Buy Monero (XMR)

Monero (XMR) first appeared in 2014 and focuses above all on privacy, decentralization and scalability. Where most cryptocurrencies put their transactions publicly on the blockchain, Monero hides the sender, the receiver and the amount. On this page we explain what XMR is, how it works, and why it has become hard to buy from a regulated provider.

Can I still buy Monero?

Buying Monero is no longer easily possible at most European exchanges. Because XMR is a privacy coin whose transactions cannot be traced, nearly all licensed exchanges have removed the coin under the stricter rules. Since 30 December 2024 the MiCA regulation applies across the European Union, and national transition arrangements ended in the course of 2025. Exchanges with a MiCA authorisation only list coins that fit within those rules, and privacy coins usually do not.

In practice you see two situations:

• At most exchanges XMR is no longer in the offering at all
• At a few, you can sometimes still buy and hold Monero, but you cannot deposit or withdraw it to a wallet of your own, which leaves you dependent on that provider’s custody

We deliberately do not point you to foreign exchanges without a MiCA authorisation to obtain XMR through a workaround. That falls outside the supervision MiCA is meant to provide, and the risks are entirely yours.

The Monero price and volatility

Like other cryptocurrencies, the Monero price can rise and fall sharply. The chart below gives an impression of how the price has moved over time. Only invest what you would be fine losing.

What is Monero?

Monero is a digital currency that runs on a distributed peer to peer network and places great value on privacy and decentralization. It is fully open source. Where with Bitcoin all transactions are public and traceable, Monero hides by default who pays, who receives and how much. It does this with a combination of techniques: ring signatures obscure the sender, stealth addresses create a unique one-time receiving address, and RingCT hides the amount. You can decide yourself who gets insight into your transactions, for example through a view key.

The key features

• Privacy: from a public Monero address no one can see how much you received or spent, unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum where the full history is available
• Decentralization: since 2019 Monero uses the RandomX algorithm, designed to run on ordinary processors rather than expensive specialised hardware, which spreads control over the network
• Scalability: Monero uses a dynamic block size that moves with how busy the network is
• Supply: there is no hard maximum; after the first issuance period there is a fixed tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block, so a small, predictable reward for the processors remains

Why privacy coins are under pressure

Precisely because Monero makes transactions invisible, regulators look at it critically. Cash can be used anonymously, and so can a privacy coin, with all the legitimate and less legitimate uses that come with it. That tension between privacy and supervision is the core of why XMR has disappeared from regulated exchanges. Good to know before you dive into this coin: the technology is strong, but its tradability within the EU has become limited.

A recent event: Qubic and the 51 percent debate

In August 2025 the party Qubic claimed to temporarily hold more than half of the computing power on the Monero network through a mining pool. With such a majority there is in theory a risk that someone can reverse transactions, a so-called 51 percent situation. The network proved resilient and kept functioning, but the event led to discussion about how spread out Monero’s computing power really is. It shows that even an established coin has its own risks.

Storing Monero in a wallet

If you hold XMR, a wallet of your own is safest, especially since deposits and withdrawals are often not possible at providers. Your options:

• Official Monero wallet: a graphical (GUI) and a command line (CLI) version
• Software wallet: user-friendly apps such as Cake Wallet and Feather Wallet
• Hardware wallet: Ledger and Trezor support Monero and keep your keys offline, safest for larger amounts

With a wallet of your own you get a recovery phrase, for Monero often a mnemonic of twenty-five words. Whoever has those words has access to your XMR. So keep the recovery phrase offline in a place only you know, never share it, and never store it as a photo or text file on an internet-connected device. If you lose the recovery phrase, your Monero cannot be recovered.

In short

Monero remains the best-known privacy coin, with strong technology and an active developer community. At the same time it has become harder to obtain within the European Union because of the regulation, and that is an important thing to weigh. The Monero price can rise and fall sharply, as with other cryptocurrencies. Decide for yourself how much you can afford to lose and always do your own research.