Monero (XMR) has been increasing in popularity among cryptocurrency users, often surpassing more capitalized cryptocurrencies in users’ preferences. In June, XMR unthroned Bitcoin (BTC) for the first time in a gift card payment platform, illustrating this behavior shift.
Notably, the CoinCards platform reported data from the volume percentage for each cryptocurrency used for payments in June. The gift card service has been reporting this “breakdown of usage” monthly since April 2023.
In particular, the first data shows a 40% dominance for on-chain BTC, followed by Monero and Ethereum (ETH) with 23.64% and 13.9%, respectively. As soon as the service listed Circle USD (USDC), the stablecoin gained market share, conquering first place in May 2024. In May, USDC had 33.21% of the volume, followed by Bitcoin and XMR with 30.04% and 27.58%.
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Now, the most recent report features Monero in the first position, dominating CoinCards’s June payment volume by 34.4%. BTC got second place with 25.96%, followed by USDC with 20.20%. Interestingly, all others registered less than 10% of the total volume, including ETH, Litecoin (LTC), Solana (SOL), and Dogecoin (DOGE).
Monero for payments
Darknet markets show similar user behavior and preference, favoring Monero over Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. As Cointelegraph reported, these underground markets move billions of dollars yearly, and XMR absorbs a significant share of this demand.
Analysts attribute this behavior mainly to Monero’s battle-tested privacy-by-default property and to transactions with lower fees and faster settlement times.
This behavior of using XMR for payments, initially seen in darknet markets and currently expanding to Clearnet markets, follows a similar path to Bitcoin in its early days. Historically, BTC first gained notoriety in dark markets like Silk Road, accruing significant demand as a medium of exchange. Only after that did Bitcoin start positioning itself as a digital store of value and attract investors.
Bitcoin vs. Monero in network activity
Yet, the Bitcoin network still validates more transactions than Monero’s network. Finbold retrieved data from Bitinfocharts showing 658,877 Bitcoin transactions versus 21,030 Monero transactions on July 6.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that this represents 587 transactions for each one billion in market cap for BTC’s $1.119 trillion capitalization versus 7,304 transactions for each one billion in market cap for XMR’s $2.88 billion capitalization. Overall, Monero processes more transactions than Bitcoin, weighted by the market value of each cryptocurrency.
As Monero’s popularity increases for payments, demand for spot XMR increases, which can impact the price. As of this writing, XMR trades at $156 per coin, a remarkable comeback after Binance’s delisting. It is often traded with a premium on decentralized exchanges, creating interesting arbitrage opportunities.
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