XMR Experiences Big Surge Following Bitcoin Trend

The surge in bitcoin prices last week followed the same trend on XMR. (photo: cardmapr.nl/unsplash)

JAKARTA - Monero (XMR), the largest privacy-focused cryptocurrency by market cap, has posted a 20% price jump following the launch of its Atomic Swap implementation program last week.

On Friday, August 20, the Monero Project officially announced the launch of the Atomic Swap implementation developed by the COMIT Network cross-blockchain protocol, which aims to simplify trading between XMR and Bitcoin (BTC).

Following the launch of Monero Atomic Swaps, XMR has seen a significant surge, with its price rising from around $265 on launch day to an intra-week high of $331.

Now, the privacy-focused cryptocurrency is trading at $318, down about 2.4% over the past 24 hours, according to crypto tracking website CoinGecko. Following a solid bullish trend in major crypto markets, XMR is up more than 50% over the past 30 days.

Monero Project contributor ErCiccione said that the newly introduced swap spread is a new technology that allows users to exchange BTC and XMR without relying on trusted third parties such as cryptocurrency exchanges.

“This swap is called 'atomic' because it has only two possible outcomes: either the trade is successfully completed and each trader receives the other's funds, or nothing happens and both traders keep the funds they started with,” explains ErCiccione.

According to the announcement, users can now proceed with testing XMR Atomic Swaps by downloading the COMIT designed software. ErCiccione warns users that the new swap “may have unforeseen bugs” and recommends testing with small amounts.

Launched in 2014, XMR is a premier privacy-focused cryptocurrency designed to support private and untraceable transactions. At the time of writing, Monero is the 30th largest cryptocurrency by market cap, valued at US$5.7 billion.