Monero price prediction: What next in 2022?
Monero may be the crypto for privacy advocates, but what is the Monero price prediction for 2022?
In this prediction
It has been described as the ultimate cryptocurrency for consumers who value their privacy. Monero (XMR) says transactions on its blockchain cannot be connected to particular users, or to anyone’s real-world identity. Although this could be beneficial for people who are subject to censorship, critics argue it also enables crypto to be used for criminal activity or to finance terrorism.
In this article, we are going to explain what this coin actually does and give you a Monero price prediction.
What is Monero?
As you may have deduced from our introduction, the Monero cryptocurrency is a so-called privacy coin. In the early days of Bitcoin, many people assumed all cryptocurrencies were anonymous, but this is not necessarily so.
It is true that BTC addresses and transactions are not connected to an individual’s account, but the use of exchanges and wallets can compromise someone’s identity. Plus, as all transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain can be traced by anyone, a little bit of detective work may be all it takes to unmask the owner of a certain address.
Monero trading is designed to be different. Because it is decentralised, the team behind the cryptocurrency claims that you do not have to entrust the safekeeping of your coins to a third party. Obfuscation techniques are also used to shield the origins of a transaction, as well as its value and where it was heading, from public view. Groups of users are involved in validating transactions and they do it in such a way that it is computationally impossible to determine who was personally responsible.
Think of it like getting a standard letter from your bank, perhaps informing you of a change in interest rates: you know it has been sent to you by a bank employee, but you have no way of knowing who the particular individual was.
From the Monero whitepaper
The Zero to Monero First Edition: A Technical Guide to a Private Digital Currency whitepaper was originally published in June 2018 and is 91 pages long.
The whitepaper outlines Monero’s distinguishing features from other cryptocurrencies: “Clearly, an open blockchain defies any basic understanding of privacy, since it virtually publicises the complete transaction histories of its users. To address the lack of privacy, users of cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, can obfuscate transactions by using temporary intermediate addresses. However, with appropriate tools it is possible to analyse flows and to a large extent link true senders with receivers.
“In contrast, the cryptocurrency Monero (Moe-neh-row) attempts to tackle the issue of privacy by storing only single-use addresses for receipt of funds in the blockchain, and by authenticating the dispersal of funds in each transaction with ring signatures. With these methods there are no effective ways to link receivers or trace the origin of funds.”
The whitepaper goes on to say: “Transaction amounts in the Monero blockchain are concealed behind cryptographic constructions, rendering currency flows opaque. The result is a cryptocurrency with a high level of privacy.”
Monero and the law
In 2019, the multinational Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pushed for a so-called “travel rule” that would mean details of both the sender and recipient must be kept on record for all crypto transfers over $1,000.
While this particular bit of legislation may have looked dangerous for Monero, which relies on privacy as its main selling point, this was not necessarily the case. As the ComplyFirst website states:
“In usual circumstances, the sender’s intermediary will already know the required information about the sender (ie, its customer) through its own Know Your Customer process, and can require the sender to provide all other required transactional and beneficiary information as a prerequisite to executing the transaction. Notably, the travel rule applies only to transactions involving more than one regulated intermediary, so an exchange is not required (for example) to transmit a sender’s travel rule information to a beneficiary’s unhosted XMR wallet. Since the sending and receiving intermediaries are required to conduct Know Your Customer on their respective customers prior to providing services, the privacy-preserving nature of XMR therefore does not hinder compliance with the travel rule.”
In other words, as long as people trading in the crypto just do one thing at a time, then Monero is still complying with the travel rule.
The top law firm Mishcon de Reya backs this interpretation, with the company’s website saying:
“The expanded travel rule does not capture peer-to-peer transfers of virtual assets which do not involve a virtual asset service provider (VASP) or financial institution, ie, so-called over-the-counter (OTC) trades.”
Omitting these transactions from the guidance, continues Mischon de Reya, was “deliberate” because, according to the FATF, it is aimed at placing anti-money-laudering (AML) and counter-terrorism-financing (CTF) obligations on “intermediaries between individuals and the financial system”.
Mischon de Reya adds:
“Whether this omission undermines the AML/CTF efficacy of the travel rule remains to be seen, given that unhosted wallets (ie, wallets held independently of a VASP) are believed to account for much of the illicit activity conducted using cryptoassets.”
As it stands, the travel rule does not seem to be playing much of a role in Monero future price predictions, but it is important to keep an eye on to see whether there are any more regulatory changes in the near future.
To determine a Monero future price point, it might be helpful to look back at its performance in the years since its launch. It is important to remember that past performance does not indicate future results, but it does help to put current activity into context.
Much like other cryptocurrencies, there was a fair bit of movement in XMR to begin with. Those who bought Monero at the start of January 2017, when it was trading at around $13, and held on to it until the end of the year would have seen it reach a daily high of $476.40 on 20 December 2017, according to CoinMarketCap.
After that, though, it cooled and trended downwards. By January and February 2019, it was trading at between $42 and $55. By 10 February 2020, it had climbed to $84.82, but the Covid-19 pandemic saw it drop to $35.37 on 17 March. It then climbed steadily for the rest of the year and finished 2020 at $156.57.
The first few months of 2021 were a boom time for crypto and Monero became caught up in the excitement. It reached $271 at the close on 17 February before dropping back to $197.55 on 25 February. There was some slow and steady growth in March before it hit an all-time high of $517.62 on 7 May 2021.
The crash of late May 2021 brought Monero’s price down and it fell below $200 at one point on 19 May. On 20 July, it fell to $183.10, and then peaked and troughed over the next two months. By 6 October 2021, it was trading at around $286.57 and held steady at around that mark until 14 November, when it was valued at $275.14.
The coin began another general downtrend and by 18 December 2021, the coin was valued at $181.17. On 1 January 2022, the coin reached a five-week high at $250.21.
Towards the end of the first quarter of 2022, the crypto markets were showing fleeting signs of a recovery. However, in May and June flash crashes saw the value of XMR dip below the $100 mark in June. Some gains have been made since then, however, and as of 11 August 2022, the token is trading at $165.36.
Privacy coins are under a huge amount of scrutiny following US sanctions against Blender.io and Tornado Cash. While some speculate that the banning of Tornado is a continuation of hostility from the government towards the industry, others see a limited regulatory scope for bannings that extend to a complete blockchain, rather than the outputs of a mixing protocol.
Monero price prediction
With all of this in mind, it is time to look at Monero price predictions for 2022. Let’s see what some forecasters have said.
TradingBeasts took a cautious approach with its Monero predictions. The site’s Monero price prediction for 2022 suggests a value of $156.90 in September. The publisher forecasts that the coin will stay at roughly the same value for the rest of this year with a slight downtrend, hitting a value of $156.76 in December.
Meanwhile, WalletInvestor has an XMR price prediction that says the price should reach $218.83 in a year’s time, and then $432.10 in five years. The site believes the coin will break the $300 mark in December 2024. The site makes a Monero price prediction for 2025 which suggests a year-end value of $381.53.
DigitalCoinPrice suggests the coin will hit $238.10 in September this year. The forecaster suggests an average value of $248.37 in 2023, $249.99 in 2024 and $318.73 in 2025. It thinks XMR will trade at a lower value of $285.31 in 2026, but then continue a general year-on-year uptrend, leading to a Monero price prediction for 2030 of $759.65.
Keep in mind, however, that analysts can be wrong and values may change at short notice – so make sure to always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford.
FAQs
How many Monero coins are there?
Monero has a circulating supply of more than 18 million coins, according to CoinMarketCap.
Is Monero a good investment?
It might be. Monero reached an all-time high in May 2021. That said, you do need to be cautious. Cryptocurrencies can be highly volatile and prices can go down as well as up. You will need to do your own research and should never invest more than you can afford to lose.
Where to buy Monero
Because of its nature as a ‘privacy coin’, Monero is not listed on some exchanges. To buy Monero, you can get it from a wide range of exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken. Just remember to do your own research first, and never invest money you cannot afford to lose.
Your decision to trade depends on your attitude to risk, your expertise in this market, the spread of your investment portfolio and how comfortable you feel about losing money.
