Taylor Hornby, the security engineer who used Anthropic’s Opus 4.8 AI model to find a critical bug in Zcash, says privacy coin Monero is among the tokens he intends to audit next.

According to their estimates, cartels and affiliated structures are integrating digital assets into financial schemes, bypassing traditional control mechanisms and expanding operations through couriers and freelancers.

Cryptocurrency

The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero reached a new all-time high near $608, following an eight-day rally. XMR prices are now well above the previous resistance zone of $460–$480, which had capped gains for most of 2024.

Dubai’s financial regulator has banned the use of privacy cryptocurrencies, including Monero and Zcash. As of January 12, new rules governing digital assets came into force in the emirate’s international financial zone, the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), CoinDesk reported.

Cryptocurrency

Monero (XMR) rose 15.5% in a single day, 33% over the week, and approximately 186% over the past year. This marks the highest level reached by the coin in the last eight years, since its breakout to $542 in January 2018. Monero currently ranks 12th among cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. To enter the top ten largest crypto assets, Monero needs to surpass Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Cardano (ADA).

Cryptocurrency

The privacy-focused cryptocurrency Zcash (ZEC) dropped sharply from a peak slightly above $741 on November 15 to a low of $411 on Tuesday, December 16. Meanwhile, its competitor Monero (XMR) continues to rise, gaining more than 15% over the past seven days.