The price of the open source cryptocurrency, Monero (XMR) has fallen by as much as 50% since its all time high in April.The coin fell in response to a broad sell-off across the cryptocurrency markets.Since then it has an erratic time oscillating between $170 and $340.On the plus side it has maintained a 50% upside on the year to date (17 November).So what are its prospects for the rest of the year and into 2022?
This article looks at the development of the blockchain, the project’s latest news and some predictions for the Monero future price.
What is Monero (XMR)?
Launched in 2014, Monero, initially known as BitMonero, is a hard fork, or split from the Bytecoin (BCN) that launched in 2012 – that makes it one of the oldest around.The founder, an anonymous member of the Bytecoin community with the username thankful_for_today, created the fork after the community objected to “controversial” changes to the altcoin.There were several anonymous developers involved in the creation of Monero, and there are rumours that it was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, who invented Bitcoin (BTC).
Monero is based on the principles of security, privacy and decentralisation.According to its website: “Monero continues to develop with goals of privacy and security first, ease of use and efficiency second.” The identity of parties involved in bitcoin transactions can be traced because the blockchain is public and transparent, whereas Monero uses advanced cryptography to obscure the identities of senders and recipients.
The developers have made several major improvements to Monero since launch.
They have migrated the blockchain to a different database structure to increase its flexibility and efficiency.They also set minimum ring signature sizes – the number of people authorised to digitally sign a transaction, a little like signatories on a joint bank account.
The original protocol that Monero used was based on CryptoNote, which uses ring signatures and one-off keys to conceal the origin and destination of transactions on the blockchain.The developers implemented Ring Confidential Transactions (RingCT) in January 2017 to hide transaction amounts.This introduced a new type of ring signature, a ‘multi-layered linkable spontaneous anonymous group’ (MLSAG) signature, which hides the details of transactions efficiently and uses verifiable, trustless coin generation.
An upgrade to the Monero network in October 2020 replaced MLSAG with the ‘concise linkable spontaneous anonymous group’ (CLSAG) signature, which increases the speed of transaction verification by roughly 20% while reducing the size of transactions by around 25%.
XMR is the coin that runs on the Monero blockchain.
XMR is mined using the proof-of-work algorithm on which bitcoin mining is based.But it uses so-called ‘smart mining’, in which a miner increases network security by having a large number of people running it.Having a range of different sources increased the hash rate, keeping the network decentralised.The smart miner enables transparent CPU mining on an individual user’s computer, rather than encouraging the use of large mining farms and pools, which in effect creates centralisation.
There were more than 5.8 million transactions using monero coins between April 2020 and April 2021, at an average of 16,000 transactions per day, based on the sparse publicly available data on the blockchain according to its website.
That was up from around 2.8 million total transactions, an average of 7,700 daily, in the April 2019 to April 2020 period.
Monero also offers its own wallet from its site.Coins can then be added by mining, working for Monero as well as buying it with fiat currency.
The XMR coin is accepted as payment by a range of stores, including Australian hardware wallet retailer bitgear, yoga accessories retailer YogiWay and clothing retailer Z1 Fashion.It is also used by payment gateways including CryptAPI, CoinPayments and NOWPayments and there is a Monero extension for the WooCommerce plug-in for online retailers.
Monero price analysis: coin jumps past 2018 high before sell-off
At the time of writing on 17 November, XMR is the 44th largest cryptocurrency, with a market capitalisation of $4.24m, according to CoinMarketCap .There are 18.01 million coins in circulation, which is the total supply created so far.There is no technical limit on the number of XMR that can be mined, however, as with bitcoins, the block-mining reward drops in stages as more are created and will reach a limit of 0.6 XMR every two minutes around 2022.
The Monero (XMR) price soared from $156.57 at the start of 2021 to a high of $517.62 on 7 May, surpassing the previous all-time high of $495.84 reached during the previous cryptocurrency bull run in January 2018.The monero coin price had bottomed out at the $39 level in March 2020 in line with the broader cryptocurrency markets reaching their lows at that time.
The price of monero has slumped in the past two weeks as cryptocurrencies have plummeted from their recent highs, dropping from $341.26 on 18 May to a low of $153.37 on 19 May.It bounced back to $310 on 21 May only to fall to $240 by 24 May.By 17 November it was $235.55.
What’s next for the XMR crypto? Will the price rebound further from the lows?
Monero (XMR) price prediction for 2022 and beyond: what do long-term forecasts show?
The monero price prediction from algorithm-based forecasting site Wallet Investor says the price could potentially rise to $332.3 by the end of 2021 and then to $483.5 by the end of 2022.
It has the potential to break through the $1000 level in 2026, possibly as high as $1024.5 by year end.
The monero forecast from Digital Coin projects a similar trajectory.
It predicts the XMR price will average $361.9 in 2021, $401.6 in 2022, and move above $900 to average $964.18 in 2027.It estimates the price will average $1,018.39 in 2028.
The XMR outlook from Coin Price Forecast is less optimistic possibly ebven pessimistic compared to its position earlier inthe year.It suggests the price will climb to $248 by the end of 2021 compared to its April forecast of $438.
Now it sees a price of $228 by the end of 2022, $436 by the end of 2025 and $537 by the end of 2030.It had previously reckoned in April that a forecast of $2,151 was possible.
The monero prediction from the Economy Forecast Agency is bearish, however, predicting that the price will end 2021 at $191, rise to $250 by the end of 2022 and $339 in December 2023.It predictsb the share price will end 2024 at $234 and the following year at $152.
FAQ
Will the monero (XMR) price go up in 2022?
Whether Monero can resume its rally will depend on the direction ofnprices across the cryptocurrency market, as it performance so far has reflected the broader market trends.Some predictions put the price back at the $350 level by the end of 2021.
Is monero a good investment?
Given the high volatility in cryptocurrency markets, it is essential that you do your own research to determine if a coin or token is a good investment for your portfolio and financial circumstances.
The decision will depend on your risk tolerance, and you should never invest more than you can afford to lose.
What will monero be worth in 2025 and 2030?
Most forecasting sites predict that the monero price may rebound and reach new highs but it may take some time.Wallet Investor and Digital Coin forecast the cryptocurrency will trade around $700-$800 by 2025, whereas the Economy Forecast Agency predicts it will be struggling to hit today’s levels in 2025 after dipping in 2024.Meanwhile, Coin Price Forecast predicts it will reach $537 by 2030, reflecting the volatility of cryptocurrencies like XMR.
Read more: The latest ethereum price analysis: where to next?
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