Privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies Monero (CRYPTO: XMR) and ZCash (CRYPTO: ZEC) on Wednesday surged 28.3% and 20.9% over 24 hours to $204.90 and $142.52, respectively, seemingly following the news that President Joe Biden would sign an executive order regulating cryptocurrency this week.
Monero Price Performance
| Time-frame | % Change |
|---|---|
| 24-hour | +28.3% |
| 24-hour against Bitcoin | +19.1% |
| 24-hour against Ethereum | +19.8% |
| 7-day | +14.2% |
| 30-day | +15.8% |
| YTD performance | -18.4% |
Zcash Price Performance
| Time-frame | % Change |
|---|---|
| 24-hour | +20.9% |
| 24-hour against Bitcoin | +11.9% |
| 24-hour against Ethereum | +12.7% |
| 7-day | +20.8% |
| 30-day | +14.3% |
| YTD performance | -4.6% |
See Also: How To Buy Monero (XMR)
Why Are They Moving? The move by the Biden administration comes amid concerns about Russia’s use of cryptocurrencies to evade the impact of sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine.
However, the so-called privacy coins are seeing huge gains as they specialize in making transactions and financial information private. The transactions cannot be tracked through the blockchain records.
Unlike Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH), Monero uses cryptography to shield the sender’s and receiver’s addresses as well as the amount transacted.
Some in the cryptocurrency community are emphasizing that whether a user has self-custody of their coins is a bigger factor than the privacy-oriented nature of the cryptocurrency being held.
Monero Chatter: Monero said Tuesday on Twitter that no one could be prevented from using the coin in non-custodial wallets and it is “best prepared for everything.”
Monero is a decentralized, private cryptocurrency. There’s absolutely no way to prevent anyone from using Monero in noncustodial wallets. Period.
— Monero || #xmr (@monero) March 9, 2022
Devs have spent over 7 years building the most private and decentralized money in existence. #Monero is best prepared for anything!
Electric Coin Co. — the inventor of Zcash — retweeted a post that noted politically neutral money is necessary for democratic societies.
Money is a technology.
— zooko (@zooko) March 8, 2022
Recent events—the protests in Canada and the war in Ukraine, and in cyberspace—have shown that our current monetary tech is an instrument for political power, and it has reminded us that politically neutral money is necessary for democratic societies. …
