Monero Is Easily Today’s Biggest Price Gainer

by
Nick Marinoff
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At the time of writing, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero is allegedly outperforming bitcoin, the world’s number one cryptocurrency by market cap.

Monero Is Up, Up and Away!

Monero is only the world’s 12th largest digital asset, though it is easily today’s biggest gainer, having surged by more than seven percent in just the last 24 hours alone. It is currently trading for just shy of $54, according to Messari.io.

Monero is a very controversial coin in that it offers people far more privacy than bitcoin. While this is certainly a positive aspect, the currency has managed to attract its fair share of illicit behavior and “evil doers,” as former President George W. Bush might call them.

Monero is particularly popular in crypto jacking efforts. While the prospects of crypto jacking have died down somewhat over the past year, it still exists and is largely utilized by regions such as North Korea, which has virtually built its entire nuclear division off this practice and hosts several hacking institutions such as Lazarus, often considered one of the most dangerous of the world’s illicit digital operations.

Crypto jacking is the process of secretly taking over one’s computer or digital device without their knowledge or consent. From there, the hacker uses the product to mine cryptocurrencies. Monero is usually the first target given its semi-anonymous properties. All the while, the hacker in question is garnering virtual funds, while the device owner gets nothing minus the expensive energy bills that they’re likely receiving in the mail each month.

Despite the scary nature of the coin, many prominent industry figures see it as a prime example of what a cryptocurrency can and should be. Last January, Brian Armstrong – CEO of Coinbase – discussed Monero and other privacy-focused assets in a blog post, writing:

I think we’ll also see privacy integrated into one of the dominant chains in the 2020s. Just like how the internet launched with HTTP, and only later introduced HTTPS as a default on many websites, I believe we’ll eventually see a privacy coin or blockchain with built-in privacy features get mainstream adoption in the 2020s. It doesn’t make sense in most cases to broadcast every payment you make on a transparent ledger.

Leading to a More Private Future

Another person promoting the likes of Monero is antivirus mogul John McAfee, who wrote on Twitter that the asset had stronger technical capabilities when compared with bitcoin. Earlier in the year, he stated:

Bitcoin was first. It’s an ancient technology. All know it, [but] newer blockchains have privacy, smart contracts, distributed apps and more. Bitcoin is our future? Was the Model T the future of the automobile?

McAfee also took the time to praise Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap and the primary competitor to bitcoin.