Monero Defies Odds: Resilient On-Chain Activity After Binance and Coinbase Bans Revealed in TRM Labs Report
Global, March 2025: The cryptocurrency Monero (XMR) continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience. New data from blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs reveals that despite being delisted from major centralized exchanges like Binance and Coinbase, Monero’s on-chain activity has not only persisted but stabilized above levels seen prior to 2022. This defiance highlights a critical narrative in digital assets: the divergence between regulatory pressure on trading venues and the fundamental utility and adoption of a blockchain network itself.
Monero’s On-Chain Resilience Defies Exchange Exodus
The delisting of Monero from Binance in February 2024 and Coinbase in 2023 represented significant blows to the privacy-focused cryptocurrency’s liquidity and accessibility for retail traders. Analysts widely predicted a steep decline in usage and network health. However, TRM Labs’ 2025 report presents a counter-narrative. Key on-chain metrics, including daily transaction counts, active address numbers, and overall transaction volume, have settled at a plateau that exceeds the network’s baseline activity from 2020-2021. This suggests that a core group of users and entities committed to Monero’s privacy propositions remained engaged, effectively decoupling from the speculative trading cycles that dominate exchange-based assets. The network’s hash rate, a measure of computational security, has also shown stability, indicating continued miner support.
Shifting Adoption Landscape and Darknet Market Data
TRM Labs’ analysis extends beyond raw transaction data into the realms of adoption and use-case analysis. A particularly striking finding is that nearly 48% of new darknet marketplaces established in 2025 have chosen to support Monero exclusively, foregoing Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. This trend underscores Monero’s entrenched position as the preferred medium of exchange in ecosystems where financial privacy is paramount. It also presents a complex challenge for regulators and illustrates the “cat-and-mouse” dynamic in blockchain surveillance. While this data point is often cited in regulatory discussions, it is crucial to contextualize it within Monero’s broader adoption, which includes legitimate use cases by individuals and organizations in regions with capital controls or surveillance concerns.
Network-Level Privacy and the ‘Non-Standard Peer’ Phenomenon
The TRM report delves into the technical infrastructure supporting Monero, offering a nuanced view of its network-layer privacy. Researchers identified that between 14% and 15% of Monero network peers exhibit “non-standard behavior.” This term encompasses nodes that may not properly relay transactions, could be attempting to deanonymize users by analyzing transaction propagation, or are configured in ways that deviate from the standard client software. This finding is significant because Monero’s privacy guarantees are primarily at the transaction protocol level (through ring signatures, stealth addresses, and confidential transactions). The network layer—how transactions are broadcast between nodes—has always been a potential vulnerability. This data confirms that a notable minority of participants may be operating in a manner that challenges the assumption of a uniformly privacy-preserving peer-to-peer network, a consideration for users requiring maximum anonymity.
The Technical and Regulatory Implications of Monero’s Persistence
Monero’s survival post-delisting is not a story of stagnation but of adaptation. The ecosystem has pivoted towards decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms, atomic swaps, and community-driven liquidity pools. This shift has practical implications:
- Regulatory Focus: Authorities may shift scrutiny from exchanges to the protocols and front-ends enabling Monero trading, potentially targeting mixers or DEX aggregators.
- Technical Evolution: Developer attention has intensified on hardening network-layer privacy, with proposals for Dandelion++-like transaction propagation gaining traction to mitigate the risks posed by non-standard peers.
- Market Structure: The bifurcation creates a market where XMR is a utility asset on its native chain and a “wrapped” or synthetic asset on compliant chains, each with different risk profiles.
The situation presents a real-world test of decentralization. A blockchain that can withstand the removal of its largest fiat on-ramps and maintain core functionality validates the thesis that robust networks derive value from utility, not just listings.
Conclusion
The TRM Labs report on Monero delivers a clear, data-driven conclusion: the privacy coin is not going away. Its resilience after the Binance and Coinbase bans is a testament to a dedicated community, specific and enduring use cases, and the fundamental properties of a decentralized network. While challenges at the network layer and ongoing regulatory pressure persist, Monero’s on-chain activity tells a story of adaptation and survival. The data underscores a broader lesson for the cryptocurrency industry—that long-term viability may depend less on exchange favor and more on irreplaceable utility and decentralized resilience. The Monero network, by maintaining strong on-chain use, continues to be a significant and evolving subject of study in the fields of financial privacy, blockchain economics, and regulatory technology.
FAQs
Q1: Why did Binance and Coinbase delist Monero?
Both exchanges cited evolving regulatory standards and compliance requirements as the primary reasons. Regulatory bodies in key markets have increased pressure on exchanges to delist privacy-enhancing cryptocurrencies (PECs) due to concerns about their potential use for illicit finance, making it difficult for compliant exchanges to continue offering them.
Q2: If major exchanges banned it, how are people still using Monero?
Users have migrated to decentralized alternatives. These include non-custodial, peer-to-peer trading platforms, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) that operate on blockchain smart contracts, and direct atomic swaps where users can trade XMR for other cryptocurrencies without an intermediary.
Q3: What does “non-standard peer behavior” mean for an ordinary Monero user?
For most users making typical transactions, the core protocol privacy (ring signatures, etc.) remains intact. However, sophisticated adversaries operating these non-standard nodes could potentially gather metadata about transaction timing and origin. Users requiring the highest possible anonymity should use the Tor or I2P network layers built into Monero wallets to obscure their IP address.
Q4: Does Monero’s use on darknet markets mean it’s only for illegal purposes?
No, that is a misconception. While the TRM data highlights adoption in that sphere, Monero has legitimate uses. These include financial privacy for individuals in oppressive regimes, protecting commercial trade secrets, and as a general-purpose privacy tool for anyone seeking fungibility—where one unit of currency is indistinguishable from another, unlike Bitcoin where coins can be “tainted.”
Q5: What is the future outlook for Monero after this report?
The outlook is one of continued niche resilience rather than mainstream adoption. Monero will likely remain a important tool for specific privacy-centric communities and a focal point for regulatory debate. Its future development will focus on strengthening network-level privacy and improving usability on decentralized platforms, ensuring it serves its core users regardless of the traditional exchange landscape.
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