Recently, the crypto market has been in a phase of turbulence and adjustment, but an old rival has suddenly emerged—Monero (XMR) surged over 20% today, reaching $596.61. This is a level never seen since the 2017 bull market, completely breaking the all-time high record.

According to market data, this upward momentum actually started accumulating at the end of last year. At that time, mainstream cryptocurrencies' gains slowed down, but tokens emphasizing privacy features demonstrated strong resilience against declines. Many market observers noticed that although everyone was focusing on Zcash (ZEC) in the second half of last year, smart money had already quietly flowed into these assets that emphasize "transaction privacy."

An investment director at a crypto fund mentioned that XMR reaching a new high aligns with the trend they have been tracking for a long time—"In fact, privacy coins were one of the few sectors able to defy the trend in Q4 last year."

However, he also issued a warning to investors, suggesting a rational view of this market movement from a structural perspective. The key point is that global regulatory tightening has become a trend. To avoid trouble, compliant mainstream trading platforms have gradually delisted privacy coins. This has led to liquidity for XMR being compressed into a few exchanges with relatively lenient regulations, which actually amplifies the risk factors.