Key Notes
XMR reached a new ATH of $657, overtaking ZEC’s ATH market value.
The cumulative market cap of privacy coins reached $21 billion.
Santiment data shows a spike in Monero’s development activity.
Monero has been leading the privacy coin sector over the past week with notable price momentum and development activity.
XMR touched an all-time high of $657 on Jan. 13, with a market cap of $12 billion. The new ATH comes as the leading privacy coin recorded a 46% rally over the past seven days.
Monero now leads the chart, distancing itself from Zcash , which was leading the sector in November and remained in the lead, albeit partially, in December. ZEC is down by 7% over the past 30 days and is currently trading at $399.
With XMR’s price rally, the total market value of privacy coins reached $21 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
Related article: Dogecoin Price Reacts as New DOGE ETF from 21Shares to Go Live This Week
On Monday, Jan. 12, Coinspeaker reported that XMR’s recent momentum looks similar to silver’s historic rally. Veteran trader Peter Brandt pointed out the token’s descending resistance trendline, with expectations of the so-called “god candle” for Monero.
What’s Driving the XMR Price Surge?
Monero’s rally cannot be connected to the broader digital asset market performance over the past 24 hours. According to CMC data, the global cryptocurrency market cap fell by 0.6% to $3.12 trillion, while eight of the 10 leading privacy coins gained bullish momentum.
According to a Santiment analysis, XMR broke the $600 mark while the social FOMO considerably declined since Jan. 11.
? Monero's +44% surge over the past 8 days led to a $608 all-time high. If you are looking for an entry point, consider doing so after social hype and FOMO wears off slightly. The privacy sector has been a breath of fresh air these past 3 months, with $XMR now in the forefront… pic.twitter.com/fsmS0u9dlr
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) January 12, 2026
On the other hand, XMR’s development activity recorded a significant rise on Jan. 2, with a sharp decline on Jan. 10. Santiment data shows that the project’s development activity gained momentum again late on Jan. 12.
Strong development activity, similar to last week, can organically bring momentum to a project.
In addition, Monero received $1 million in donations from the community in September 2025 for its development funding.
In February 2024, Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, delisted Monero as it didn’t meet the company’s requirements.
