Monero’s Unyielding Stand: Privacy Prevails Amid Delistings and Network Woes

Monero (XMR), the heavyweight champion of privacy-focused cryptocurrencies, refuses to back down. Despite a barrage of exchange delistings, regulatory heat, and emerging network concerns, a recent report from blockchain analytics firm TRM Labs reveals that Monero’s on-chain activity towers above pre-2022 levels. This isn’t just a blip—it’s a middle finger to centralized control and a raw display of demand for financial anonymity.

• Defiant Growth: Transaction volumes in 2024 and 2025 outpace pre-2022 figures despite major exchange restrictions.
• Privacy Over Convenience: Users endure limited access to prioritize untraceable transactions.
• Hidden Cracks: Peer-to-peer network anomalies raise questions about Monero’s anonymity at the infrastructure level.

Monero’s Unshakable User Base: Privacy Diehards Hold the Line

For those new to the crypto game, Monero is a coin built from the ground up to protect user identities. It uses sophisticated tech like ring signatures—think of it as hiding your transaction in a crowd of decoys so no one knows who’s paying who—along with stealth addresses and confidential transactions to mask sender, recipient, and amount. This makes XMR a go-to for anyone who values financial sovereignty, but it’s also painted a giant target on its back. Regulators, obsessed with anti-money laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) compliance, see privacy coins as a threat. As a result, heavy-hitter exchanges like Binance (delisted in February 2023), Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Huobi, and Bitstamp have either restricted or outright booted Monero from their platforms over the past few years. Their stance? Privacy’s too messy for their sanitized, regulator-friendly ecosystems.

Yet, Monero’s community doesn’t give a damn about these roadblocks. TRM Labs’ data shows that on-chain transaction volumes in 2024 and 2025 have not only stabilized but consistently exceed the quieter days of 2020-2021, before delistings snowballed. As TRM Labs tweeted,

“Despite exchange delistings and enforcement pressure, XMR activity on Monero remains above pre-2022 levels.”

This isn’t the fickle hype of meme coin speculators; it’s the resolve of users who’ll slog through clunky off-ramps and sparse trading pairs just to keep their dealings off the grid. In a surveillance-happy world, that’s a powerful statement.

Liquidity: Monero’s Achilles’ Heel in a Bitcoin-Dominated Game

While Monero’s loyalists keep the network buzzing, not everything is rosy. A major sticking point is liquidity—or rather, the lack of it. Liquidity, in simple terms, is how easily you can buy or sell an asset without its price going haywire. Monero’s market size is a fraction of Bitcoin’s, and its trading structure is patchy at best. Over the last 30 days, XMR’s price volatility was about 2.5 times higher than that of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). That kind of wild swing makes it a risky bet for transactions needing stability or speed.

This plays out starkly in ransomware payments, a use case often tied to privacy coins. Many cybercriminal outfits explicitly request Monero and even dangle discounts for XMR payments, banking on its untraceable nature. But here’s the rub: most of these deals still settle in Bitcoin. Why? As TRM Labs bluntly put it,

“Most ransomware payments still occur in BTC — liquidity matters.”

Bitcoin’s deeper liquidity pools and easier access mean it’s the practical choice for crooks looking to cash out fast, even if it’s less private. Monero’s privacy edge gets undercut by real-world friction, and that’s a bitter pill for a coin built to be the ultimate shadow currency.

Darknet’s Love Affair with XMR: A Privacy Powerhouse

Where Monero truly flexes its muscles is in environments where anonymity isn’t just nice to have—it’s survival. Darknet markets, those hidden corners of the internet where everything from contraband to sensitive leaks gets traded, are increasingly all-in on XMR. TRM Labs’ report dropped a bombshell: in 2025, 48% of newly launched darknet marketplaces operate as XMR-only platforms. They shared this stat on social media, noting,

“48% of new darknet markets in 2025 are XMR-only.”

That’s not just a trend; it’s a seismic shift.

Why the surge? Bitcoin, once the darknet darling, is losing ground as blockchain analytics tools get scarily good at tracing BTC transactions. Monero, with its baked-in obscurity, fills a gap no other crypto can match in these high-stakes arenas. Sure, this fuels the narrative of XMR as a “criminal coin,” but let’s not pretend privacy doesn’t have legit uses too. Think activists dodging oppressive regimes or whistleblowers shielding their finances—Monero’s tech is a lifeline for them just as much as it is for less savory players. It’s a messy duality, but it underscores why XMR dominates this niche.

Network Risks: A Privacy Paradox at the Infrastructure Level

Before we crown Monero the undisputed king of privacy, there’s a nasty wrinkle to iron out—and it’s not at the blockchain level where ring signatures hold strong. TRM Labs, partnering with academic researchers, dug into Monero’s peer-to-peer (P2P) network, the decentralized web of computers that keeps the system running without a central boss. They found that 14-15% of reachable Monero peers—basically, the nodes you can connect to—show weird behavior. We’re talking irregular handshake patterns (the digital “hello” nodes exchange) and funky message timing when transactions are relayed. Worse, a big chunk of these oddball peers clusters in just a few hosting environments, hinting at infrastructure concentration.

Why should you care? If the P2P network—the backbone that moves data around—has quirks or centralized weak spots, it could let bad actors spy on how information flows, even if the transactions themselves stay hidden. This isn’t about cracking Monero’s core privacy features; it’s about undermining anonymity through the plumbing. For a coin that lives and dies by untraceability, that’s a gut punch. Has the Monero community acknowledged this? Are fixes in the works? The report doesn’t say, but it’s a glaring question mark for anyone relying on XMR to stay off the radar.

Regulatory Fire: Privacy Coins in the Crosshairs

The delistings aren’t just random corporate tantrums—they’re symptoms of a broader clampdown on privacy cryptocurrencies. Global regulators are tightening the screws with frameworks like the EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, set to fully roll out by late 2024, and the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) guidelines that demand transparency in crypto dealings. Privacy coins like Monero are the ultimate thorn in their side, seen as enablers of money laundering or worse. This isn’t speculation; it’s why exchanges are ditching XMR faster than a hot potato.

Could Monero adapt by playing nice with regulators—maybe through selective transparency options like Zcash offers? It’s a long shot and would likely enrage its core base, who see any compromise as betrayal. The more likely outcome is harsher crackdowns, especially as tools to monitor privacy-focused cryptocurrencies evolve. Speaking of which, let’s talk about the folks behind this report and what their trajectory means for XMR.

TRM Labs’ Rise: A Double-Edged Sword for Privacy

TRM Labs isn’t just a bystander dishing out data—they’re a heavyweight in blockchain analytics, and they’re gearing up for war. The firm recently nabbed $70 million in a Series C funding round led by Blockchain Capital, with big names like Goldman Sachs, Citi Ventures, and Galaxy Ventures piling in. That haul pegs TRM Labs’ valuation at a hefty $1 billion. Their goal? Supercharge tools that track crypto flows, often hand-in-hand with law enforcement and financial watchdogs.

For privacy coins like Monero, this is a red alert. More analytics muscle means more eyes peeling back the layers of anonymity, even if it’s just at the network edges. TRM Labs has already flexed its chops in tracking illicit crypto activity—don’t be surprised if XMR transactions are next on their hit list. While their work helps curb scams and crime, it’s a stark reminder that privacy tech faces an uphill battle against the transparency crusade. For Monero, every step forward in adoption seems matched by a step closer to the regulatory guillotine.

Monero vs. the Privacy Pack: Why XMR Reigns Supreme

Let’s zoom out for a second. Monero isn’t the only privacy coin in town—Zcash (ZEC) and Dash come to mind, each with their own anonymity tricks. Zcash offers optional privacy through shielded addresses, while Dash has a mixing feature for obscuring transactions. Yet, both have faced delistings and scrutiny similar to Monero’s, and neither commands the same loyalty or darknet dominance. Why? Monero’s privacy is mandatory, not opt-in, making it a purist’s choice. Plus, its community is notoriously hardcore, pushing back against any whiff of compromise. XMR isn’t just a tool; it’s a damn ideology.

The Bigger Picture: Privacy, Freedom, and Acceleration

As a Bitcoin maximalist, I’ll always root for BTC as the ultimate store of value and censorship-resistant money. But I’ve got to tip my hat to Monero for carving out a brutal, necessary niche. Bitcoin doesn’t—and frankly shouldn’t—chase the raw, unfiltered privacy XMR delivers. They’re different beasts in this financial revolution, and that’s fine. Monero’s fight aligns with the spirit of effective accelerationism, barreling toward decentralized tech that upends the status quo, even if it pisses off every regulator from Brussels to D.C. But let’s not kid ourselves: XMR’s rap sheet with illicit use cases is a PR disaster. It risks alienating mainstream adoption and inviting ever-tighter nooses. On the flip side, isn’t privacy a hill worth dying on? Without it, what’s the point of decentralization?

Key Takeaways and Burning Questions

• Why Are Monero Transaction Volumes High Despite Exchange Delistings?
  Privacy-obsessed users are fueling sustained activity in 2024 and 2025, surpassing pre-2022 levels as they prioritize anonymity over easy access, navigating fewer trading options with sheer determination.
• How Does Monero Price Volatility Affect Its Use in Ransomware?
  With volatility 2.5 times higher than Bitcoin and Ethereum, Monero’s thin liquidity makes it less practical for ransomware payments, where Bitcoin’s ease of conversion keeps it king despite weaker privacy.
• Why Is Monero Dominating Darknet Markets in 2025?
  Its untraceable design drives adoption, with 48% of new darknet marketplaces going XMR-only, as Bitcoin’s traceability weakens under sharper analytics tools in high-risk environments.
• Are There Vulnerabilities in Monero’s Privacy Infrastructure?
  Yes, 14-15% of P2P network peers show odd behavior, and concentrated hosting environments could expose data flow patterns, risking anonymity even if blockchain-level privacy holds.
• What Does TRM Labs’ $1 Billion Valuation Mean for Privacy Cryptocurrencies?
  Their $70 million funding signals booming demand for blockchain analytics tools, likely intensifying scrutiny on coins like Monero as partnerships with law enforcement grow stronger.

Monero’s saga is a raw, messy clash between privacy and control, freedom and surveillance. It’s punching way above its weight, a rebel coin in a world itching to chain everything down. The question isn’t just whether XMR can survive the gauntlet of delistings, network flaws, and regulatory wrath—it’s whether privacy itself can win against a system hell-bent on transparency. As we accelerate toward a decentralized future, Monero’s battle is one to watch, root for, and maybe even fear. The stakes couldn’t be higher.