Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused open source cryptocurrency, got the digital currency community excited after seeing a price increase of nearly 100% over a 6-day period from August 24th to August 30th. Users and investors of the currency, which has been around for over two years, have questioned the factors behind Monero’s sudden surge in price.
Currently, experts suggest that there should have been at least five main factors that sparked Monero’s value: the integration of Monero through darknet marketplaces, continued expert support, legitimate cryptography, an increasing demand for privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, and mainstream media exposure .
Cointelegraph explores these five main reasons for Monero.
Darknet integration and mainstream media hype
Before its price spike, an online darknet market on the Tor network known as AlphaBay Market announced the implementation of Monero due to strong community demand.
The darknet market operators stated on Reddit:
“We will officially open Monero deposits and withdrawals on September 1st, 2016. We have just completed the platform update to enable Monero Escrow / FE transactions and give sellers time to process their offers to select whether Monero is accepted. ”
Immediately after the AlphaBay Market statement was published, another popular darknet marketplace, Oasis Market, announced the implementation of Monero and offered AlphaBay help with implementation and other technical issues with using the currency.
The AlphaBay and Oasis announcement was made public by major mainstream media outlets such as Motherboard Vice, ZDNet, and Techmeme, adding to the price and demand for Monero.
Mainstream news networks began publishing articles about Monero on August 22nd. The rise in prices began at a similar point in time.
Privacy, Legitimate Cryptography, and Expert Assistance
Dash has always been the dominant privacy-oriented cryptocurrency with a much higher market capitalization and a much higher trading volume compared to Monero. However, when the cryptography and infrastructure was heavily criticized by experts and developers like Peter Todd, many users and investors turned their attention to Monero.
Since its release in April 2014, Monero has been lauded by developers for its legitimate cryptography and well-established infrastructure. Peter Todd and Greg Maxwell specifically praised the xmr.to service and Monero’s invention of Ring CT, which allows Maxwell’s confidential transaction scheme to work with Monero’s ring signatures.
Monero Developer, nicknamed “Fluffypony”, comments on DisQus:
“Monero’s invention of RingCT, which enables Greg Maxwell’s confidential transaction scheme to work with Monero’s ring signatures, effectively hides all amounts in Monero transactions.”
Although Monero’s price hike was somewhat unexpected, experts like Peter Todd consistently emphasized and praised the efforts of the Monero development team to create a real alternative to Bitcoin that promises a robust infrastructure and reliable data protection features.
. @ TheRektoning Without a doubt I would choose @monerocurrency instead of @Dashpay – the latter is Snakeoil, the former is real crypto.
– Peter Todd (@petertoddbtc) July 17, 2015
It is still relatively difficult to speculate on the main factors that led to a sudden surge in the price of Monero. However, it is convincing with the demise of Dash, integration through darknet marketplaces and the increasing interest of the mainstream media.
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