Monero становится предпочтительной криптовалютой для теневых рынков, несмотря на давление регуляторов Translation: Monero Becomes the Preferred Cryptocurrency for Dark Markets Despite Regulatory Pressure

Analysts at TRM Labs have observed a shift in trends within the dark web: illegal marketplaces are increasingly adopting the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero.

According to their report, nearly half of the shadowy platforms that launched in 2025 exclusively utilized this token.

Experts attribute this trend to law enforcement’s success in tracking Bitcoin and stablecoins. Under pressure from regulators, criminals are searching for assets that are more challenging to link to real identities.

Interest in Monero has been fueled by significant incidents. In January, hackers stole over $200 million from a cryptocurrency wallet and began converting the funds to XMR. According to Chainalysis, the surge in purchasing activity led to a 60% increase in the coin’s price within just four days, resulting in a new all-time high.

Although the price has adjusted since its peak, Monero has risen by 51% over the year, outpacing both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

This growth occurred despite widespread delistings of the asset on centralized exchanges. Following the removal of XMR trading pairs by Binance and other major platforms, trading volumes migrated to decentralized exchanges with less stringent listing requirements.

Currently, Monero employs ring signatures, mixing a genuine transaction with 15 false inputs, making blockchain analysis challenging, though not impossible.

Justin Ehrenhofer from NAXO noted in a comment to Bloomberg that intelligence agencies could leverage exchange withdrawal metadata to de-anonymize users.

Nonetheless, developers are preparing a significant upgrade with the introduction of Full-Chain Membership Proofs Development technology. This will expand the number of potential senders from 16 to millions. Paul Sibenić, head of CryptoForensic Investigators, believes this upgrade will render attempts to identify the actual sender futile.

Proponents of the coin view the interest from criminals as a testament to the technology’s effectiveness. Douglas Tuman, founder of the XmrBazaar marketplace, stated that offenders choose XMR because it functions as “true untraceable digital cash.”

Monero developer Luke Parker emphasized that the project’s goal is to safeguard privacy rights without oversight from banks and governments.

TRM Labs acknowledges the complexity of the situation. According to Ari Redboard, head of policy, the main challenge for the industry is to ensure privacy for law-abiding users without inadvertently empowering criminals.

It’s worth noting that in October 2025, Monero developers released the Flourine Fermi client (v0.18.4.3), enhancing protection against so-called spying nodes.