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Monero’s Nearly 50% August Rally: THORChain, Exchange Delistings and What Comes Next
Monero gained roughly 45%–50% in August 2026—its strongest month since April 2021—versus Bitcoin’s 24% and Ethereum’s 31%. THORChain version 3.20 added technical support for non custodial XMR and ZEC swaps with Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins, reducing reliance on wrapped assets and centralized exchanges.
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Key takeaways
- Monero gained roughly 45%–50% in August 2026—its strongest month since April 2021—versus Bitcoin’s 24% and Ethereum’s 31%.
- THORChain version 3.20 added technical support for non custodial XMR and ZEC swaps with Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins, reducing reliance on wrapped assets and centralized exchanges.
- XMR rose about 8.9% to 10% around the upgrade window, while derivatives positioning increased; exact announcement day returns and exchange level open interest splits remain uncertain.
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openai.comCreate a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: How did Monero (XMR) perform in August 2026, how did its nearly 50% monthly gain compare with Bitcoin and Ethereum and rank historically, wh. Article summary: Monero was among August’s strongest major crypto assets: XMR gained roughly 45%–50%, its best month since April 2021, clearly outperforming Bitcoin’s 24% and Ethereum’s 31% monthly gains. [5] ## Performance and catalyst . Topic tags: general, general web, user generated, government, news. Style: premium digital editorial illustration, source-backed research mood, clean composition, high detail, modern web publication hero. Use reference image context only for broad subject, composition, and topical grounding; do not copy the exact image. Avoid: logos, brand marks, copyrighted characters, real person likenesses, fake screenshots, UI text, readable text, watermar
Monero (XMR) was one of August 2026’s strongest major crypto assets. It gained roughly 45%–50% during the month, marking its best monthly performance since April 2021 and outperforming Bitcoin’s 24% rise and Ethereum’s 31% gain. 5
The rally accelerated as THORChain released version 3.20, which introduced native swap support for Monero and Zcash against Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins. That gave XMR a new non-custodial liquidity route at a time when access to privacy coins on centralized exchanges was becoming more limited. The upgrade was an important catalyst, but the evidence points to a combination of liquidity, privacy-coin sentiment, derivatives activity and broader altcoin speculation rather than a single proven cause.
How Monero compared with Bitcoin and Ethereum
XMR’s approximately 50% August increase was substantially larger than the monthly gains reported for Bitcoin and Ethereum:
- Monero: roughly 45%–50%
- Ethereum: approximately 31%
- Bitcoin: approximately 24%
The move took Monero to a reported seven-month high near $546. The available reporting describes August as XMR’s best month in more than five years, but it does not establish a precise historical ranking among all crypto assets or prove that it was the single-best-performing major asset of the month. 2
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That distinction matters. “Best month since April 2021” is a historical comparison for Monero itself; it is not the same as a complete ranking of every cryptocurrency traded during August.
What THORChain 3.20 changed for XMR
THORChain’s version 3.20 upgrade, released on August 25, 2026, added native support for swapping Monero and Zcash with Bitcoin, Ethereum and major stablecoins. The route was designed to work without wrapped versions of the privacy coins and without a centralized exchange acting as custodian. 6
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For Monero, the significance was primarily about access and liquidity. Users could gain a decentralized route between XMR and larger crypto assets instead of depending entirely on centralized trading venues or tokenized workarounds. That is especially relevant for a coin facing exchange restrictions and delistings.
The rollout still had limitations. Reporting indicated that XMR would be introduced progressively and with limited initial liquidity, so the upgrade created the infrastructure for native swaps without instantly guaranteeing deep markets or frictionless execution. 8
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How much did XMR rise around the announcement?
The available sources do not provide one definitive intraday return for the exact announcement day. They do, however, describe a sharp move around the upgrade window:
- One report said XMR rose roughly 8.9% immediately after the upgrade.
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- Other reporting described a move of about 10% over the subsequent 24 hours.
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Those figures should not be treated as interchangeable. They use different time windows and may reflect different price snapshots. The safest conclusion is that XMR jumped by roughly 9%–10% around the upgrade, while the precise announcement-day percentage cannot be verified from the supplied evidence.
Why exchange delistings made the upgrade more important
Privacy coins have faced increasing restrictions on centralized platforms. Sources provided for this analysis describe Monero as having been removed or restricted by multiple major exchanges, while other reports cite much larger cumulative delisting totals. Those precise totals are not consistently substantiated across the evidence, so they should not be presented as settled fact. 22
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The broader trend is clearer than any single count: centralized access to XMR has narrowed in some important markets. That creates a plausible link between delistings and the THORChain narrative. A new native route can offer alternative liquidity and price discovery when centralized venues become less available.
But this remains a plausible market mechanism, not proof of sole causation. The rally also coincided with a broader repricing of privacy coins, thinner liquidity and renewed appetite for higher-beta altcoins. 3
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Derivatives activity added fuel—and risk
Open interest in XMR derivatives rose as the rally developed, signaling increased trader positioning. One late-August snapshot reported approximately $30 million in open positions and placed open interest at the 99th percentile of the preceding three weeks. 20
Other snapshots reported much larger totals, including approximately $319.89 million and $339.5 million, illustrating how sharply the figures can differ by provider, venue coverage and timestamp. 10
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That discrepancy makes exact exchange-level comparisons difficult. The supplied evidence does not reliably establish the requested allocation of XMR open interest across KuCoin, Hyperliquid and BingX for the same point in time. It is therefore more defensible to say that derivatives activity increased than to publish a precise venue-by-venue split.
Higher open interest can support a rally by bringing in additional trading activity, but it also increases liquidation risk if leveraged positions unwind. In that sense, derivatives were both a source of momentum and a warning that the move could become more volatile.
July recovery and year-to-date performance remain unverified here
The supplied material does not provide a reliable, consistent calculation for Monero’s full July recovery or its year-to-date return. One late-July source placed XMR near $360.30, while late-August reporting put it near $546, but those snapshots alone are not enough to produce a properly defined monthly or year-to-date performance figure. 22
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The same caution applies to historical comparisons. The evidence supports the conclusion that August was Monero’s strongest month since April 2021, but not a complete ranking of XMR’s August return against every major cryptocurrency or every prior monthly performance.
The wider altcoin backdrop
Monero’s rally arrived during a period of stronger speculative interest in altcoins. Broader crypto markets also responded to renewed optimism around U.S. digital-asset legislation. On August 20, Bitcoin, ether and other cryptocurrencies rose after President Trump urged Congress to advance the CLARITY Act; CNBC reported Bitcoin up about 5.2% and ether up more than 9% at the time of its report. 47
That backdrop may have helped create a more favorable environment for higher-beta assets such as XMR. It does not, however, show that the same factors drove every part of Monero’s move.
Could Ethereum outperform Bitcoin in September?
The case for Ethereum outperforming Bitcoin in September was conditional on progress toward the CLARITY Act, not an established forecast. The bill had passed the House, while the Senate had scheduled a procedural test for September 15 and faced the challenge of securing the 60 votes needed to advance it. 33
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A successful bill could improve regulatory clarity and strengthen the narrative around Ethereum and other altcoins. Analysts and market commentators therefore treated ETH outperformance as a possible policy-sensitive scenario. But approval would not guarantee a broad altcoin rally or ensure that Ethereum beat Bitcoin.
Bottom line
Monero’s August performance was exceptional by its recent history: roughly a 45%–50% gain, its strongest month since April 2021, and a clear lead over Bitcoin and Ethereum. THORChain 3.20 gave the rally a concrete structural narrative by adding native, non-custodial XMR swap support with major crypto assets.
The most balanced interpretation is that THORChain improved XMR’s liquidity story at a strategically important moment, while privacy-coin demand, shrinking centralized access, derivatives positioning and broader altcoin speculation amplified the move. The exact announcement-day return, July recovery, year-to-date performance and exchange-specific open-interest distribution remain insufficiently verified by the available sources.
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What is the short answer to "Monero’s Nearly 50% August Rally: THORChain, Exchange Delistings and What Comes Next"?
Monero gained roughly 45%–50% in August 2026—its strongest month since April 2021—versus Bitcoin’s 24% and Ethereum’s 31%.
What are the key points to validate first?
Monero gained roughly 45%–50% in August 2026—its strongest month since April 2021—versus Bitcoin’s 24% and Ethereum’s 31%. THORChain version 3.20 added technical support for non custodial XMR and ZEC swaps with Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins, reducing reliance on wrapped assets and centralized exchanges.
What should I do next in practice?
XMR rose about 8.9% to 10% around the upgrade window, while derivatives positioning increased; exact announcement day returns and exchange level open interest splits remain uncertain.