The Fall of Monero (XMR): Will It Recover?

It has been a topsy-turvy ride for crypto-investors around the world, as the Cryptocurrency market is slowly starting to recover from a major slump. Even the biggest players in the Cryptocurrency market, notably, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple Dash etc. have not been spared from this sudden price drop. One such Cryptocurrency is Monero, which has experienced turbulent times in the recent past.  This article aims to discuss recent factors which may have contributed to Monero’s sharp decline.

Present Market Position

As of last week, Monero has certainly improved its position, gaining almost 24% from the low experienced on Sunday. The XMR/USD trading pair is also performing well, within a short-term consolidation channel.  As of 21/03/18,  Monero is currently ranked 11^th according to coinmarketcap, currently, possess a market cap of $3,716,422,279 USD and a total circulating supply of 15,847,742 XMR Tokens. However, comparing this to Monero’s past positions, it has certainly gained both in value and in presence.

Reasons behind the sudden decline

The current Monero market is recovering from a dangerous slump, with Monero reaching a market cap as low as $2,813,330,004 USD on March 18^th from a respectable high market cap of $5,899,143,437 USD on March 3^rd.  As the Cryptocurrency market relies heavily on investor sentiment, a series of events have triggered the public’s non-confidence with Monero.

1. Delisting From Coincheck: Perhaps the most obvious reason for Monero’s sudden, sharp decline is the delisting announcement made by Coincheck. Officials from Coincheck announced that they will be delisting Monero along with Dash and ZCash, due to the high level of anonymity possessed by these three coins. Reports indicate that the exchange is planning to buy the aforementioned tokens from users at a fixed price. A lot of reasons have been brought forward for Coincheck’s decision, including the FSA’s requirement to improve security measures in all exchanges, as transactions with such cryptocurrencies cannot be readily traced on the blockchain. The FSA made this announcement after experiencing considerable money laundering cases.
2. Fear Regarding Monero Miners: The recent fears regarding malware attacks involving Monero mining. As detected by renowned security company Malwarebytes, an XMR mining, malware was secretly carrying out mining operations on Android devices. Reportedly, the mining software went viral, spreading to thousands of unprotected android devices. The primary worm identified is “ADB.Miner” and is powerful enough to break into any type of Android devices. Mining attacks involving Monero are nothing new, with a previous case where malware based software had mined close to 9000 XMR tokens in May 2017. Investor sentiment, similar to this year, had been at an all-time low, with Monero’s price dropping dramatically, before slowly recovering before the end of the year.  The fears involving sporadic malware attacks have certainly influenced investors to steer clear of Monero, resulting in a price decline.
3. Overall Regulations: As Monero possesses a high level of anonymity and cannot be regularly traced in the blockchain, regulatory bodies everywhere are starting to crack down on Monero Mining operations, as well as Monero trading. Recently a case involving Jenkins Servers surfaced, where it was revealed that the server was discreetly running Monero mining operations without the consent of users. Events like this and subsequent announcement relating to regulations are a major force in negative price movements.

Future Prospects

All factors aside, it should be noted that almost every Cryptocurrency goes through periods of extreme volatility, and Monero is no different. Monero has had an outstanding reputation in the crypto-fraternity, for providing unparalleled anonymity and privacy of its users. The recent price movements experienced by Monero can be likened to Monero’s erratic price movements in the previous year, as well as in 2016. As in both cases, the market recovered to a great extent, and the same is expected of Monero in the coming months.

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.

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