After the stolen funds were injected, the market value surged, is Monero a breeding ground for crime or a continuation of the 'crypto spirit'? (Previous context: On-chain detective warns: $330 million worth of Bitcoin suspected to be stolen and laundered into Monero, XMR surged by 50% at one point) (Background: UN report warns that terrorist organizations are using Monero for fundraising, regulatory 'tightening' is imminent?) Yesterday, the ancient privacy coin Monero ($XMR) suddenly erupted after a long silence. It surged by 30% in a single day, with the price peaking at $329, setting a new high since 2021. What is this 11-year-old coin? And why did it suddenly skyrocket? The OG of privacy coins In 2013, Nicolas van Saberhagen published the 'CryptoNote' protocol, and Monero '门罗币' was born on this basis in April 2014, switching to RandomX in 2019. Monero uses technologies such as ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT to hide the sender, receiver, and amount of transactions. This high level of anonymity gives it an advantage in privacy protection, and Monero's modular code structure has been praised by one of Bitcoin's core maintainers, Wladimir J. van der Laan. However, while maintaining privacy, it also makes it difficult to meet regulatory anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorism financing (CTF) requirements. As one of the most well-known privacy coins, it is a token with two sides; on one hand, it emphasizes privacy, decentralization, and scalability, which is loved by many proponents of 'libertarianism', but on the other hand, it has also become a breeding ground for criminals. Criminals' favorite In the late summer of 2016, with the arrest of 'Silk Road' founder Ross William Ulbricht, law enforcement agencies gained tracking technology for Bitcoin. Major dark web markets like AlphaBay began to abandon Bitcoin in favor of the harder-to-trace Monero, and North Korean hacker group Lazarus Group also preferred to 'clean' assets using Monero, leading to Monero's first market cap breakthrough in 2016 'from $5 million to $185 million' and rapid growth in trading volume. 2020 was the second hot period for Monero. That year, the terrorist organization ISIS updated its website to show it no longer accepted Bitcoin donations and switched to the more private token Monero. The reason was that if ISIS's Bitcoin reserves were too large, it would be difficult for them to transfer or cash out as a terrorist organization. A report from Chainalysis also confirmed this, stating that ISIS held less than $100,000 in Bitcoin, and most other terrorist organizations were in a similar situation. That same year, dark web market sales increased by 70% year-on-year, and Monero became one of the main payment tools due to its privacy features, accounting for 45%, almost on par with Bitcoin. Dark web transactions, fraud, ransom payments, and hackers' exit routes have made Monero notorious, coinciding with the large-scale adoption of 'underground trading'. In 2020, the price of XMR token also rose from $50 at the beginning of the year to $150 at the end of the year, reaching $450 by mid-2021. The key to freedom Although Monero has long been associated with 'crime', it is merely a technical tool. The Monero development team has consistently maintained a 'code neutrality' stance. They emphasize that 'Monero is designed for everyday use by ordinary people; any technology can be abused, just like cash.' They do not cooperate with criminal acts and have no ties to criminal organizations. Therefore, from another perspective, it embodies Bitcoin's 'transaction freedom', gaining support from many libertarian, privacy-first, and decentralized anti-censorship enthusiasts, with many community members believing it to be the real Bitcoin. John McAfee, the founder of the first antivirus software, is one of them: 'Monero is one of the truly anonymous cryptocurrencies, while Bitcoin is not truly anonymous,' he expressed recognition of Monero's technical strength and privacy features on multiple occasions during his lifetime. Monero's anonymity and untraceability align closely with McAfee's long-advocated 'privacy libertarianism' philosophy. Even 'Bitcoin Jesus' Roger Ver 'defected'; in his first public interview after being released on bail in 2024, he stated that he decided to abandon Bitcoin in favor of Monero, a token that can provide more privacy. 'Nowadays, most people are using custodial wallets, which are not wallets at all, just an account; the privacy is no better than that of your account at a US bank or Paypal. But fortunately, there are other cryptocurrencies like Monero that can provide more privacy protection.' In regions active in cryptocurrency, some e-commerce or independent merchants accept Monero as a payment method, such as some tech-related online stores 'hardware wallets or cryptocurrency peripheral tech products' or offline retail stores, and community member Schmidt also shared his receipt of purchasing low-fat organic cocoa drink at Spar using Monero. Note: SPAR is one of the world's largest food retail chains, founded in the Netherlands in 1932 by Adriaan van Well. It has over 13,900 stores in 48 countries. The Kroitzlingen store where the community member purchased is located in Switzerland, and is notable for accepting Bitcoin, Monero, and other cryptocurrencies. When the comments section rated Monero as a cryptocurrency used for 'money laundering', renowned on-chain detective ZachXBT rebutted, 'No, I often use Monero for payments,' indicating that he is also one of Monero's enthusiasts. Brief pump or value discovery? Stolen funds flow in On-chain detective ZachXBT posted on social media, stating, 'Nine hours ago, a suspicious transfer occurred at a certain address, amounting to 3,520 Bitcoins (approximately $330.7 million). These funds were then laundered through more than six instant trading platforms and converted into Monero, causing the price of Monero to surge by 50%.' This also led to a large number of short contracts for the token being liquidated, forcing traders to repurchase assets, further increasing upward pressure based on the growing spot demand. These combined factors may have contributed to Monero's recent sudden surge. Positive project developments Some analysts believe that the growing anticipation for Monero's EP159 and EP160 upgrade proposals is also one of the factors for this increase; this proposal could make Monero more compliant-friendly, allowing users to provide proof of transaction validity without exposing sensitive personal information. The community believes that this upgrade could allow Monero, which was delisted from major CEXs after the EU updated anti-money laundering regulations in 2024, to be relisted on compliant top-tier CEXs like Binance and Coinbase. Additionally, the first DeFi project in the Monero ecosystem, Tari, is set to appear, planning to merge mining with Monero and launch its mainnet on May 6. Many members of the Monero community are excited about this project...

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