Monero Jumps 51% After 'Suspicious Transfer' of $333M in Bitcoin

Privacy blockchain Monero (XMR) jumped 51% on Monday—and on-chain investigators pointed to hackers laundering $330 million in stolen Bitcoin as the likely culprit.

Early on Monday, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT highlighted a “suspicious transfer” made from a “potential victim” of 3,520 BTC (worth approximately $333 million). Soon after, the funds were swapped to XMR via multiple exchanges. ZachXBT believes this was “theft” due to the high fees paid and the suspicious activity once the funds had been moved.

The investigator later added that it is “highly probable” the attack didn’t originate from North Korea and that the victim was a longtime Bitcoin holder. 

In response, XMR jumped 51% to a price of $347.72 in seven hours, before retracing. At time of publication, Monero is priced at $264.18, up 15.3% on the day, according to CoinGecko. 

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Monero and privacy

Monero is the biggest privacy coin with a $5.3 billion market cap, ranking as the 27th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

Where regular blockchains, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, allow users to view every transaction that has happened on the network—enabling the tracking of funds through wallets—Monero uses a variety of technologies to obfuscate wallet addresses and transactions. As a result, it has become a popular network for malicious actors to hide their tracks on. 

The IRS Is Offering You $625,000 to Crack Monero

The US Internal Revenue Services (IRS) will pay out up to $625,000 for anyone who cracks the untraceable cryptocurrency Monero, and other privacy coins, according to an official proposal published last week. “IRS-CI is seeking a solution with one or more contractors to provide innovative solutions for tracing and attribution of privacy coins, such as expert tools, data, source code, algorithms, and software development services,” said the proposal. Privacy coins like Monero allow users to trans...

In 2020, the IRS offered $625,000 to firms aiming to "crack" Monero's privacy, subsequently inking deals with blockchain tracing firm Chainalysis and data forensics analysis firm Integra FEC.

There have been cases of criminal Monero users being convicted, despite the network's stringent privacy.

Last summer, British dark web drug dealer Jack Edward Finney was convicted and his Monero tokens seized. However, the seizure wasn’t due to the police cracking the network, but because Finney transferred the funds to the investigator as part of a confiscation order. UK officials later sold the tokens in what was described by prosecutors as the first UK Monero cryptocurrency payout.

In January 2024, it was reported by local Finnish media that Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) had successfully tracked transcations made using Monero. However, a former member of the MAGIC Monero Fund committee, Csilla Brimer, told Decrypt that this wasn’t the whole truth. Instead, she said, investigations were likely able to trace some transcations because of poor operational security from the user. 

Did Law Enforcement Crack Privacy Coin Monero? It's Complicated

Earlier this week, an article in Finnish publication MTV Uutiset claimed that Finland's National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) had succeeded in tracking transactions made using the privacy preserving cryptocurrency Monero. However, it's unlikely that Monero itself has been compromised, a former member of the MAGIC Monero Fund committee told Decrypt. Csilla Brimer said that investigators were likely able to trace some transactions because of faulty operational security on the part of users, rathe...

"If you're not careful with your operational security and you keep switching between Bitcoin and Monero, you might leak some information," Brimer told Decrypt. "Regulators might use this slip-up to claim they can track Monero."

"Monero is very solid at guarding your transaction details, but it can't save you from slip-ups in your own security habits,” she added.