Monero price prediction: Will XMR go up?

Privacy-focused cryptocurrency network Monero (XMR) has shown strength in a crypto bear market that has seen several coins, including solana (SOL) and cardano (ADA) lose over 50% of their value year-to-date (YTD) in 2022. 

XMR has outperformed top cryptos like bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), supported by positive news related to emissions and a network upgrade. As of 31 May, XMR remains one of only two coins, among the top 30 cryptocurrencies, excluding stablecoins, to post gains in the last three months.  

With the privacy token set to see its emissions reduced from the end of May 2022, could investors hope that reduced supply might help XMR maintain its outperformance?

Do you want to invest in Monero? Are you interested to learn more about the privacy network? In this article, you will find important information about Monero and XMR. You will also get a roundup of the latest Monero price predictions and plausible target prices for 2022 and beyond.

Monero outlook: Privacy-focused blockchain payment network 

What is Monero? Launched in 2014, Monero is a privacy-focused cryptocurrency payment network that aims to improve on Bitcoin’s “untraceability” and “unlinkability” deficiencies.

Monero uses the proof-of-work (PoW) consensus algorithm and is based on the CryptoNote protocol published by Nicolas van Saberhagen in October 2013. The network is a hard fork of private cryptocurrency network Bytecoin.

Saberhagen’s whitepaper outlined the use of “one-time ring signatures” designed to ensure that transactions remain untraceable. The paper also proposed an “egalitarian proof-of-work” algorithm that prevents miners with specialised hardware from gaining significant power.

“It’s a genuinely different way of transferring wealth cryptographically via Blockchain-by-Proof-of-Work, compared to Bitcoin. It cannot be directly said to be a Bitcoin 2.0, but more like a completely different protocol that establishes and obtains different objectives,” said cryptography researcher Surae Noether in a review of the CryptoNote whitepaper.

Since its launch, Monero has implemented several improvements to its original thesis. In 2017, Ring Confidential Transactions (Ring CT) was introduced, which hid transaction amounts on Monero. Stealth Addresses is another key technology that allows senders to create random one-time addresses for every transaction so that payments cannot be linked to sender’s and recipient’s addresses. 

Over the years, privacy networks like Monero have been targeted for facilitating money laundering and financing terrorists. Monero’s XMR remains unlisted on many centralised cryptocurrency exchanges. Most notably, the privacy-centric token is not supported on Coinbase (COIN), the largest crypto exchange in the US by trade volume.

However, Monero’s unique privacy-centric value proposition means that the network continues to draw users despite regulatory challenges. The network reported that total transactions per day more than doubled from about 10,000 transactions in May 2020 to over 23,000 in April 2022.

What is the XMR token? 

XMR is the native token of the Monero network. It is a fungible cryptocurrency that aims to facilitate anonymous and untraceable payments. 

XMR payments are supported by privacy-protecting technologies that hide transaction amounts and use one-time payment addresses for each transaction.

“Monero is fungible due to the nature of the currency which provides no way to link transactions together nor trace the history of any particular XMR. 1 XMR is functionally identical to any other 1 XMR,” said Monero.

In 2022, XMR showed strength amid a bearish crypto market and outperformed many of its peers. Much of this outperformance can be attributed to positive Monero news, which include falling XMR emissions and network upgrade plans.

Latest Monero news: July network upgrade and tail emission cycle

Monero has a history of implementing two scheduled protocol upgrades every year. Today, the network is over 8-years old and has matured with crucial protocol improvement changes already in place. In September 2020, Monero said that it will reduce the frequency of upgrades going forward.

Monero’s next upgrade is scheduled to take place on 16 July 2022. According to the network, the upgrade will reduce wallet sync times by 30% to 40%, make faster transactions and improve network security.

The network will introduce the Bulletproofs+ algorithm that will make transactions smaller, enabling faster wallets and quicker participant verification. 

Monero said its July upgrade will pave the way for its “next-generation transaction protocol” called Seraphis, which is under development and not finalised.

“Seraphis is a major change to the Monero ecosystem. While it involves modifications to addresses and transaction building blocks, its design offers flexibility and useful functionality that aren’t possible with today’s RingCT protocol,” said Monero.

Another significant event for the network will come after May 2022, and could influence the Monero future price. XMR is expected to see its main emission curve come to an end in May 2022.

XMR will enter its tail emission curve, which will result in fewer XMR coins being minted. XMR block mining rewards will be fixed at 0.6 XMR per block henceforth. In comparison, average emission was 0.9 XMR per block in the past 12-months ended April 2022.

XMR does not have a maximum supply cap like bitcoin, and its emissions will remain fixed at tail emission rates. Monero said that tail emissions will incentivise miners and maintain network security. 

XMR’s emission curve is expected to translate to inflation decreasing to less than 1% over time. XMR’s inflation rate was at 0.87% on 31 May 2022, data from data analytics company Messari showed. 

“This tail emission allows for permanent incentives to secure Monero, even in the far future, while keeping inflation at a very low percent,” Monero added.

According to Monero’s website, no XMR tokens were pre-mined and no portion of its block reward goes to development. As of 31 May, current circulating supply of XMR was over 18.12 million coins, data on CoinMarketCap showed.

Monero price analysis: Strength in difficult market conditions

Monero cryptocurrency has been the 26th-largest network with a market capitalisation of over $3.6bn, as of 31 May. Over the last five years, its native token XMR has soared over 300% from below $40 to its current price (31 May) of about $201.49.

XMR enjoyed its first major rally in 2017 at a time when bitcoin (BTC) hit its then record-high of about $20,000. XMR posted about 23x returns in 2017 as prices soared from below $14 at the start of the year to close around $350, the CoinMarketCap chart showed.

What followed was a bearish run in 2018 and 2019 as XMR posted yearly losses in both years. The privacy-focused token then rallied alongside the broader cryptocurrency market in the first-half of 2021 as XMR hit an all-time high (ATH) of $517.62 on 7 May 2021. The coin has fallen over 60% from its ATH, as of 31 May.

In 2022, a cryptocurrency bear market sparked by tightening monetary policies globally has led to XMR posting year-to-date losses of 19.57%, as of 31 May.

Still, monero value in 2022 has been more resilient than most cryptocurrencies, including top coins like bitcoin and ether. BTC has fallen around 33% YTD and ETH has lost over 47% in the same period.

Will XMR experience another rally by the end of 2022 or surrender under the bearish crypto market sentiment? What is the monero price prediction 2022 and beyond? 

Monero price prediction: XMR price targets for 2022, 2025 and 2030

CoinCodex’s short term Monero crypto price prediction (as of 31 May) saw it dropping by nearly 5.89% to $188.10 by 5 June 2022. CoinCodex added that technical indicators showed the current sentiment for XMR as neutral, with 20 indicators giving buy signals and eight sell signals.

XMR prediction from Wallet Investor expected XMR/USD value to rise to an average price of $250.825 by the end of 2022. Its XMR forecast for 2023 suggested the coin could end the year at an average price of $322.199. The five-year Monero coin price prediction expected the cryptocurrency could trade at an average price of $534.234 by May 2027.

According to Price Prediction’s XMR crypto price prediction, the price could hit an average price of $180.87 in 2022, growing to $599.54 by 2025 and rising further to $3,807.85 by 2030.

DigitalCoinPrice’s Monero prediction expected XMR token price to trade at an average of $268.64 in 2022. Its XMR coin price prediction for 2025 and 2030 suggested that XMR could trade at an average price of $384.64 and $916.74, respectively. It expected the token to surpass $1,000 in 2031.

When looking at XMR token forecast projections investors should remember that markets are volatile. Algorithm-based forecasts are based on the past performance, which never guarantees future results. Predictions can be wrong. 

You should do your own research and base your decision to trade cryptocurrencies according to your risk tolerance and trading goals. And never trade money you cannot afford to lose.

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