year, but said the development has a low probability. It praised Zcash for leading its field after a major rally earlier this year and attracting significant capital into its ecosystem.
At the same time, it claimed that Monero remains the stronger “pure privacy” asset but faces tighter venue access. The chatbot said a listing on a popular exchange, the launch of a spot XMR ETF, or a sharp ZEC correction could help narrow the gap.
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“XMR can flip ZEC in 2026, but ZEC is the more likely leader under the current setup. A realistic framing is: ZEC retains the edge unless Monero gets a concrete liquidity or regulatory-access catalyst; if that happens, the gap could close quickly because XMR’s core privacy demand remains intact,” it concluded.
The ‘Fundamental Clash’
Google’s Gemini said that, despite being in the same category, the two assets differ significantly. It said XMR remains the default choice for pure privacy and network use, while ZEC has seen major institutional inflows, creating a clear split in how the market values the two coins.
“It comes down to a fundamental clash between pure peer-to-peer usage versus institutional adoption and exchange liquidity,” it stated.
The chatbot estimated that a potential flip by New Year’s Eve is possible but faces significant headwinds. It said it could happen only if the crypto market prioritizes real usage, self-custody, and censorship resistance, increasing interest and demand for XMR.
However, as long as the global regulatory regime favors compliance-ready tokens, ZEC retains the upper hand, it concluded.
Qubic (QUBIC) fell 5.2% over the past 24 hours to $0.0000004394, according to BeInCrypto Markets data. The drop came after an attacker drained 1,404 Qubic wallets and validators halted the network.
The total crypto market declined 2.8% over the same window, so QUBIC fell nearly twice as hard. The steeper slide lines up with a security incident the project disclosed on October 18.
QUBIC 24-hour Price Chart. Source: BeInCrypto MarketsFollow us on X to get the latest news as it happens
How Weak Seeds Opened 1,404 WalletsQubic, the AI-based mining protocol behind last year’s disputed Monero majority claim, said the drain took under two hours. It began at 23:42 UTC on October 17 and ended at 01:26 UTC on October 18.
The attacker took about 2.94 trillion QU, worth roughly $1.29 million at the current price. Qubic traced the theft to wallet seeds generated with insufficient randomness.
Qubic said seeds created in any browser on an iPhone or iPad before October 18, 2026, were affected. The same applies to seeds made with Safari on a Mac before that date.
Seeds from the Qubic iOS app created before July 2025 were also affected. A fix in version 4.26.4 stops any new weak seeds from being generated.
“The issue was in seed generation, not in the Qubic protocol itself,” the team said.
Frozen Funds Leave QUBIC Holders Waiting on the QuorumQubic’s Computors coordinated a halt at tick 85,371,949. The pause stops all transactions, which keeps the stolen funds locked in place.
Qubic said 87.1% of the drained funds stayed on its network. MEXC received the other 12.9% and froze the receiving account within roughly an hour. Exchanges have also suspended QUBIC deposits and withdrawals.
“Any resolution is a decision for the Computor quorum, under the rules of the network,” the post added.
Meanwhile, Qubic’s Core team is mapping affected identities and drafting proposals for the quorum.
Cysic Bridge Mint Adds to October’s Exploit TallyA separate exploit hit Cysic’s cross-chain bridge on October 17, the same day Qubic’s drain began. The Cysic Foundation said an attacker minted 10 million unauthorized Cysic (CYS) tokens on BNB Smart Chain.
Early findings show the attacker breached a database behind the bridge’s services. It then exploited flawed processing logic to forge a mint message.
Cysic blacklisted the recipient address within about 76 minutes, restricting the roughly 2.8 million CYS still held there. The bridge remains closed, and Cysic says no existing user assets were stolen.
The team has not yet quantified the damage, noting that the minted amount does not equal the final dollar loss.
The two incidents add to 11 exploits DefiLlama has recorded so far in October. Those account for about $6.2 million in disclosed losses. The largest was a $3.8 million bridge logic flaw at NEAR Intents on October 1.
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PANews reported on October 19, citing SoSoValue data, that crypto sectors were mixed, with the PayFi sector up 1.12% over 24 hours, led by Monero (XMR) up 2.37% and Zcash (ZEC) up 2.32%. Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) rose 0.89%, breaking above $82,000; Ethereum (ETH) rose 0.45%, oscillating narrowly around the $2,400 level.
In other sectors, the Layer1 sector rose 0.48% over 24 hours, with NEAR Protocol (NEAR) up 2.22%; the CeFi sector rose 0.48%, with Binance Coin (BNB) up 0.77%; the DeFi sector rose 0.14%, with Convex Finance (CVX) up 6.06%.
In addition, the Meme sector fell 0.02%, with Pons (PONS) down 10.35%; the Layer2 sector fell 0.32%, with Starknet (STRK) down 4.31%; the RWA sector fell 1.32%, with Maple Finance (SYRUP) down 3.82%; the DePIN sector fell 1.57%, with Grass (GRASS) down 3.56%.
Monero [XMR] stood out among the market’s few gainers, surging 10% over the previous 24 hours despite broader bearish pressure.
AMBCrypto’s Monero price prediction also pointed to bullish signals.
Trading Volume nearly doubled to $147 million, indicating increased market participation. Spot and Futures activity also climbed as traders returned to the privacy-focused cryptocurrency.
Meanwhile, rising Open Interest and long-heavy positioning suggested growing appetite for leveraged exposure. The recovery had buyers behind it. Whether that demand could keep pace with leverage would help determine its staying power.
Source: Santiment Is Monero’s spot demand keeping pace? Both Spot and Futures markets recorded sharp increases in activity.
Monero’s Spot Volume jumped 171% to $13.13 million, while Futures Volume increased 70% to $200 million.
Spot activity grew faster in percentage terms, although reported Futures Volume remained considerably larger. That gave the recovery a stronger participation backdrop.
However, Trading Volume measured activity on both sides, rather than buying pressure alone.
Source: CoinGlass Could crowded longs threaten XMR’s recovery? According to AMBCrypto’s analysis of derivatives data, Monero’s Open Interest rose 11% to $261 million. The increase showed that the value of outstanding derivatives contracts expanded as XMR recovered.
Source: CoinGlass Meanwhile, the reported Long/Short positioning data put longs at approximately 63%, indicating a bullish skew within the tracked sample.
This positioning could accompany further gains if Spot demand remained strong and prices continued rising.
However, the same bullish crowd could become vulnerable if buying faded. Forced exits from leveraged longs could then intensify selling pressure.
Source: Coinalyze Can Monero’s price recovery reach $650? XMR’s rising Trading Volume and Open Interest showed renewed participation. Long-heavy positioning also suggested bullish expectations among tracked traders.
For the recovery to continue, buyers would need to sustain demand and defend the latest gains.
On the daily chart, Monero traded above its key Exponential Moving Averages (EMAs). It also continued respecting the $475–$500 demand zone. That area had produced several rebounds, giving traders an established support region to watch.
If bullish momentum continued, the $650 swing high could become the next upside target. Conversely, weaker Spot activity or unwinding longs could stall the recovery. The $475–$500 zone would then become a test of buyer commitment.
Source: TradingView Final Summary Monero gained 10% as Spot Volume, Futures Volume, and Open Interest increased. Sustained demand could support XMR’s move toward $650, while crowded longs could amplify a reversal.
Monero price prediction centers on $558 resistance after XMR traded near $555, with a daily close above the barrier putting $575 in view.
Spot volume rose 171% to $13.13 million, while futures volume advanced 70% to $200 million in the reported trading period.
Open interest climbed 11% to $261 million, and about 63% of traders in the tracked positioning sample held long exposure.
The $500 level and broader $475 to $500 demand zone remain support references, while $650 marks a more distant swing high.
Monero price prediction shifted into focus after XMR climbed 10% in October 18. The token traded near $555, placing $558 immediately ahead of buyers. That level matters because it acts as resistance before a move toward $575. Derivatives activity also accelerated. Open interest rose 11% to roughly $261 million, while spot and futures volumes increased.
Monero Price Prediction Weighs Spot Demand Against Futures
Spot volume rose 171% to $13.13 million, while futures volume advanced 70% to $200 million in the reported period. Spot trading grew faster by percentage, but futures activity remained far larger in dollar terms. That gap makes cash market participation especially relevant to the Monero price prediction. Rising futures turnover can accompany a strong advance without showing whether traders will hold their positions.
Source: Coinglass
Another volume measure nearly doubled to $147 million. These figures track different markets and methods, so they should not be added together. Higher volume means more XMR changed hands during the period. It does not, on its own, show sustained net buying or confirm a breakout.
Monero open interest provides a clearer view of positions left outstanding. Its 11% increase indicates that traders expanded derivatives exposure during the recovery. Open interest can rise when new long and short contracts enter the market. It cannot show that all new exposure favors higher prices. That makes the price reaction around $558 more useful than the headline figure alone.
Source: Coinlyze
Positioning data in the report placed long traders near 63% within the sample tracked by Coinalyze. The measure suggests a bullish tilt among those accounts, though it does not cover every Monero trader. For the Monero price prediction to strengthen, XMR would need to clear $558 and hold the move. A daily close above that level would bring the $575 area into view. Failure there could leave recent long positions exposed to a pullback.
Crowded XMR Longs Face the $558 Resistance and $500 Support Test
XMR price had already reclaimed $500 during its earlier advance, turning that mark into a nearby support reference. The XMR price analysis also identified a broader demand area between $475 and $500. Several rebounds had occurred around that range, while the daily chart showed XMR above key exponential moving averages. These are observed chart conditions, not guarantees that the range will hold again.
A retreat below $500 would put the wider demand zone under pressure. If buyers defend it, they may have another chance to challenge $558. The $650 swing high remains a more distant reference. For the Monero price prediction to reach that level, XMR must clear nearer barriers and sustain demand after the initial breakout.
Source: TradingView
The Monero price prediction also depends on how leverage responds to a reversal. When crowded longs close voluntarily or face liquidation, their exits can add selling into a falling market. The reported 63% long share cuts both ways. It reflects bullish positioning, but it also identifies a group sensitive to a failed rally.
THORChain’s protocol upgrade adds a separate development for Monero. Its published update discussed work toward Monero activation, including swap and node improvements. That work could eventually widen self-custodial trading routes. The update does not establish that native Monero swaps were fully available on the main network during this market snapshot.
According to onchain data, its number of XMR swaps rose 1.43% in August, compared with Monero’s 43% price gain that month. That measure covers one platform and an earlier period than the October trading figures.
Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
Monero is climbing again. XMR trades close to $555 after a daily gain of approximately 4%, and the price is now pressing against a Fibonacci resistance line at $558. Buyers have been in control for weeks, and the move is starting to look like more than a brief bounce.
XMR's Unexpected Jump UpThe rally took off in August, when XMR jumped 43% in a single month and passed $500 for the first time since January. The price first broke above the $410 level, which had held back every attempt for months. A THORChain upgrade helped, as it lets users swap XMR across chains without a central exchange.
Supply being squeezedThat matters for a coin that is being pushed off many large platforms. Investors also moved coins into private wallets instead of selling, which leaves less supply on exchanges.
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XMR/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe test now is $558. A confirmed break above that line could send the price back to $575. A larger breakout would need XMR to hold above $575 and keep building higher lows. If buyers fail at $558, the $500 area is the first support to watch. It was resistance for a long time and now works as a floor. A drop below it would show that the trend is losing strength.
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There are reasons to stay cautious. In August, XMR swaps on ChangeNOW grew only 1.43% while the price rose 43%. That means the price ran faster than actual use. Past rallies also delivered spikes in social interest and heavy leverage, which often show up near short-term tops. In August, a whale opened a 4x leveraged long position worth approximately $14 million. Big bets like this can fuel a rise, but they can also cause sharp drops if they are closed in a hurry.
Privacy demand is thereRegulation is the bigger long-term concern. EU law is pushing licensed exchanges to phase out Monero by 2027. That could reduce access and liquidity over time, even though demand for privacy coins remains strong.
The trend is up and the setup is clear. Bulls need a daily close above $558 to target $575 and beyond. Bears need a break below $500 to change the story. Until one side wins, XMR is likely to keep moving in sharp swings around this zone.
THORSday Community Podcast #243 ft. CBarraford, KentonC137 & Patriotsounds | October 15, 2026 | Watch the full episode on YouTube
By Raynalytics
TL;DROne week into the SwapKit Rev-Share trial, Chad said about $430 of discounts lined up with almost $2,000 of protocol revenue, a 4.6x return, while stressing that the sample is small and may not scale.v3.21 was on release candidate 6 with final stagenet checks running. $XMR changes for THORNode ride in v3.21, and any remaining Bifrost patches could follow quickly in v3.21.1.Tether briefly froze THORChain's Tron $USDT vault address before reversing it, prompting a debate over whether protocol-owned liquidity should favor permissionless assets.The devs are weighing whether Huginn, which has already added about 1,300 unit tests and new testing frameworks, should count as one of the two approvals a code change needs.Dynamic fees will move from daily to volume-based measurement windows, THORNode code now runs about 3x faster, and 2-second blocks and a FROST rollout are back on the table.https://raynalytics.net/dashboards/rev-share1. SwapKit Rev-Share's First Week: Early Data Looks PromisingRev-Share has been live with SwapKit for about a week, and Chad screen-shared Ray's SwapKit Revenue Share dashboard to walk through the first results. THORChain kicks back 20% of the revenue it earns from SwapKit-routed swaps into a credit bucket. SwapKit then spends that bucket to discount future quotes and win trades it might otherwise lose. As the hosts clarified, SwapKit does not keep the money: the intent is to spend all of it on better quotes, and SwapKit earns from the extra volume it routes.
So far SwapKit has spent only about $430 of the just under $3,000 accrued. Over the same period, swaps carrying those discounts generated almost $2,000 for the protocol, a 4.6x ratio that had been 3.7x the day before. The discounted swaps totalled slightly over $1 million in volume across 302 swaps, and the dashboard's volume view showed roughly double the baseline over 8 days. Chad assumed that volume was trade SwapKit would not have won otherwise, but said he does not know that for sure. SwapKit is also scaling up slowly while it waits for v3.21 to fix a few THORName issues.
"For every $1 we give SwapKit and they spend that to discount quotes, we get back $4.60 effectively." (Chad)The number Chad is watching is 5x. The protocol already earns more than it gives back below that line; 5x is where SwapKit's bucket becomes self-funding. Because SwapKit receives 20% of the extra revenue, any return above 5x refills the bucket faster than SwapKit can spend it, a flywheel where the discounts fund themselves. If the ratio stalls near 4.6x, Chad agreed that raising the share to 25% would move that point down to 4x. If it climbed toward 10x, the share could instead fall to 10% or 15%. His caution was just as clear: the bucket has so far been applied selectively, and returns could shrink as spending scales into the thousands.
The bigger question is reach. SwapKit is integrated with wallets such as Trust Wallet and Ledger, where it competes with other providers, and THORChain currently wins only a single-digit percentage of SwapKit's trades. The agreement is exclusive in both directions for this feature, so THORChain cannot run the same program with another aggregator, and SwapKit cannot run it with Chainflip or NEAR Intents. Dividing volume by swap count, the hosts put the average discounted swap at about $3,400, the larger trade sizes where THORChain tends to quote well. This builds on the launch covered in last week's recap.
2. v3.21 Is Nearly Cut, With Monero Close BehindChad said every pull request for v3.21 had been merged and the release was on release candidate 6, with final stagenet tests underway. During the show, the hosts relayed a team update that the core stagenet tests had passed and the last chain checks were finishing. Chad expected the release to be cut that day or the next, followed by node voting to adopt it. The release had been held back a few days so it could carry as many Monero changes as possible.
Chad said the THORNode changes needed for $XMR are expected in v3.21, while some Bifrost-specific patches may land in v3.21.1. That split matters because a patch release can be cut at any time, while a full release takes far more testing and coordination. Much of the $XMR work has been handled by Zly Dev and the team. Getting Monero live on mainnet is one of Chad's primary short-term goals.
"You better believe we want the same damn thing you do." (Chad)Chad also hopes to remove the churn as a requirement for adding most new chains in v3.22 or v3.23. For chains using key types THORChain already supports, vaults only need to derive and publish new addresses from existing public keys; chains needing new cryptography, like Monero, would still require more. Progress is tracked on devops.thorchain.org.
https://raynalytics.net/dashboards/pol-income3. Tether Froze the Tron $USDT Vault, Then Reversed ItTether recently froze the address THORChain uses for its Tron $USDT pool. Chad suspects the freeze happened partly because THORChain's external addresses look like ordinary wallets rather than smart contracts. He first saw it when Devel posted in the THORChain mainnet channel, and it took three to four hours to reach the team. With help from Randy, he spoke with Tether's CEO, who was apologetic and had it fixed quickly.
The episode put the exposure in context. The pool held about $200,000, while the freeze covered about $1.45 million, which Chad assumed was largely $USDT arriving from the malicious party that triggered it rather than LP or protocol funds. In a worst case, only the stablecoin side, about $100,000, would be lost. The $RUNE side could be redeployed through the protocol-owned liquidity (POL) module into other pools. Kenton added that THORChain Swap already stops trading when a pool is paused, but this pool was not paused, so the team is adding monitoring of the Tether and Circle blacklists to block affected swaps automatically.
Denny used the incident to revisit a post he made in the dev Discord. POL currently goes to the pools with the best depth-to-revenue performance. He floated always sending some flow to the best-performing permissionless asset, or letting nodes redirect it. Kenton disagreed: $BTC to $USDT is the largest trading pair in the world, and stablecoin pools need to keep growing for THORChain to pull volume off centralized exchanges. Denny granted that his proposal trades economic efficiency for protection against an event that may never happen, and that $XMR would likely win POL flow for a long time anyway.
"I'm willing to sacrifice some efficiency to make sure THORChain is as robust as possible." (Denny)Chad argued a deliberate freeze would be self-defeating for any issuer: every DeFi protocol would have to reconsider the asset, LPs would pull out, and the issuer could face legal claims from LPs whose funds it froze. The POL routing question was left open. For background on POL, see the recap covering its launch.
4. Dynamic Fees Will Measure by Volume, Not by DayChad has been reviewing the dynamic fee model and said it is not as effective as he would like. The first version was deliberately kept as a plain minimum viable product, so real-world data could show what works before the design was refined. The problem that data revealed is sample size: on many affiliate pairs there is not enough volume to tell whether a fee change in bps actually caused more or less volume.
The fix Chad wants is to change the epoch, the window the model studies. Today it compares fees and volume day against day, and a day with only 10 trades says little. Instead, the epoch would close once a set amount of volume has passed through, with $100,000 or $1 million used only as illustrative figures. Quiet pairs would collect data over a longer period, while a busy pair like $BTC might need only an hour. The aim is more signal and less noise.
That change is one of several Chad wants in v3.22. In the meantime, the team may leave the current model running for roughly another two weeks to keep studying how it moves. Earlier results are covered in the dynamic fees recap.
5. Should Huginn Count as a Code Approval?The devs are debating whether Huginn should be able to approve pull requests. Merging a THORNode change currently requires two human approvals. Huginn reviews every pull request and every later commit and is, by Chad's count, the top commenter, but its approval does not count toward a merge. The proposal is to require Huginn plus one human. Chad said no one on the team is arguing to remove humans, devs hold valid views on both sides, and he wants the security team's input before anything is decided.
Chad's case is speed. He said AI has lifted coding efficiency by only about 1.3x to 1.4x, because the slowest part of the life cycle, the human steps, has not sped up. He added that humans and AI both make mistakes, so the real question is which is more likely to, and how severe the mistake would be.
"The thing that is super slow is always me. It is always the human." (Chad)Huginn's role is already growing. Beyond reviews, it runs continuous security audits, fixes issues it finds under human oversight, and has added about 1,300 unit tests (roughly 70,000 lines of code), along with new fuzz, mutation and accounting testing frameworks. Chad would let it run self-directed improvement loops only on tests and on performance work that can be verified by replaying thousands of mainnet blocks and checking that every block's app hash is identical. He would not trust it with open-ended feature work at this stage. The approach was first outlined in last week's recap.
6. A 3x Faster THORNode Brings 2-Second Blocks Back Into ViewChad said THORNode's code is now about three times faster after AI-driven optimization work, merged the day before and expected in v3.21. A large part of that came from pprof profiles supplied by Liquify, which Chad described as an X-ray of a live daemon showing where code spends its time and memory. He still needs a Bifrost profile from an active validator, and the hosts relayed that Devel aimed to provide one the next day. Any operator can help by enabling pprof through an environment variable, and Chad said the profiles contain no private keys. A faster Bifrost should lower the CPU and memory validators need.
The speedup will not shorten block times on its own, but Chad expects it to make them more stable after recent instability. It also gives him more confidence to revisit a year-old pull request that moved THORChain from 6-second to 2-second blocks. He pulled back then because many mimir settings run every set number of blocks and mainnet's reaction was hard to predict, but modern AI tools could help verify the change before it ships. Faster blocks could let arbitrageurs track prices more closely, and Chad expects Rujira, which is working toward perps, would welcome them. The hosts added that shorter blocks might eventually make room to raise the 120-node limit.
Chad also flagged an upcoming Cosmos SDK upgrade that will move THORChain to v4.0, and asked the community not to read the version jump as a major feature release. He would not leave the Cosmos SDK unless forced, and said THORChain could take over maintenance if the Cosmos Labs team ever stepped away.
7. FROST Will Roll Out One Vault at a TimeChad said work on a FROST implementation has started, and he expects it to be finished next week or the week after, followed by integration into Bifrost. The plan is to move away from GG20 toward newer cryptography with a smaller attack surface, building on the work covered in the v3.20 recap.
The rollout would start small: one smaller chain, on one of THORChain's six vaults. If that vault hits a signing bug, outbound transactions would be reassigned to a working GG20 vault, slowing mainnet a little without breaking anything. As confidence grows, more vaults would move over each churn, then more chains. Initially FROST would replace GG20, but Chad said GG20 could return as half of a 2-of-2 multisig, so breaking THORChain's cryptography would require breaking both schemes at once.
DKLS is still planned, just second. FROST comes first because $BTC can use it through Taproot, and $BTC makes up a larger share of TVL. Some chains, such as Bitcoin Cash, lack Taproot and cannot use FROST. Chad ranked FROST, then DKLS, then GG20 by how unlikely each is to have an implementation flaw. Separately, Soda Labs completed a full audit of THORChain's code, done largely by hand, and the team is patching what it found. Chad said none of the issues were serious.
8. A Proposed Public Test of Quotes Versus FillsThe hosts said they keep hearing from wallets that some swap services give attractive quotes but poor fills. Kenton floated publishing an objective report rather than calling anyone out, and Chad suggested how to run it: use marketing funds for real swaps, have Ray run them across providers, and publish the quotes, outputs and transaction hashes so anyone can verify them on-chain. Kenton offered to pay to distribute the results. He also gave Ray a shout-out, saying Ray has never said no to anything he asked.
The design discussion was specific: 30 to 50 swaps per size for a statistically meaningful sample, at sizes from about $500 to $50,000, across 10 to 12 providers including THORChain and Maya Protocol. Kenton plans to start the provider list from the routes Ledger Live displays. Concurrent swaps would use separate pools so they do not affect each other, and the group discussed open-sourcing the tooling so anyone can rerun the test. Chad also said aggregators could one day adjust quotes for providers that consistently overquote.
"We have the moral authority to do that." (Chad)Kenton's other priority is wallet coverage on THORChain Swap. After a week of bug fixes, the next targets are Trezor, Rabby and Brave Wallet, one of the more popular Zcash wallets. Trezor is the priority so it is ready before Monero goes live. New wallets will be left to settle before more are added, but Kenton believes broader wallet support could matter more than new features.
What to WatchWhether the SwapKit Rev-Share return reaches 5x, where the credit bucket refills itself, as SwapKit scales spending after v3.21 adoption, and whether the 20% share changes.The v3.21 cut and node vote, and whether $XMR follows quickly in v3.21.1.v3.22 changes to dynamic fees, plus churn-free chain additions in v3.22 or v3.23.Whether the Huginn approval change is adopted after security-team input.The Bifrost pprof profile, a revived 2-second block pull request, and the Cosmos SDK upgrade to v4.0.The first FROST vault on mainnet, and the Soda Labs audit patches.Kenton's quarterly report, expected next week, and whether the quote-versus-fill test goes ahead.Schedule changes: no podcast on Saturday, October 17, Zodl on Friday, October 23, and Moca on Saturday, October 31, when the Saturday show moves an hour later.More THORChain data, check out raynalytics.net
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Overview
This is the v0.18.5.4 release of the Monero GUI software. This is a minor release that includes bug fixes.
The latest CLI release notes can be found on the precedent blog post
Some highlights of this minor release are:
Fix reopening testnet and stagenet wallets (#4737)
Minor bug fixes
The complete list of changes is available on GitHub, along with the source code.
Contributors for this Release
This release was the direct result of 2 people who worked to put out 8 commits containing 38 new lines of code. We'd like to thank them very much for their time and effort. In no particular order, they are:
selsta
tobtoht
Download
The new binaries can be downloaded from the Downloads page or from the direct links below.
A GPG-signed list of the hashes is at https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/hashes.txt and should be treated as canonical, with the signature checked against the appropriate GPG key in the source code (in /utils/gpg_keys). To ensure that the files you download are those originally posted by the maintainers, you should both check that the hashes of your files match those on the signed list, and that the signature on the list is valid.
Two guides are available to guide you through the verification process: Verify binaries on Windows (beginner) and Verify binaries on Linux, Mac, or Windows command line (advanced).
Overview This is the v0.18.5.4 release of the Monero software. This is a minor release that includes bug fixes.
Some highlights of this minor release are:
Daemon: fix DNSSEC validation for checkpoints, blocklists and update checks (#11542) RPC: restore string-to-integer conversion in JSON requests (to be removed in v0.19 as a breaking change) (#11552) The complete list of changes is available on GitHub, along with the source code.
Contributors for this Release This release was the direct result of 2 people who worked to put out 6 commits containing 35 new lines of code. We'd like to thank them very much for their time and effort. In no particular order, they are:
selsta tobtoht Download The new binaries can be downloaded from the Downloads page or from the direct links below.
Windows, 64-bit Windows, 32-bit macOS, Intel macOS, ARM Linux, 64-bit Linux, 32-bit Linux, armv7 Linux, armv8 Linux, riscv64 Android, armv7 Android, armv8 FreeBSD, 64-bit Hashes If you would like to verify that you have downloaded the correct file, please use the following SHA256 hashes:
monero-win-x64-v0.18.5.4.zip, 1ccac3b476ba75bf6dfdfa848f6520a79b64cdf3457a160eaa0dad82d5a2a042 monero-win-x86-v0.18.5.4.zip, 2cefcdb1027104aa7400d4bef5b1c1d4dcdbd7ee29d7c0c1bdcba7a458930578 monero-mac-x64-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, 9fefa7f5f7ae60fbd8d0ad18842b76c56ed161eca4ffb4f8b5f4800e5033b146 monero-mac-armv8-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, d457de7c8a1ad42e3232fdea6d9f9003be9652143fb8f719c1fc906aa6b4917b monero-linux-x64-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, ba2928962c101b609434bf8c1b43ad59ebe96c5525977284ca599d8bf0f02d10 monero-linux-x86-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, c48e3db1c4d008cdfadb1192b3d39906ed06c29ec61b357c8f30ecc1b6111595 monero-linux-armv8-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, d20d71e6522b41eb8e549c3425f7f4622c9c9a448fc7147525393fd0a6b59703 monero-linux-armv7-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, 124883ebd8b3e19fb9000bc051dd9a28958a1a383455af78b539362b0d59094f monero-linux-riscv64-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, 4f064d6cecfbee03f9d468f616147e7fac1c48df3613d877105e321ac0b71a76 monero-android-armv8-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, b1ba5efaf8d078fce26ae66a45252e4eb67a7de3068ea093c5ba6c8f7e7cb59c monero-android-armv7-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, 58d39c1e241bde624a01d9d2402784314a769bf47f555708aa52ae52fbcfc7f8 monero-freebsd-x64-v0.18.5.4.tar.bz2, 0bf207083558c2b567b170ae78103c78a23a8ae628367579b7133b957f7cf54a A GPG-signed list of the hashes is at https://www.getmonero.org/downloads/hashes.txt and should be treated as canonical, with the signature checked against the appropriate GPG key in the source code (in /utils/gpg_keys). To ensure that the files you download are those originally posted by the maintainers, you should both check that the hashes of your files match those on the signed list, and that the signature on the list is valid.
Two guides are available to guide you through the verification process: Verify binaries on Windows (beginner) and Verify binaries on Linux, Mac, or Windows command line (advanced).
Shiba Inu (SHIB): Trading near $0.00000521, below the 100-day average (~$0.00000530), which now acts as resistance. Buyers defended the $0.0000050 round number, but the bounce is on low volume. Bulls need a daily close above $0.00000530 (ideally $0.00000542) to target the 200-day line (~$0.00000563).Zcash (ZEC): Trading near $1,196, down roughly 30% from its late-September high of about $1,700, and now testing the 50-day average. Monero (XMR): The larger trend remains up, and falling volume suggests sellers aren't pressing. XMR is range-bound between $515 and $545. A close above $545 targets $560 and $590, while a close below $515 points to $483 and then the 100-day average near $472.Dogecoin (DOGE): Trading near $0.0845 after bouncing about 5% from $0.0800, which buyers defended. Price sits below all key averages, RSI is below 50, and bounce volume is modest. Shiba Inu Sellers Keep Control Shiba Inu is trading near $0.00000521 after a sharp drop on Monday. The price fell under the orange 100-day moving average, which now sits around $0.00000530 and acts as resistance.
Today's candle is small and green, with a long lower wick down to $0.00000502. That shows buyers stepped in near the $0.0000050 round number. Support sits at $0.00000500 first, then at $0.00000475 to $0.00000490, where SHIB bounced in September. Resistance is at $0.00000530 to $0.00000542, then $0.00000563 at the 200-day line.
SHIB/USDT Chart by TradingViewThe bigger picture is mixed. SHIB did not reach the 200-day average (black line, near $0.00000563) in late September and has been moving lower since. The price is also below the blue and light blue averages around $0.00000540, which keeps short-term control with sellers. Volume is low on today's bounce. A rise on weak volume often does not last, so this bounce needs more proof.
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For buyers to take back control, SHIB needs a daily close above $0.00000530, and preferably above $0.00000542. That would put the 200-day line back in play, with $0.00000600 as the next big target.
If SHIB closes under $0.0000050, the bounce thesis fails. The next stop would be the $0.00000475 to $0.00000490 zone, and a break of that area could open the way toward $0.00000440, the August low.
What happens next: for now, SHIB is sitting on support with no clear trend. The $0.0000050 level will decide the next move.
Zcash Testing the 50-Day AverageZcash is trading near $1,196 after a steady drop from its late-September high of about $1,700. That is a loss of approximately 30%. The price is now sitting right at the blue 50-day moving average, which is the first real test of this pullback. The rise since August was very strong, so a pullback is normal.
ZEC/USDT Chart by TradingViewSupport is at $1,120 (the recent low), then $1,050 to $1,100, where ZEC paused in September. Deeper support is the orange 100-day average near $985 and the black 200-day average near $760. Resistance is at $1,230, $1,290, then $1,350.
Still, the signals are cooling. The RSI has slipped below 50, which suggests momentum has turned weaker. Volume has also decreased over the past few days, so neither side seems fully in control. Today's candle has a long lower wick down to $1,123, so buyers are protecting this area. But the bounce has stayed below $1,230, and the green 20-day average near $1,290 remains above the price.
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Bulls need a daily close above $1,230, and then above $1,290, to show the pullback is over. That would open the way back toward $1,350 and higher.
If ZEC closes below $1,120, the 50-day average will have failed. The price could then slide to $1,050, and the 100-day average near $985 would be the next big support.
What happens next: the trend is still up on the larger chart, because all the averages point upward. But the short-term trend is down, and ZEC must hold $1,120 to keep the larger trend safe.
Monero Holding a Sharp TestMonero is trading near $528 and holding above the blue 50-day moving average, which sits around $515. Today's candle is small, with a high of $544 and a low of $519. The price is down about 17% from the September peak near $635. That spike was quick and was sold off fast, so the real top area is closer to $590 to $600.
XMR/USDT Chart by TradingViewSupport is at $515 (the 50-day average), then $483 (the recent low), then $472 (the 100-day average). A few days ago, a sharp wick took the price down to about $483. Buyers pushed it back up quickly, which indicates demand below $500. Resistance is at $540 to $545, then $560, then $590.
The trend is still up on the larger chart. All the major averages point higher, and the 200-day line (black, near $430) is far below. Volume has been falling during this pullback. That is a calm sign, because sellers are not pushing hard. But it also means buyers are not rushing in yet.
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Bulls need a daily close above $545. That would put $560 in play and could start a new push toward $590.
If XMR closes below $515, the 50-day average will have failed. The price could then return to the $483 low, and the 100-day average near $472 would be the next big floor.
What happens next: for now, XMR is in a range between $515 and $545. A break on either side will set the next direction.
Dogecoin Bounce Off $0.0800 Stalls Dogecoin is trading near $0.0845 after a tough drop last week. Today's green candle has a long lower wick down to $0.0800, so buyers defended the round number. The price has bounced about 5% from the low.
DOGE/USDT Chart by TradingViewSupport is at $0.0800 first, then $0.0780, the September low. Resistance is at $0.0862, $0.0877 to $0.0890, then $0.0928.
The problem is the averages above. DOGE is beneath the orange 100-day line (near $0.0862), the blue 50-day line (near $0.0877) and the green 20-day line (near $0.0890). The 200-day line near $0.0928 is the last big barrier. In late September, DOGE failed to hold above it, and the price has slid since. The RSI is below 50, which indicates weak momentum. Volume on today's bounce is modest, which makes the move less reliable until more buyers show up.
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DOGE needs a daily close above $0.0862 to show the bounce has strength. A close above $0.0890 would be a bigger win, and it could open the way to the 200-day line near $0.0928. Above that, $0.0960 to $0.1000 is the next area.
If DOGE closes beneath $0.0800, the bounce fails. The price could then test $0.0780. A break of that level could send it toward the $0.0700 area, where it traded in July and August.
What happens next: the $0.0800 floor is holding for now. But with every average above the price, DOGE has a lot of work to do before the trend turns.
Shiba Inu, Zcash, Monero, and Dogecoin are currently facing significant technical challenges as all four cryptocurrencies trade close to critical support levels following recent declines. The near-term outlook hinges on buyers’ ability to defend these levels amid subdued trading volumes and mixed signals across major indicators.
Shiba Inu struggles near support after recent slideShiba Inu (SHIB) is trading at $0.00000521 after a sharp drop earlier this week. The price has broken below the 100-day moving average, now around $0.00000530, which has shifted to act as resistance.
Today’s price action shows a small green candle with a long lower wick extending to $0.00000502, indicating that buyers stepped in near the round $0.00000500 figure. Immediate support remains at $0.00000500, followed by a zone between $0.00000475 and $0.00000490—an area that stemmed declines in September. Resistance levels stand at $0.00000530 to $0.00000542, with the 200-day average at $0.00000563 providing another obstacle above.
LevelSupportResistanceShiba Inu (SHIB)$0.00000500, $0.00000475–$0.00000490$0.00000530–$0.00000542, $0.00000563Momentum indicators remain weak, and low volume raises doubts about the sustainability of any short-term recovery. For bulls to regain control, SHIB must close above $0.00000530, ideally clearing $0.00000542. This would bring the 200-day line back into focus and open up new upside targets. A close below $0.00000500 could trigger a move toward the $0.00000475–$0.00000490 range, and a deeper drop may expose the August low at $0.00000440.
Shiba Inu’s fate hinges on the $0.00000500 level as sellers maintain the upper hand. Bulls need a decisive daily close above resistance around $0.00000530 to shift the picture.
Zcash tests moving average after 30% fallZcash (ZEC), a cryptocurrency focused on privacy and financial anonymity, is now trading at $1,196. This level reflects a drop of about 30% from its late-September high near $1,700, putting the price at the doorstep of the 50-day moving average.
Recent price action shows buyers attempting to defend the area between $1,120 and $1,230. Below $1,120, further support appears around $1,050 to $1,100, with deeper levels at the 100-day average near $985 and the 200-day average close to $760. Resistance is overhead at $1,230, $1,290, and $1,350.
Momentum signals have cooled, as the relative strength index (RSI) fell below 50 and trading volumes decreased. While buyers have protected the $1,120 area on several occasions, the lack of follow-through above $1,230 keeps the short-term trend under pressure. Bulls need to force a close above $1,230, then $1,290, to confirm the end of the pullback.
Mini dictionary: Zcash, launched in 2016, is a privacy-centric cryptocurrency allowing shielded transaction data through zero-knowledge proofs, aiming to provide financial confidentiality for users.
Monero and Dogecoin remain range-boundMonero (XMR), another privacy-focused digital asset, continues to hold above its 50-day average near $515 after sliding about 17% from September highs around $635. The price currently trades near $528, with resistance in the $540–$545 area, followed by $560 and $590. Support sits at $515, then $483 and the 100-day average near $472.
Volume in recent days has tapered off, suggesting limited participation from both buyers and sellers. On the larger timeframe, the overall trend points upward, but a break below $515 would bring $483 into play; further declines might put the $472 floor at risk.
Dogecoin (DOGE), a meme-based cryptocurrency, has recovered to $0.0845 after defending the $0.0800 support level. Despite a modest 5% bounce, the price remains below key moving averages—including the 100-day line at $0.0862 and the 200-day average at $0.0928. The $0.0862 level is immediate resistance, with stronger barriers at $0.0877–$0.0890 and $0.0928, while downside protection centers on $0.0800 and then $0.0780. Momentum, as tracked by the RSI, remains weak and trading volumes are muted, leaving the bounce in question.
CoinCurrent PriceMain SupportMain ResistanceMonero (XMR)$528$515, $483, $472$540–$545, $560, $590Dogecoin (DOGE)$0.0845$0.0800, $0.0780$0.0862, $0.0877–$0.0890, $0.0928Both Monero and Dogecoin are considered range-bound at present, awaiting a decisive break above resistance or below support to set the next major direction. For all four cryptocurrencies, buyers need to show greater strength—and ideally, support from rising volume—to shift trends in their favor.
On Unchained, Alex Shevchenko said the rest of the stolen funds had been traded into XMR, which NEAR Intents is now working to convert after refilling its contracts from its own funds.
NEAR Intents says part of the $3.8 million exploit came back in Monero
Posted October 12, 2026 at 10:16 pm ET.
The attacker who drained about $3.8 million from NEAR Intents returned only part of it in Bitcoin, the protocol’s general manager said on Unchained. The rest came back in Monero (XMR), and the team is still working out how to convert it.
Alex Shevchenko, GM of NEAR Intents, walked through the return in an episode recorded Oct. 8. After the Oct. 1 exploit, his team tracked the stolen assets and believed the non-Bitcoin portion was still sitting on Ethereum, BNB Chain and Solana. It was not. “So everything was correctly identified on the Bitcoin blockchain,” Shevchenko said on the show, but the other assets had moved through hard-to-trace channels, and “in fact they have been traded into XMR.”
That changed what the attacker needed from NEAR Intents. One reason the attacker made contact, Shevchenko said, was to learn “what is the Monero address to return the funds.”
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Funds Back, Conversion Pending
On Oct. 2, Shevchenko posted that the funds “were sent back in full” and that the team was ending its investigation, as Unchained later reported. That day, independent onchain analyst Kuncoro checked the published return addresses and found the Bitcoin one received 34.59 BTC, about 78% of the total, concluding the rest “came back through a different” route; Shevchenko replied, “You are right. It did indeed.” Asked whether NEAR Intents still held the XMR, he said “this part is in process.”
The team has already replenished its smart contracts from its own funds, Shevchenko said, so the remaining step is to “return money back to the pockets.” That means converting the XMR into USDT, and he said companies have raised questions. “They’re asking for the source of funds, and what are we gonna say the source of funds?” he said on the show. Shevchenko did not say how much of the return arrived in XMR. He added that his first time handling the coin “was exactly during the hack.”
An Invite Only the Attacker Could Open
Shevchenko also explained how the two sides got a private line. After the attacker sent an onchain message offering to cooperate and asking for a Signal contact, Shevchenko posted an encrypted message holding a Signal group invite. Only the attacker could read it, because “this encrypted message was encrypted with the public key of the attacker,” he said on the show, which left the attacker as “the only person who is able to decrypt it.”
He also repeated his call for hackers to use bug bounties instead. Since the exploit, NEAR Intents has received several submissions, and one of them was valid and will be paid, Shevchenko said.
Related Listen: How NEAR Intents Identified a Suspect and Got Its Stolen Funds Back
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
The ranking of the top ten largest cryptos, excluding stablecoins, is evolving. Zcash, Monero and Hyperliquid are now entering the list, while Cardano and Chainlink are falling back. This reshuffle reflects a capital rotation towards more volatile assets, as several major cryptos go through a difficult period.
In brief Zcash ($1,227, 20.8 billion dollars capitalization), Hyperliquid ($85, 19 billion) and Monero ($534, 10.1 billion) enter the top 10 excluding stablecoins. Cardano ($0.25, 9.3 billion) and Chainlink ($12.9, 9.9 billion) leave this group. Over one year, Zcash rises by about 418%, Hyperliquid by 131% and Monero by 79%. Meanwhile, Cardano loses 61% and Chainlink 25%. Three entries, two exits This reshuffle has been built progressively. At the end of September, we already mentioned the $24.5 billion valuation gained by Zcash and Monero in five months. Since then, their progress has contributed to changing the market hierarchy.
According to CoinGecko data, Zcash shows a capitalization of $20.8 billion, ahead of Hyperliquid, at $19 billion, and Monero, at $10.1 billion. Conversely, Cardano now weighs only $9.3 billion and Chainlink $9.9 billion. The two cryptocurrencies now occupy the fifteenth and seventeenth places in the overall ranking, which includes stablecoins.
The performances over twelve months illustrate this contrast even better. Zcash gains about 418%, Hyperliquid 131%, and Monero 79%. Cardano and Chainlink follow the opposite trend, with respective losses of 61% and 25%.
Privacy-focused cryptos regain momentum Zcash crossed back above the $1,000 threshold in September, a first since 2018, as we explained in this article: Zcash crosses back above $1,000 for the first time since 2018.
The price then reached $1,653 on September 27 before correcting by about 25%. Despite this pullback, Zcash shows an increase of more than 500% since its low point of March 8, at $197.
This surge, however, raises questions. In October, hackers turned to Zcash to cover their tracks after the Bitget hack. Such use could increase regulators’ distrust.
Additionally, speculation remains high: on October 11, open positions on perpetual contracts reached $3.58 billion, or about 17% of Zcash’s capitalization.
Monero also benefits from this interest in privacy. Its annual rise of 79% allows it to slightly surpass Chainlink in capitalization, despite a less spectacular increase than Zcash.
Hyperliquid benefits from the market rotation Hyperliquid follows another trajectory. The platform specializing in decentralized perpetual contracts has seen its token increase by 131% in one year, bringing its capitalization close to $19 billion.
This performance confirms the arrival of new players among the largest cryptocurrencies, as also illustrated by NEAR’s entry into the top 20 with a valuation of $7.2 billion.
Meanwhile, several market heavyweights retreat. Over twelve months, bitcoin loses about 25%, ether 33%, BNB 34%, Solana 38%, and XRP nearly 42%. This weakness favors the reshuffle of the ranking, although it does not guarantee a lasting rotation towards riskier assets.
Finally, gaps remain tight between several cryptos. Monero, Cardano and Chainlink are within less than a billion dollars of capitalization from each other. A few sessions of increase or decrease could therefore be enough to again change the ranking.
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Fenelon L.
Passionné par le Bitcoin, j'aime explorer les méandres de la blockchain et des cryptos et je partage mes découvertes avec la communauté. Mon rêve est de vivre dans un monde où la vie privée et la liberté financière sont garanties pour tous, et je crois fermement que Bitcoin est l'outil qui peut rendre cela possible.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.
A year ago, the landscape of the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies was markedly different. Over the past twelve months, three new assets have entered the ranks while two established names have fallen out, highlighting the rapid shifts in the crypto market.
Newcomers enter the top 10Excluding major stablecoins such as Tether and USDC, the top six positions have remained unchanged: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Solana, and TRON continue to dominate the market by capitalization.
Among the most notable changes, Zcash (ZEC) advanced into the top tier, currently trading around $1,232 and reporting a market capitalization of approximately $20.8 billion. Monero (XMR) also entered the list, trading near $530 with a market value close to $10 billion.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) joined the group as well. The token is now priced near $85, with its market value estimated at $21.6 billion. This ascent marks a significant reshuffle among the top cryptocurrencies outside the stablecoin segment.
Market performance and key moversIn contrast, Cardano (ADA) and Chainlink (LINK) lost their spots on the leaderboard. Recent data puts ADA at approximately $0.25, while LINK trades around $12.86. Their exclusion from the top 10 reflects underperformance compared to faster-growing assets.
Latest figures show that Zcash gained 441% over the past year, Hyperliquid rose by 127%, and Monero increased by 77%. Meanwhile, Cardano dropped by 61% and Chainlink declined by 25% over the same period.
Zcash surged 441% during the year, Hyperliquid climbed 127%, and Monero gained 77%, whereas Cardano and Chainlink fell by 61% and 25% respectively, according to market data.
Larger cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, BNB, and XRP, also experienced significant losses, with price declines ranging between 27% and 42%. These sizable moves contributed to the shifting hierarchy as smaller-cap tokens outpaced more established coins.
Volatility and future rankingsAnalysts suggest that Cardano and Chainlink may have lost ground due to a lack of market excitement and muted adoption compared to their high-performing counterparts. The speed at which the top 10 list changes is a reminder of the market’s volatility and the competitive environment among digital assets.
Price-based rankings are inherently dynamic, with fluctuations in value over just a few days capable of reshaping the order. Observers recommend monitoring the gap in market capitalization between the 10th and 11th ranked coins to gauge whether this shift will be maintained. When this difference narrows, the order can reverse quickly if either coin experiences a modest price change.
In a market where a single Federal Reserve decision or the surprise listing of an altcoin can rapidly alter the landscape, efficiency in monitoring assets becomes critical. Many investors lose opportunities and profits by switching between different apps for charts, market news, and portfolio tracking. As a result, more traders are turning to privacy-first aggregation tools like CryptoAppsy, which consolidates real-time charts, automated price alerts, targeted news, and vital macroeconomic data into a single dashboard—no account required.
TLDR: Peter Brandt favors Monero among the altcoin charts he compared, saying its previous overhead supply has already been absorbed. XRP faces potential selling from investors who bought at higher prices, creating resistance that could interrupt a recovery toward $2.16. The developing XRP reversal pattern has a short, poorly formed right shoulder, although Brandt says further development is not required. The $2.16 daily chart objective and earlier $5.40 monthly projection reflect separate patterns, rather than a revised single forecast. Peter Brandt favors Monero over XRP, despite identifying a potential XRP advance toward $2.16. The veteran trader says XRP faces substantial overhead supply that could interrupt a recovery. Monero, by comparison, has absorbed the comparable supply in his chart assessment. His preference reflects trading patterns rather than an evaluation of either cryptocurrency’s underlying technology.
Brandt also compared Solana, Ethereum, and Stellar over the same period, highlighting differences in resistance and chart structure. For XRP, the bullish objective remains conditional. Its developing pattern could change, while investors who bought at higher prices may sell as the market approaches their entry levels.
Peter Brandt Favors Monero as XRP Faces Supply Barriers Peter Brandt described Monero as his strongest choice among the altcoin charts under review. He argued that its previous overhead supply had already been absorbed, leaving a clearer technical path.
“Of these, my favorite by far is XMR,” he wrote.
That assessment explains why a bullish XRP price target did not make XRP his preferred trade. A chart can suggest potential gains while still showing barriers along the route.
Overhead supply refers to potential selling from holders who purchased above the current market price. When prices recover, some may exit near their original purchase levels, limiting further progress.
Brandt identified that issue as a significant negative for XRP. His comparison focused on the relative burden visible across charts covering the same period.
Solana received a more favorable assessment for its cup and handle formation. He considered that structure stronger than the corresponding pattern developing in XRP.
Ethereum showed considerable congestion, reflecting trading concentrated within a crowded range. However, Brandt distinguished that congestion from the overhead supply he identified in XRP.
Stellar also faced overhead supply, although he considered its burden smaller. These distinctions shaped his preference for Monero without establishing guaranteed outcomes for any asset.
For Peter Brandt, the distinction concerns both the potential move and the resistance that could delay it. His favorable reading of Monero addresses the latter issue, while XRP’s measured objective describes a possible destination without resolving the supply problem along the way.
Peter Brandt said he did not need to understand Monero’s fundamental narrative to assess its chart. His stated approach prioritizes price behavior, with Bitcoin an exception to his broader indifference toward cryptocurrency fundamentals.
Daily XRP Target Differs From Earlier Monthly Projection Peter Brandt derived the $2.16 objective from a possible inverse head and shoulders pattern. He used daily closing prices to measure the formation, rather than intraday highs and lows.
Source: Peter Brandt The setup features three troughs, with the central trough deeper than the surrounding two. Projecting the pattern’s height upward produces a measured objective, subject to the structure developing as anticipated.
His earlier daily XRP chart highlighted a cup and handle formation. He suggested that smaller pattern could become the right shoulder of the larger reversal structure.
However, the shoulder remained short and poorly developed in his assessment. More formation appeared likely, although he explicitly stopped short of calling further development necessary.
Peter Brandt cautioned that chart patterns can evolve into different configurations as trading continues. A projected destination therefore does not establish that the market will reach it.
“Targets or objectives are not sacred,” he wrote.
The XRP price objective also differs from his earlier $5.40 projection, shared on September 21. That assessment came from a monthly chart and addressed a separate, longer term structure.
He did not describe $2.16 as a replacement for $5.40. Nor did he identify the lower figure as a required intermediate stop toward the higher objective.
In a September 26 comment, Brandt said XRP’s chart alone could justify considering a trade. He later asked XRP supporters not to interpret his technical criticism as a personal offense.
Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.
A year ago, the top 10 non-stablecoin cryptocurrencies looked very different. Three coins have pushed their way in, and two older names have dropped out.
Stablecoins such as Tether and USDC are left out of this list. Among the others, the top 6 stayed the same: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB, XRP, Solana, and TRON.
The biggest changesZcash (ZEC) entered the top 10. It is now trading near $1,232 with a market value of about $20.8 billion.
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Monero (XMR) also entered the list. It trades near $530, with a market value close to $10 billion.
Hyperliquid (HYPE) climbed higher. It trades near $85 with a market value of about $21.6 billion.
Cardano (ADA) and Chainlink (LINK) fell out. ADA trades near $0.25 and LINK near $12.86.
Source: CoinmarketcapThe shared post reports that ZEC gained about 441% over the year, HYPE about 127%, and XMR about 77%. It says ADA fell about 61% and LINK about 25%. Those percentages come from the post; the table checked shows current prices only.
The post also says the major coins lagged. It reports BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, and XRP falling between 27% and 42%. Those are the biggest losses in the group, and they explain why the list shifted toward smaller, faster-moving names.
What are the implications?Rankings change when investors move money from older coins into newer or more niche ones. Privacy coins like ZEC and XMR, along with HYPE, led this year, which suggests that some traders are willing to take on more risk in exchange for the chance of larger gains.
Cardano and Chainlink lost ground, possibly because their recent developments and adoption did not generate the same excitement. Top 10 lists can change quickly, so a coin that climbs into the list does not always stay there.
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Those rankings also depend on the price data used at the moment of measurement, so a move of only a few days can reshuffle the list. Watch the market value gap between the 10th and 11th spots if you want to see whether this shift holds, since a narrow gap means the order could flip again with a small price move.
October 10 brought announcements covering private crypto payments, an upcoming Japanese exchange listing, and changes affecting futures traders and Monero users. Here are four updates announced on the day.
COTI Introduces New Privacy Products COTI unveiled its COTI 2.0 direction on October 10, introducing Interphase and COTI Global alongside a redesigned website. The company describes Interphase as a service for transferring assets confidentially across more than 30 blockchains, while COTI Global focuses on using crypto for private everyday payments. The announcement outlines the products’ intended capabilities without establishing how widely they are being used.
Japan’s OKJ Announces Midnight’s NIGHT Listing Japanese exchange OKJ announced on October 10 that it plans to add Midnight’s NIGHT token on October 13 at 5 p.m. Japan time, bringing its supported asset count to 55. The rollout will include exchange trading, brokerage purchases, recurring purchases, deposits and withdrawals, with transfers supported over Cardano. OKJ said the listing would make it Japan’s first crypto exchange to offer NIGHT through order-book trading, according to its own research.
MEXC Schedules Removal of 14 Perpetual Futures Markets MEXC issued an October 10 notice announcing that 14 USDT-margined perpetual futures markets will be removed on October 14 at 7 a.m. UTC, including contracts for BOBA, RON, ZBCN and TFUEL. At the deadline, the exchange will cancel outstanding orders and settle remaining positions using its fair price at that time. The affected contracts will also be removed from demo trading and futures grid trading where applicable.
KuCoin Pauses Monero Deposits and Withdrawals KuCoin announced on October 10 that it had temporarily suspended Monero deposits and withdrawals for wallet maintenance. The exchange said transfers would resume once the work was complete, but provided no reopening time. It also told customers that restoration would not be accompanied by a separate announcement.
THORSday Community Podcast #241 ft. CBarraford, KentonC137 & patriotsounds | October 8, 2026 | Watch the full episode on YouTube
By Raynalytics
TL;DRChad Barraford used the show to respond to the recent Unchained interview, arguing that discussions of THORChain governance need to distinguish between a minority that can halt activity and the supermajority required to authorize it.Rev-Share is now live with SwapKit. The first credited $25,000 $USDC-to-$BTC trade arrived during the show, beginning a trial intended to win incremental routing without subsidising existing flow.v3.21 has been cut and is in stagenet testing. Monero-related churn edge cases could mean some $XMR work moves to v3.21.1, rather than delaying every other part of the release.Chad described a narrowly scoped AI workflow for tests and performance work. Two draft pull requests tested the THORNode code at roughly 3x faster, while replaying real blocks to check that state does not change.The active set reached 111 nodes during the episode. The team also highlighted RAVN native $BTC delivery, and continued protocol-owned liquidity accumulation.The episode was a dense status check, but its through-line was the difference between what THORChain is testing, what is live, and what still needs proof. Chad opened with a debrief of the Unchained interview, then the conversation turned to a live Rev-Share pilot, the remaining work before $XMR can join the protocol, and a more experimental use of AI in development.
That distinction matters. A new incentive programme is not yet evidence that it will create durable volume. A stagenet release is not a mainnet launch. And AI-assisted code work is not autonomous protocol control. The hosts were clear about those boundaries even as they made the case for moving faster.
1. Chad's Unchained Debrief Focused on Consensus ThresholdsChad used the opening of the episode to respond to questions raised in the recent Unchained interview about THORChain's governance, censorship resistance, and the security implications of its node set. His central argument was that the discussion needs to separate two different thresholds: a minority of 1/3 + 1 can stop activity, while a 2/3 + 1 supermajority is required to authorize protocol action.
That distinction is not a claim that a halt is painless. The hosts described it as a protective power that can freeze the system when something is wrong, not a tool for redirecting funds. Chad argued that an operator acting against its bond providers would face economic consequences, because providers can unbond and move to another operator. Kenton added that many operators manage bonds for multiple providers, rather than controlling all bonded $RUNE themselves.
"Every blockchain in the world can change anything they want with consensus." (Chad)The group compared this tradeoff with proof-of-work and proof-of-stake systems more broadly. Their point was not that every chain has the same implementation, but that no consensus system removes the need to consider who can halt, who can coordinate, and what economic incentives restrain them.
The conversation also returned to the question of selective censorship. Chad argued that freezing a pool based on a percentage of suspicious volume creates no clear rule for when to reopen it, while the hosts said cross-chain infrastructure needs limited safety controls for events such as external-chain failures. These are the team's positions, not settled answers to every governance question, but they explain the reasoning they took into the interview.
https://raynalytics.net/dashboards/rev-share2. Rev-Share Is Live, With New Flow as the TestThe concrete product update was Rev-Share. During the show, the hosts said the first eligible $25,000 $USDC-to-$BTC trade had arrived through SwapKit, after the programme was enabled on both sides. The purpose is not simply to rebate an existing integrator. It is to use a share of fees to improve selected quotes and make THORChain more likely to win routing it would otherwise miss.
Chad pointed listeners to Raynalytics's SwapKit Revenue Share dashboard, where the credit ledger, routed volume, wallet mix, and liquidity fees can be monitored as the pilot develops. The episode's framing was deliberately empirical: give the data time, then decide whether the arrangement is creating profitable incremental volume.
"If it doesn't work for both of us, we ain't doing it at all." (Chad)The hosts also discussed Rev-Share as a possible business-development tool for future wallet and interface integrations. Rather than paying a flat Treasury grant before a partner sends volume, a limited fee share could reward a wallet only as it brings traffic. Kenton used large-wallet integration incentives as an example, while stressing that any allocation remains subject to node governance.
The economics are simple in principle but unproven in practice: a programme can share a large portion of fees from a new route and still improve protocol income if the alternative was no routed volume at all. What matters now is whether the pilot produces that new flow, not whether the mechanism sounds attractive on paper.
3. v3.21 Is Testing, While $XMR Churn Work ContinuesChad said v3.21 has been cut and is being tested on stagenet. The release includes work to re-enable memoless transactions with a dynamic registration cost: as a coin's available memo space fills, registering another entry becomes progressively more expensive. The intent is to make spam costly without relying on a fixed price that can become ineffective.
The main uncertainty is $XMR. The team has encountered churn edge cases in its Monero integration, and Chad said some patches may need to move to v3.21.1 if they cannot be reviewed, merged, and tested in time for v3.21. That is a release-management decision, not an abandonment of the integration. The discussion repeatedly kept $XMR in a pre-mainnet, work-in-progress state.
"We might not be able to get all the Monero patches in for v3.21." (Chad)This follows the liquidity-first approach outlined in the previous podcast recap. A technical release alone would not make a useful $XMR market. Chad said CakeWallet is expected to support THORChain at launch, based on an earlier team conversation, while other wallet support remains an active integration question.
For a transparent release view, the hosts highlighted devops.thorchain.org, which tracks work items and release activity. It is the better source for status than treating a podcast target as a fixed delivery date.
4. AI Is Being Scoped to Tests and Verified Performance WorkChad's most forward-looking update was not an AI agent writing new protocol features unchecked. He described a narrower effort to use AI for two areas where output can be measured: expanding test coverage and finding performance improvements that preserve existing behaviour.
The testing side would add unit, integration, regression, and fuzz tests. The performance side asks an AI system to make a function run faster without changing what the protocol does. Chad said two draft pull requests, produced over a few days, had tested THORNode at roughly 3x faster when combined.
"We can verify its correctness." (Chad)The verification method is the important constraint. The process replays thousands of real mainnet blocks locally and compares each resulting app hash, effectively checking that the protocol state is identical even if execution is faster. Chad said the pull requests still require human approval. He also noted that faster execution does not automatically change the roughly six-second block interval, though it could reduce resource requirements and make erratic block times less likely.
He referred to the broader idea as recursive improvement, not literal recursive self-improvement. Whether this work eventually lives inside Huginn or a separate tool is still undecided. For now, the proposal is an assistive development loop with deterministic checks, not a transfer of governance or deployment authority to an AI system.
5. The Network Added Nodes, Routing and Protocol-Owned LiquidityThe show also captured several live ecosystem updates. After a churn, the active set had grown to 111 nodes. The hosts said it was at least close to the largest active set they had seen, and noted that some operators had waited in standby through months when the protocol could not churn normally.
On routing, RAVN had gone live with native $BTC delivery from Ethereum, Base, BNB Chain, and Avalanche through THORChain. The point is not wrapped Bitcoin exposure. The announced route delivers native $BTC at the destination, extending the set of interfaces that can access THORChain liquidity.
The group also discussed protocol-owned liquidity. They said a deposit of roughly 1 million $RUNE was imminent, which would put protocol-owned liquidity at about 1% per pool. According to the speakers, those positions had already earned about $100,000 in fees. The next question is how the system behaves as new pools, including a future $XMR pool, gain depth and volume.
"We still only need 5% of the market." (Kenton)Those updates do not erase the open questions from earlier in the episode. Rev-Share still needs volume data. $XMR still needs completed churn work and liquidity. But the snapshot was of a protocol adding capacity and connections while it tests the economic and technical assumptions behind them.
What to WatchWhether the SwapKit Rev-Share dashboard shows sustained incremental routed volume, fee generation, and new-wallet activity after the pilot's initial trades.Whether the remaining Monero churn edge cases can be resolved in v3.21, or move cleanly into v3.21.1 without changing the integration's careful launch posture.Whether the new memoless pricing model deters registration spam without creating material friction for ordinary users.Whether AI-assisted testing and performance work continues to pass app-hash replay checks before human review and merge.Whether the active-set growth, RAVN routing, and protocol-owned liquidity provide the deeper distribution and market capacity the team expects.More THORChain data, check out raynalytics.net
Follow Raynalytics for more Weekly Analytics and Podcast recaps.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) has named Monero (@monero) his clear favorite after publishing a side-by-side weekly chart comparison of several major altcoins, a review that left $XRP trailing its peers on pure price-action grounds.
Monero Gets the Nod Brandt recently published a weekly chart comparison of XRP, Monero, and Solana, judging each asset purely on classical price patterns and measured moves. His verdict on $XMR was unambiguous. The privacy-focused cryptocurrency stood out because Brandt considered all of its overhead supply already absorbed, contrasting that position sharply with XRP's burden and describing Monero as having "clear sailing ahead."
His reasoning is that $XMR has already worked through the holders who bought at higher prices and may sell when price returns, a condition he calls absorbed supply, while XRP still carries a large amount of it overhead. Among the altcoins analyzed, Brandt ranks Monero first, followed by Solana and Ether, with XRP lower on his preference list.
XRP: A Bullish Setup With a Big Caveat Brandt has outlined a path for XRP to reach $2.16, based on technical analysis from a chart position near $1.51, implying approximately 43% growth potential from that level. He spotted a cup-and-handle formation potentially developing as part of a broader inverse head-and-shoulders configuration.
Significant supply overhead in the $2 to $3.70 range, however, may generate selling pressure during any XRP recovery. XRP remains well below major peaks from its previous rally, leaving higher price levels that could attract selling as the token advances, creating resistance along its potential upward path. Brandt was direct in his assessment, writing that there is "a TON of overhead supply to work through" in XRP and calling it a clear negative for the token.
Brandt sees further XRP right shoulder development as likely but not required, and his current $2.16 daily objective differs from his earlier $5.40 projection. He has been consistent in cautioning that chart targets are conditional. He asked XRP holders not to take the weaker chart assessment personally, noting that patterns morph and measured moves can fail.
Sources
Bitcoin.com: Peter Brandt Favors Monero Over XRP Despite Bullish Price Targets
BeInCrypto: Which Crypto Has the Best Chart? Peter Brandt Compares XRP, Monero and Solana
KuCoin News: Peter Brandt Maps $2.16 XRP Target but Warns of Heavy Selling Resistance
In This Article XMR Price Analysis: Can Monero Price Break $564 This Week?LiquidChain Targets Cross-Chain Liquidity: What Is LiquidChain and How Does It Differ From Monero? Monero XMR trades near $557.51, up about 1.5% over 24 hours. XMR is holding above $550 after a strong October 6 session, but resistance sits close above. Can buyers turn a short-lived reclaim into a durable breakout?
Monero’s FCMP++ and CARROT stressnet fork took place on October 5 at block height 3,102,800. The fork runs on a test network to evaluate proposed privacy upgrades. It does not activate them on the mainnet, and holders do not need to act.
The third version of beta stressnet for Full-Chain Membership Proofs (FCMP++) and CARROT is live!
We implore the Monero community to continue to participate in testing and to report issues in order to ensure a smooth transition! https://t.co/KTz0HkOjnh
— Monero (XMR) (@monero) October 5, 2026
XMR showed relative strength around the event. It rose from a $546.64 close while Bitcoin was flat, and the median top-50 coin barely moved. Still, a testnet milestone is not a price driver on its own.
XMR’s market cap is about $10.5 billion, with daily volume near $131 million. It is up 73% over the past year and 3.9% over 30 days, though it is down 2.9% over 14 days.
DISCOVER: BTC USD Price Stalls as Fresh Saylor Buy Fails to Clear $87K
XMR Price Analysis: Can Monero Price Break $564 This Week? XMRUSDT Chart 1D The one-hour chart shows XMR climbing from about $532 on October 4 to a high near $564 on October 6. It then pulled back to $557, suggesting sellers are defending the $563–$564 area. The 24-hour range is $546.49 to $564.26.
Technical signals are mixed. XMR trades above its 50- and 200-period EMAs, with daily RSI near 58.5. RSI(14) at 66.4 and MACD at 3.48, while stochastic readings above 85 flag stretched short-term momentum.
Bull case: A decisive close above $564 clears the ceiling and brings $590 into view. Base case: XMR consolidates between $553 and $564 as traders weigh the surge against overbought readings. Bear case: A rejection at resistance would weaken the setup and put the low near $546 back in focus with the main support at $481. The levels are close enough to matter. A breakout needs a daily close, not just a brief wick.
DISCOVER: Best Meme Coin ICOs to Invest in 2026
LiquidChain Targets Cross-Chain Liquidity: What Is LiquidChain and How Does It Differ From Monero?
Monero’s rebound gives bulls a reason to stay engaged, but the near-term chart has a ceiling: $564 is still ahead, and momentum indicators warn against assuming straight-line gains. For traders looking beyond a large-cap privacy asset, early-stage infrastructure offers a different risk profile.
LiquidChain is a Layer 3 infrastructure project positioning itself as “The Cross-Chain Liquidity Layer.” It says its execution environment combines liquidity from Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, with a deploy-once architecture intended to let developers access all three ecosystems. Its stated features include a Unified Liquidity Layer, Single-Step Execution, and Verifiable Settlement.
The project’s presale price is $0.014962, and the total raised is $980,892.84.
Background on LiquidChain’s cross-chain purpose adds context to the project’s stated approach. Research LiquidChain and review the project’s terms and risks before considering participation.
Visit LIQUID Here
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Alex Ioannou
On-Chain Journalist
Alex is a seasoned cryptocurrency trader and market analyst with over seven years of active experience in the digital asset space. Since entering the markets in 2017, Alex has specialized in identifying emerging "meta" trends and high-volatility narratives. Notably, Alex... Read More
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