XMR Price Climbs as Monero Launches FCMP Privacy Upgrade
Monero (XMR) price edged higher by 1.97% to $405.39 over the past 24h, outperforming a broadly positive market, primarily driven by renewed sector-wide momentum for privacy coins.
Monero activated its FCMP++ and Carrot beta stressnet on May 6, according to Kraken, replacing ring signatures with full chain membership proofs to make every transaction harder to trace.
This upgrade replaces the traditional ring signature system with full-chain membership proofs, dramatically expanding the anonymity set for each transaction from 16 decoys to over 150 million outputs across the entire blockchain history.
The concurrent CARROT upgrade aims to improve privacy and usability. Crypto analysts noted that the upgrade was bullish for XMR as it represents a foundational improvement to its core value proposition: untraceable transactions.
The upgrade could make correlation attacks virtually impossible, strengthening Monero’s position as the leading privacy-centric blockchain, CoinMarketcap analysts said.
The rare public praise from Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson adds cross-ecosystem validation to the technical milestone. Boosting optimism, a sector report highlighted that privacy coins like Monero are outperforming in 2026.
The narrative is fueled by increased institutional demand, regulatory pushback against surveillance, and Monero’s own FCMP++ and CARROT upgrades launched May 6, which enhance anonymity and lower fees.
The move is driven by a fundamental reassessment of privacy coins’ value, not just speculative trading. Monero’s rise coincided with a 1.28% increase in the total crypto market cap.
Trading data showed that XMR moved in the same direction as Bitcoin (+0.99%) but with slightly stronger momentum, indicating modest alpha.
Technically, XMR trades above its 7-day average of $401.2 and 30-day average of $370.3, with trading signals suggesting bullish momentum without being overbought.
The short-term bias is cautiously bullish above $398, but the market is testing a resistance zone. A daily close above the 23.6% Fibonacci level at $409.83 will signal strength for a run toward the recent swing high of $436.98. Solana Gains 6% as Exodus Launches Xo Cash Stablecoin for AI Payment
