Monero, a privacy-focused coin, has witnessed a price increase of 40% in just a few hours after a massive 330 million dollar money laundering transaction, a remarkable development in the cryptocurrency market. This price surge further solidifies Monero's position as a top choice for those seeking anonymity in online financial transactions.

What caused Monero (XMR) to surge by 40%?

According to ZachXBT's post on X today, a theft involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC), equivalent to 330.7 million dollars, has occurred. The stolen amount was quickly converted to XMR through several instant exchanges.

“Ten hours ago, a suspicious money transfer was made from a potential victim for an amount of 3520 BTC (330.7 million dollars). Stolen address: bc1qcrypchnrdx87jnal5e5m849fw460t4gk7vz55g. Shortly afterward, this money began to be washed through more than 6 instant exchanges and was swapped for XMR, causing the price of XMR to soar by 50%,” reported ZachXBT.

However, ZachXBT did not reveal any clues about the entity behind the suspicious wallet address. Smokey, Community Team Lead at Polygon, raised the question of whether this is a new hack related to North Korea. However, ZachXBT believes that this is unlikely.

Data shows that today, the price of XMR increased from 229 dollars to 317 dollars, marking a 40% increase before adjusting down to the current level of 270 dollars. On some exchanges like Bitfinex, XMR peaked at 328 dollars, achieving an almost 50% increase in April, as noted by ZachXBT.

Moreover, CoinMarketCap data shows that the trading volume of XMR today has exceeded 250 million dollars. This figure marks a 360% increase compared to the previous day and sets a new daily trading volume record for the year.

Monero, with robust security features such as masking the sender, receiver, and transaction amount, has become the ideal tool for money laundering activities.

Chainalysis's 2025 cryptocurrency crime report notes that as law enforcement agencies improve their ability to track Bitcoin transactions, darknet operators and market providers are increasingly turning to Monero as their cryptocurrency.

Additionally, research from ScienceDirect emphasizes that privacy coins are closely related to Dark Web traffic. This connection has driven their popularity in illegal markets.

Privacy remains attractive in the context of changing market conditions.

Data from Artemis, a cryptocurrency analytics platform, also indicates a notable trend. Since the beginning of 2025, privacy-focused coins like Monero have been the only sector showing positive growth, achieving an increase of over 17%.

Furthermore, a recent study by Swan found that Monero holds the record for the longest decline resistance among the top 300 altcoins. This study highlights XMR's ability to maintain value despite continuously changing market conditions.

CR1337, a core team member at Navio, a privacy finance project, believes that the recent price surge of XMR will attract more interest from investors in privacy coins.

“Regardless of the reason for the recent price increase of XMR, it doesn't really matter. It will certainly make more people aware of the number one privacy coin,” said CR1337.

The data above demonstrates that the demand for Monero remains strong as the need for anonymity continues to exist and grow.

This demand arises from both financial privacy advocates and money laundering criminals. Therefore, the conflict between personal financial freedom and government regulation is becoming increasingly pronounced.