Privacy-preserving cryptocurrency Monero surged to a new all-time high on Tuesday as tightening digital asset regulations contribute to heightened investor demand for privacy coins.
Monero (XMR) rose to a new all-time high above $687 on Tuesday, up around 14% rise over the past 24 hours, according to TradingView data.
Monero has gained roughly 45% in the past week, becoming the 12th largest crypto by market cap as the total market capitalization of privacy-focused coins rose by 3.5%, and trading volume soared 32%, CoinMarketCap data shows.
Privacy-focused cryptos have outperformed the wider cryptocurrency market during the past three months since the $19 billion crypto market crash in early October.
Related: Standard Chartered said to plan crypto brokerage, trims ETH forecast
Industry watchers are pointing to tightening Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules as the main tailwinds driving investor demand.
Privacy-focused coins outperformed the broader market due to investor demand for “financial confidentiality” spurred by the rising “surveillance” in the digital economy and “increasing government scrutiny of crypto transactions,” Narek Gevorgyan, the founder and CEO of crypto portfolio management platform CoinStats, recently told Cointelegraph.
The European Union is also set to ban privacy coins and anonymous crypto accounts from 2027, as part of its sweeping new AML regulations, which will prohibit crypto service providers from handling coins such as XMR and Zcash (ZEC).
Related: Solana Policy Institute urges SEC to exempt DeFi developers from exchange rules
Crypto data platform warns of overheating XMR investor sentiment
Despite the positive price action, investors seeking a new “entry point” should consider the elevated levels of social media hype around XMR, warned crypto data platform Santiment in a Tuesday X post:
“If you are looking for an entry point, consider doing so after social hype and FOMO wear off slightly.”
Santiment’s chart shows that XMR development activity has been falling since the beginning of January, while XMR’s social media dominance peaked on Sunday.
Monero’s closest privacy-focused rival, Zcash, has also experienced sharp swings. ZEC rose by around 12-fold from a yearly low of $48 to a high of $744 on Nov. 7, 2025, a month after the record $19 billion market crash.
Zcash fell by around 21% in the past week due to slowing developer activity and a recent governance dispute between the Electric Coin Company, the main development team behind Zcash, and Bootstrap, the non-profit supporting the protocol.
Magazine: 2026 is the year of pragmatic privacy in crypto — Canton, Zcash and more
