The XMR price rose on Tuesday by nearly 10% after the release of a new report from TRM Labs. This report highlights the resilience of Monero and the growing adoption in privacy-focused markets, despite the removal of the coin by major exchanges.
The research provides more insight into the increasing use of Monero in high-risk environments, such as darknet marketplaces. It also shows subtle behaviors at the network level that can influence real privacy expectations.
Monero's shadow market growth and network insights drive XMR price up
At the time of writing, XMR was trading at $335.66, nearly 10% higher than 24 hours ago.
According to TRM Labs, Monero's on-chain transaction activity remained generally stable in 2024 and 2025 and is structurally higher than before 2022.
This trend persisted despite restrictions from major platforms like Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, and Huobi. They have increasingly restricted access to XMR due to regulation and concerns over traceability.
"Despite the delisting by exchanges and enforcement pressure, XMR activity on Monero remains above the level of pre-2022," notes TRM Labs.
According to the company's research:
48% of the new darknet markets in 2025 accepted only XMR.
Most ransomware payments still take place in BTC — liquidity is important.
14–15% of Monero nodes exhibit non-standard network behavior.
The cryptography of Monero is strong, but network-level dynamics can affect privacy in practice.
The report emphasizes that the resilience of Monero does not primarily come from casual retail trading. Rather, it reflects a core user group that values privacy, even if it comes with more effort, fewer buying and selling opportunities, and lower liquidity.
Transaction volumes in 2024 and 2025 were significantly higher than early 2020–2021. This indicates sustained demand and not just temporary, speculative spikes.
This stability stands out, as according to some reports, by 2025, 73 exchanges had delisted Monero.
As a result, liquidity for XMR is increasingly concentrated in foreign or less strictly regulated exchanges. This partly explains why most ransomware payments still occur in Bitcoin.
Users often choose Monero for its privacy, but Bitcoin is easier to obtain, move, and exchange on a large scale.
Monero adoption is growing in darknet markets
The report also mentions that Monero's adoption in darknet markets continues to grow.
Data from TRM Labs shows that 48% of the recently launched darknet marketplaces in 2025 only support XMR, a strong increase compared to previous years.
This trend is particularly visible in Western markets. This is a direct response to better traceability with Bitcoin and stablecoins tied to the US dollar.
This aligns with a recent BeInCrypto report mentioning that the use of XMR in illegal activities is increasing.
Beyond market sentiment, TRM Labs also conducted practical research on Monero's peer-to-peer (P2P) network. The analysis revealed that 14–15% of reachable Monero peers exhibited deviant behavior, including:
Irregular message timings
Deviant handshake patterns
Concentration of infrastructure
These deviations do not indicate errors in the protocol or malicious activities, but they do show that network dynamics can impact theoretical anonymity models, even though Monero's on-chain cryptography remains strong.
Monero has a unique place in the crypto ecosystem. While transparent networks and stablecoins are becoming more traceable and regulated, Monero continues to offer privacy-friendly features that appeal to users in risky situations or to those who highly value privacy.
The findings from TRM Labs reveal both the strengths and details of Monero's privacy design. It shows that actual use and behavior on the network can affect how well anonymity works in practice.