Monero Surges Past $530 as THORChain Swap Expectations Fuel Rally
Monero (XMR) has surged past $530 to a seven-month high on Monday, briefly touching $548 before settling near $515. The move was driven by expectations of THORChain's native swaps, which would allow XMR holders to trade directly with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins without surrendering custody.
The catalyst for the advance is THORChain's version 3.20 upgrade, shipped on August 25, which delivered the technical infrastructure needed for native Monero swaps. However, the protocol's developers postponed activation of both XMR and Zcash trading by one to two weeks on August 27, citing network stability as the priority after a $10.7 million exploit in May.
Despite this delay, traders have bid up the token roughly 43% over the past month, with daily volume tripling to approximately $240 million. The rally has been concentrated: KuCoin's XMR/USDT pair alone accounted for about 56% of tracked turnover, at roughly $134 million.