Monero Weekly Roundup - Issue #2

FCMP++ Beta Stressnet Preparations Continue

Development work on the FCMP++ upgrade continued through the week as the team pushes toward the transition from alpha to beta stressnet. The GitHub milestone tracker shows the hard fork at 27% completion with 16 open issues still under active review, the most critical of which involve build system integration and core protocol changes. The alpha stressnet itself, which hard-forked from Monero's testnet on October 3, 2025, has been used to test the combined FCMP++ and CARROT integration, expanding the per-transaction anonymity set from 16 ring members to the full blockchain output set — estimated at over 150 million outputs. Developers have been focused on reducing memory overhead for FCMP++ verification (RAM usage was brought down from around 1.2 GB to approximately 800 MB in recent iterations) and hardening transaction relay behavior before the beta phase begins. The Research Lab issue tracker also includes an active proposal to handle unlock_time fields retroactively at the hard fork activation, a change intended to protect the client-side FCMP++ tree from a potential denial-of-service vector.

Decentralized XMR-to-Ethereum Bridge Proposed

A community developer announced a proposed decentralized bridge on February 21 designed to solve Monero's access and liquidity problem following years of exchange delistings. The proposal outlines a two-stage approach: an initial custodial wrapped token ($XMR1) on Ethereum to restore trading access, followed by a fully decentralized multisignature validator bridge with the long-term goal of hundreds of independent validators. Security audits are planned before launch. The proposal has generated interest as a potential workaround for the regulatory pressure that has seen over 73 exchanges delist XMR through 2025, though community members have also flagged the tradeoffs of any custodial phase and the regulatory scrutiny that wrapped token models typically attract.

Separate from FCMP++, the Cuprate alternative node implementation written in Rust continues active development. The project aims to provide an independent implementation of Monero consensus rules, improving overall network resilience. No major releases occurred this week, but community meetings are ongoing in the #cuprate channels on Libera IRC and Matrix.

Monero's network hashrate held in a range of approximately 5.5–5.9 GH/s throughout the week, according to MoneroBlocks explorer data and CoinWarz hashrate tracking. The current block reward sits at approximately 0.65 XMR per block, with blocks arriving roughly every two minutes. Mining remains CPU-accessible via the RandomX algorithm, which continues to resist ASIC centralization — a key feature for maintaining decentralized network security. MiningPoolStats shows pool distribution remaining spread across multiple operators.

The broader market context for miners remained challenging this week given XMR's price consolidation in the $290–$340 range (down sharply from the January all-time high near $799). Mining economics are directly linked to XMR price, so a prolonged low-price environment may gradually reduce hashrate participation. That said, Monero's tail emission model (approximately 0.6 XMR per block permanently) ensures miners retain a consistent baseline subsidy regardless of transaction fee volume.

TRM Labs: Network-Layer Monitoring a Growing Concern

The same TRM Labs report published on February 16 that confirmed Monero's on-chain resilience also highlighted a network-layer concern worth noting. TRM researchers, working alongside academic partners, found that approximately 14–15% of reachable Monero peers exhibit non-standard behavior, including unusual relay timing, irregular handshake patterns, and infrastructure concentration in a small number of hosting environments. The firm was careful to note that this does not indicate any failure of Monero's on-chain cryptography — ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT remain intact — but that network-layer metadata could in theory provide additional signals to investigators when on-chain analysis is insufficient. Monero developers have previously addressed the P2P layer as an attack surface, and the upcoming FCMP++ upgrade includes additional protections. Community members following privacy best practices are encouraged to route traffic through Tor and use trusted nodes.

The TRM Labs findings align with a growing body of research suggesting that transaction-graph-level tracing of Monero remains extremely difficult, while network-level surveillance techniques — spy nodes, timing analysis, and infrastructure monitoring — represent the more viable investigative path available to adversaries. This distinction matters for users: protecting on-chain privacy and protecting network-layer metadata require different defenses, and both are relevant to comprehensive operational security.

TRM Labs Report: 73 Exchange Delistings in 2025, On-Chain Activity Persists

Blockchain analytics firm @TRMLabs published a detailed research report on February 16 confirming that Monero's on-chain activity remained above pre-2022 baselines throughout 2024 and 2025 despite 73 exchange delistings during 2025 alone. Major platforms including Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, Huobi, and Bitstamp all removed or restricted XMR over traceability and compliance concerns. Despite this reduction in centralized access, on-chain transaction volumes stabilized at levels higher than the early 2020–2021 period, suggesting that Monero's core user base is driven by consistent transactional demand rather than speculative activity. TRM noted that users have increasingly shifted to non-custodial venues and peer-to-peer platforms as centralized off-ramps close. The report also found that 48% of darknet markets newly launched in 2025 accepted only Monero — a notable increase from prior years, reflecting advanced tracing capabilities on transparent chains pushing high-risk activity toward XMR. The TRM report contributed to a ~10% XMR price increase on February 17 as the market responded to the confirmation of Monero's real-world demand resilience.

Bloomberg Feature: "Darknet Demand for Monero Rises, Stumping Crime Fighters"

On February 13 — just before the week's start but driving discussion throughout the week — Bloomberg published a prominent feature on Monero's rising adoption, noting that hackers from a major January breach converted a portion of over $200 million in stolen crypto into XMR. The article highlighted how law enforcement increasingly struggles to trace XMR compared to transparent chains, and framed the FCMP++ upgrade as set to further harden transaction privacy. The piece generated significant community discussion about the dual-use nature of financial privacy tools and the framing challenges Monero faces in mainstream coverage when privacy features are highlighted through a criminal use-case lens.

The EU's DAC8 directive and the US IRS Form 1099-DA reporting requirements — both of which came into effect in early 2026 — continue to create regulatory tailwinds for Monero demand even as they pressure centralized exchanges to restrict access. These frameworks require exchanges to report detailed transaction data to tax authorities, accelerating user interest in assets where default privacy prevents such reporting at the protocol level.

With centralized exchange access contracting, non-custodial trading infrastructure becomes increasingly critical for Monero's accessible liquidity. Atomic swaps between XMR and BTC continue to serve as a key pathway, and the broader DeFi ecosystem has seen growing interest in privacy-preserving bridging solutions — context that gives the proposed XMR1 Ethereum bridge proposal this week added urgency. Decentralized exchange infrastructure, including platforms like Haveno, remains the primary access point for users seeking to acquire or trade Monero without centralized intermediaries.

The Monero Community Crowdfunding System (CCS) continues to serve as the primary funding mechanism for development work. FCMP++ related proposals from core contributors like jeffro256 and j-berman remain active, supporting the full-time development effort focused on pushing the upgrade toward beta and eventual mainnet deployment. Community members can review and fund open proposals directly through the CCS.

The r/Monero community had an active week driven by the TRM Labs report and Bloomberg feature. Discussions centered on interpreting TRM's network-layer findings — specifically whether the 14–15% non-standard peer behavior represents a meaningful surveillance risk or a manageable operational concern — and on the Bloomberg piece's framing of Monero primarily through a criminal-use lens. Community sentiment was largely that both pieces confirm Monero's core value proposition is working as intended, even if mainstream coverage continues to struggle with the dual-use nature of financial privacy.

@TRMLabs' announcement post summarizing their Monero research — highlighting that XMR activity remains above pre-2022 levels, 48% of new darknet markets are XMR-only, and most ransomware payments still occur in Bitcoin due to liquidity — generated substantial engagement across the crypto community. The thread was widely shared as one of the clearest empirical summaries of Monero's current adoption dynamics, resonating with both privacy advocates and those tracking the regulatory landscape.

Post-MoneroTopia community energy from the February 12–15 Mexico City conference continued to show up in online discussions, with Monero Talk expected to release additional episode coverage from conference participants this coming week. The conference brought together researchers, developers, and privacy advocates — and the conversations from those sessions continue to ripple through community channels on Matrix and Reddit.

The Monero Research Lab continues to hold open community meetings where development direction, protocol parameters, and FCMP++ scaling decisions are discussed in real time. Logs from recent meetings are available on GitHub (monero-project/meta) for community members who want to follow technical discussions directly.

XMR traded in a range between approximately $290 and $340 throughout the week, consolidating after the sharp correction from January's all-time high near $799. According to CoinGecko data, XMR's 7-day performance shows a decline of approximately 3.5%, with 24-hour trading volumes around $72–80 million. The week's notable exception was February 17, when the TRM Labs report publication drove a ~10% single-day price recovery from the low $290s toward the mid-$330s, briefly demonstrating how fundamental news can move XMR's relatively thin liquidity market. CoinDesk price data shows XMR at approximately $319–$320 as of February 22.

TRM Labs noted in their February 16 report that Monero's realized volatility over the past 30 days was roughly two and a half times greater than Bitcoin and Ethereum — a direct consequence of thinner liquidity resulting from exchange delistings. With order-book depth reduced across centralized venues, smaller market moves can produce outsized price swings. On-chain data from MoneroBlocks shows consistent daily transaction activity, reflecting that underlying network use has not contracted alongside the price correction.

TRM Labs: The Most Comprehensive XMR Analysis of 2026 to Date

The TRM Labs Monero research, published February 16–17, stands as the most data-rich independent analysis of Monero's real-world usage published so far in 2026. Key findings include: on-chain transaction volumes in 2024–2025 exceeded the 2020–2021 baseline despite 73 exchange delistings; 48% of newly launched darknet markets in 2025 adopted XMR-only payment models; ransomware actors express preference for Monero but most ransom settlements still occur in Bitcoin due to liquidity constraints; and 14–15% of reachable Monero peers show non-standard network behavior suggesting possible surveillance infrastructure concentration. The full research underscores a theme the community has observed anecdotally: delistings have reduced Monero's retail accessibility but have not reduced the underlying demand from users who prioritize privacy over convenience.

Separate analytical commentary this week from TradingKey and CryptoTicker examined the broader 2026 macro picture: the EU's DAC8 and US 1099-DA regulations pushing users toward privacy-preserving assets, the January $799 ATH and subsequent 57%+ correction, and the role of the FCMP++ upgrade as a potential technical catalyst for renewed market confidence later in the year once the beta stressnet demonstrates stability.