Monero Reaches 2-Year High, Taking YTD Gain to 200%

Oct 26, 2020 at 15:42 UTC.The privacy-centric monero continues to rally despite lingering regulatory concerns.

The cryptocurrency rose to $139 early Monday, the highest level since September 2018, according to data compiled on the CoinDesk 20.At press time, monero was changing hands at $135, up 200% on a year-to-date basis.

Monero has rallied by over 50% the past seven weeks.

A month ago, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service announced a bounty to anyone who can develop solutions to trace monero's transactions.

"The U.S. Internal Revenue Service wants the same level of insight as they have over digital dollars in bank accounts; however, cryptographers and researchers are always going to be one step ahead on privacy," the protocol's maintainer, Riccardo "Fluffypony" Spagni, told CoinDesk.

The European Union's law enforcement agency Europol cited popular privacy-enhancing cryptocurrency wallets and other technologies as "Top threats" in Europol's "2020 Internet Organized Crime Threat Assessment" published earlier this month.

Regulatory scrutiny has likely garnering more attention for monero amid an upward-trending broader market.

"Speculators, algorithmic traders look to have fueled the price rally," David Jevans, CEO of blockchain forensics firm CipherTrace, told CoinDesk earlier this month.