Monero is at the crosshairs for another hacking scandal, but XMR/USD is unaffected so far

• XMR/USD sits in a tight range, well-supported by DMA50.
• Hackers love to hijack other people’s devices to mine Monero.

Monero (XMR) is changing hands at $111.65, of this week’s low reached $103.33. The 10th largest coin by market cap has hardly changed since this time yesterday amid declining volatility. Monero’s market value is registered at $1.8B with daily trading volumes $37M, which is roughly in line with the longer-term average amounts.

Meanwhile, Monero found itself at the crosshairs for another hacking scandal. According to the latest research of Cyber Threat Alliance, crypto crooks are mining Monero and some other coins by exploiting the vulnerabilities of US government software stolen last year.  

The software in question is the Eternal Blue tool that allowed hackers to find the flaw in outdated Microsoft Systems software and siphon the computing power of unsuspecting users to generate digital coins.

As of July this year, about 85% of all illegal crypto mining activities were related to Monero, while Bitcoin’s share was as little as 8%, the report showed.  

Monero technical picture

On the daily chart, XMR/USD is supported by DMA50 currently at $105.68. The coin has been trading above this level since September 13. The upside is capped by DMA100 presently at $117.70. “Hammer” formation that appeared on September 12 failed to translate into an extended recovery so far, which might signal that the bullish momentum faded away. A steady growth above the said DMA100 and $120.00 will reinvigorate the bulls and open up the way towards the recent recovery high at $141.92.

On the downside, a sustainable movement below $105.68 will trigger more sell-off towards psychological $100 and the recent low at $96.54.

XMR/USD, the daily chart chart