Elevated risk — recent 51% attacks in 2025 and severe exchange delistings represent material security and liquidity concerns, partially offset by strong privacy technology and active community response.
Top Risks
1
In August-September 2025, the Qubic mining pool gained >51% of Monero's RandomX hashrate through its 'useful Proof-of-Work' dual-mining incentive, executing a 6-block reorganization in August and an 18-block reorganization in September. Kraken halted XMR deposits during the incidents. This demonstrated that Monero's RandomX mining can be captured by a single well-incentivized pool.
2
Monero faced 73 exchange delistings in 2025, including restrictions from Binance and Kraken across parts of Europe, severely fragmenting centralized exchange liquidity. Mandatory privacy features make Monero a primary target for regulatory action, and atomic swap adoption is growing as an alternative access mechanism.
3
Mandatory privacy (ring signatures, stealth addresses, RingCT) means all transactions are private by default, making supply auditability dependent on the cryptographic soundness of the privacy primitives. Unlike Zcash's opt-in privacy, there is no transparent fallback to verify total supply.
4
The community is exploring defensive measures including ChainLocks integration, merge mining with Bitcoin, and the 'Publish or Perish' proposal, but these are not yet implemented, leaving the network vulnerable to repeat hashrate concentration attacks.
Risk Breakdown
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Monero safe to use?
Monero receives a C+ risk grade (40/100) from Hindenrank, where lower scores indicate lower risk. Elevated risk — recent 51% attacks in 2025 and severe exchange delistings represent material security and liquidity concerns, partially offset by strong privacy technology and active community response. Monero is the leading privacy-focused cryptocurrency, using mandatory ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT to make all transactions private by default. With a market cap of approximately $6.3 billion, XMR ranks among the top 20 cryptocurrencies. Its C+ grade reflects significant recent security events — Qubic mining pool executed 51% attacks with 6-block and 18-block chain reorganizations in August-September 2025 — combined with 73 exchange delistings in 2025 due to regulatory pressure on privacy coins. These risks are balanced by 10+ years of operation, a fair-launch distribution, and a tail emission model providing permanent mining incentives.
What are the main risks of using Monero?
The key risks identified for Monero are: (1) In August-September 2025, Qubic's mining pool captured over 51% of Monero's RandomX hashrate through dual-mining incentives (mining XMR while contributing to AI training). The pool executed chain reorganizations of 6 and 18 blocks, demonstrating the network's vulnerability to hashrate concentration. Kraken halted XMR deposits during the incidents. Defensive proposals are under community discussion but not yet implemented. (2) Monero faced 73 exchange delistings in 2025, including Binance (globally) and Kraken (in parts of Europe). Mandatory privacy features conflict directly with anti-money laundering regulations. Liquidity is increasingly dependent on atomic swaps and decentralized exchanges, which offer lower volume and wider spreads. (3) All Monero transactions are mandatory private — there is no transparent mode. This means the total circulating supply cannot be independently verified from the blockchain. Supply integrity depends entirely on the mathematical soundness of ring signatures and RingCT. A cryptographic flaw could allow undetectable inflation. (4) The tail emission of 0.6 XMR per block provides a permanent security budget, but at current prices the total annual miner revenue may be insufficient to prevent hashrate concentration, as the 2025 attacks demonstrated.
What is Monero's risk score breakdown?
Monero scores 40/100 across eight risk dimensions: Mechanism Novelty: 3/15, Interaction Severity: 6/20, Oracle Surface: 0/10, Documentation Gaps: 3/10, Track Record: 10/15, Scale Exposure: 9/10, Regulatory Risk: 6/10, Vitality Risk: 3/10. The highest risk area is Scale Exposure at 9/10.
How does Monero compare to other L1 protocols?
Among 56 rated L1 protocols on Hindenrank, Monero ranks #42 by safety (lowest risk score = safest). Its 40/100 risk score and C+ grade place it among the riskier L1 protocols.
Has Monero ever been hacked or exploited?
Monero scores 10/15 on the Track Record risk dimension, indicating some history of security incidents or exploits. Higher scores reflect more severe or frequent incidents. Review the full risk report for details.