Monero (XMR) Pushes to New Highs as Privacy Demand Outpaces Regulatory Pressure

DZ Bank, Germany's second-largest lender, has received authorization under the European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR), enabling the launch of a retail crypto trading platform across the cooperative banking sector. This approval was granted by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) at the end of December 2025.

Vitalik Buterin has raised concerns about the design flaws in decentralized stablecoins, highlighting issues such as benchmark risk and flaws in oracle design. This critique comes at a time when the cryptocurrency market is experiencing significant volatility, particularly affecting privacy coins like Zcash.

Dash's price surged by 125% as traders shifted their focus to privacy coins, particularly following governance issues faced by Zcash. This shift indicates a growing interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies amid a volatile market.

Monero's price has surged to new multi-month highs, trading around $690, reflecting a strong market interest in privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. This rally marks an 8% increase on the day, indicating a bullish market structure despite potential leverage-driven volatility.

Bitcoin has experienced a notable rise, reaching an intraday high of $93,500 for the third consecutive day, alongside significant increases in altcoins such as Dash and Monero, which surged by 55% and 20%, respectively.

Bitcoin's price surged to $93.5K following the release of the U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which met market expectations, reversing a dip experienced earlier in the week. The rally was accompanied by significant gains in altcoins, with Monero reaching a new all-time high near $700.