Monero Surges 22% to 4-Year High After $330.7M Bitcoin Theft

Monero (XMR) has surged to its highest price in four years following reports linking the privacy coin to a significant cryptocurrency theft. On April 28, blockchain analyst ZachXBT revealed a suspicious transfer involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at approximately $330.7 million. The analyst identified the victim as a "longtime Bitcoin holder" who is likely a user of major cryptocurrency exchanges.

The stolen Bitcoin was subsequently funneled through six exchanges and converted into Monero, a privacy-focused digital asset. This move underscored the attacker's attempt to leverage Monero's strong privacy and anonymity features to obscure the transaction trail. The laundering activity, coupled with low liquidity on trading platforms, triggered a sharp price rally for XMR.

Data from CryptoSlate indicated that Monero ranked among the top 10 performers in the past 24 hours. The privacy coin jumped 22% to a peak of $328, a level last reached in late 2021. At the time of writing, XMR had pulled back slightly and was trading near $267.

The sudden demand for Monero, known for its privacy-centric characteristics, has altered market dynamics. The conversion of a large amount of Bitcoin into Monero has led to a substantial increase in trading volumes, from an average of $50 million to over $220 million in the past 24 hours. This surge in volume has driven the upward price momentum, with nearly $1 million in short liquidations across key exchanges.

The rally in Monero has also lifted the entire privacy coin sector. Other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies such as Zcash (ZEC), MimbleWimbleCoin (MWC), Dash (DASH), and Decred (DCR) have seen significant gains, indicating a broader resurgence of interest in privacy coins. This trend is likely fueled by growing government scrutiny of popular cryptocurrencies and the increasing demand for privacy-centric digital assets.

Upcoming upgrades to Monero, aimed at making it more compliance-friendly, are also contributing to the positive sentiment. These upgrades, known as EP159 and EP160, seek to allow users to create proof of transaction validity without revealing private data, thereby enhancing Monero's appeal to a wider audience.

Technically, Monero has rallied over 19% by breaking above a noteworthy ascending triangle pattern on the daily chart. This breakout represents a long period of consolidation and takes place inside a massive ascending triangle pattern that has been developing for about 8 years. Analysts point to a possible objective of $345.23, but caution that the Relative Strength Index (RSI) on the daily chart is well above the overbought threshold of 70, suggesting that traders may need to consider taking profits around the $300 level to avoid potential cooling pressures.

Despite the notable gains, analysts caution about potential overbought conditions and the possibility of a price pullback. The XMR/USD weekly chart shows the price moving inside an ascending parallel channel since mid-2024, with the latest breakout crossing the top edge of the channel close to $330—a historically strong resistance zone. High RSI readings during the weekly period point to possibly overstretched buying momentum, and a retest of the $208–$267 area might see a possible pullback scenario, with $242.30 serving as a median target based on historical importance as a resistance level.