The latest price surge for Monero (XMR) may be partly attributable to an exploit involving a single personal wallet, where XMR was utilized to obscure the origin of funds, contributing to the price expansion.
On-chain researcher ZachXBT has noted that the recent rally of Monero (XMR) might be connected to an attempt to launder stolen funds. The privacy coin continues to exhibit sufficient liquidity on KuCoin, a platform where over 43% of its trading volumes are concentrated.
This alleged hack coincided with some of the recent price movements of XMR over the past week, during which the coin climbed above $700 and achieved a series of all-time highs.
XMR Used to Launder $282 Million from Wallet Theft
ZachXBT reported a significant attack targeting a single wallet. Through social engineering tactics, a hardware wallet was compromised, leading to the draining of $282 million in funds, primarily in Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin (BTC).
The perpetrator immediately began exchanging the stolen funds into XMR via multiple easily accessible instant exchange services. Some of the BTC was also bridged and mixed through Thorchain, a network known for its lack of tracking for illicitly obtained funds.
Previously, XMR experienced a similar price expansion in April 2025, when its relatively illiquid market was used to swap out stolen funds. This current instance of the XMR pump has occurred amidst a broader demand for privacy coins.
The utilization of XMR to disguise the source of funds has brought to light the coin's capacity to facilitate untraceable thefts for malicious actors. This exploit may represent the largest single-wallet theft recorded in the cryptocurrency space to date.
The use of XMR for trading was instrumental in laundering what is now considered the biggest single-wallet scam to date, surpassing even the $243 million social engineering exploit that ZachXBT tracked in prior years. Attacks targeting whale wallets have also seen an acceleration in the past year, affecting both anonymous and known cryptocurrency holders.
XMR Experiences Significant Price Correction After Rally
The rapid selling of over $282 million worth of assets into XMR fueled one of the coin's most significant price pumps, pushing XMR to a peak above $788. At one point, Monero was briefly considered a potential successor to ZCash in the privacy coin narrative, marking a return as both a privacy tool and a store of value.
Shortly after the conclusion of the pump, XMR began to retrace its gains. The coin has since fallen approximately 20% from its all-time peak, currently trading at $667.43 and experiencing a faster decline in the past day.
XMR had generated expectations of a price hike comparable to ZCash (ZEC), with some forecasts even suggesting a reach of $1,000 during the recent rally. However, organic demand and buying activity are considerably smaller than the rapid selling pressure exerted by the hacker. The liquidity injected from the hack propelled XMR from $454 on January 10 to its new record prices.
The recent price action saw XMR lose significant ground within minutes, with no immediate signs of recovery. Furthermore, XMR has come under the influence of a single miner, with over 91% of blocks produced by Minerlabs.io, a pool associated with the Qubic project.