Monero hits record high of $686 after Dubai bans privacy tokens on exchanges

Monero (XMR), the leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency, surged to a new all-time high of $686, marking a 14% increase over 24 hours and pushing its market capitalization past $12 billion. This rally occurred after the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) banned regulated exchanges in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) from handling privacy coin trades, promotions, funds, or derivatives starting January 12, citing AML and sanctions compliance risks. While residents can hold the coins in private wallets, firms are barred from using privacy tools like mixers. This event signals a resurgence of interest in privacy tokens, as XMR has outperformed major assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past week, with the overall privacy coin sector seeing significant gains in market cap and trading volume.

(Source：Crypto Briefing)