Monero Gains Ground in Underground Markets as 48% of New Darknet Markets Go XMR-Only

More new darknet markets now pick Monero over Bitcoin. Blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs found that 48% of markets launched in 2025 supported Monero exclusively. The number points to a growing taste for coins that give stronger transaction privacy.

TRM Labs is a blockchain intelligence company that studies cryptocurrency activity. Its latest findings focus on what new markets choose to accept. The findings arrive as blockchain tracking and law enforcement pressure keep growing.

Bitcoin has not disappeared from this world. Reports say it still leads to real ransomware payments. The new data simply shows how fresh markets choose to get paid.

Monero-only Markets Reach 48% of New Launches

TRM Labs shared its research, and reports about it appeared on February 17, 2026. The share of new markets that accept only Monero grew from slightly above 40% in 2024. It hit 48% in 2025. That means nearly half of the new markets skipped Bitcoin completely.

These figures show a change in the payment habits of newly started markets. They do not prove that Bitcoin lost its place across the whole darknet economy. The data describes what new platforms choose, nothing more. It also does not say that every new market made the same choice.

The 2026 Crypto Crime Report from TRM Labs adds a wider picture. Darknet markets received about $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency during 2025. That is a 20% increase from the year before. The company counted 21 newly launched markets in 2025, and nearly half supported Monero only.

The figures suggest Monero is becoming a more attractive option for the people who run these platforms. A Monero-only market leaves Bitcoin out of its payment options entirely, so buyers must use the privacy coin.

The trend looks strongest in Western darknet markets. Reports say demand for privacy coins is higher there. Law enforcement pressure is higher there too. Together, these forces led many operators to make Monero their only payment option.

Better Tracking Pushes Sellers toward a Coin that Hides More

The two coins treat transaction details in very different ways. Bitcoin records every transaction on a public blockchain. Investigators and blockchain analytics companies can read those records. They can follow money as it moves between addresses. Think of Bitcoin as a clear glass jar. Anyone can look inside and see every coin. Monero works more like a sealed box.

People also know Monero by its ticker symbol, XMR. Its creators built it with privacy as a central feature. Investigators who study Bitcoin records for clues run into a wall here. Its cryptographic system hides the amount sent, plus the sender and the receiver. Outside observers find it much harder to follow the payments.

The closure of White House Market also highlighted the challenges of maintaining privacy and operational security in darknet markets, particularly as law enforcement pressure increases.

According to TRM Labs, two things drive the shift. The first is better blockchain tracking. The second is rising pressure from law enforcement. Both give market operators a reason to prefer the coin that reveals less.

This puts investigators in a tougher spot. Criminal markets keep changing their payment systems as blockchain tracking improves. Reports say privacy coins will remain an important factor in efforts to monitor illegal money flows.

Bitcoin Keeps Its Grip on Ransomware Payments

Bitcoin still holds an important place in the illegal money world. TRM Labs says the move toward Monero in darknet markets does not necessarily spread to other kinds of cybercrime. Reports say Bitcoin remains the main coin in real ransomware payments.

Ransomware is a type of attack where criminals demand money from their victims. Ransomware gangs often ask for Monero. Some even offer discounts to victims who pay with it. Still, Bitcoin makes up most of the ransom payments that actually get completed.

The reports point to access and liquidity as the reasons. Liquidity means how easily someone can trade a coin for cash or other coins. Bitcoin has a much bigger trading world. More exchanges support it. That makes the coin easier to buy and swap in many situations.

Think of Bitcoin as a huge market square full of busy shops. Monero is more like a small stall that fewer shops accept.

Monero faces tougher conditions on large centralized exchanges. Binance and Kraken have dropped or phased out the coin in certain regions, citing compliance concerns. A delisted coin is one that an exchange stops offering to its users. Platforms made these moves in certain jurisdictions, so the rules differ by place. Even so, TRM Labs reported that Monero activity in 2024 and 2025 stayed above the levels seen before 2022.

These findings show that Monero’s role in darknet payments keeps growing. Access to the coin on regulated trading platforms keeps shrinking at the same time. Bitcoin stays widely used, while Monero-only markets become a bigger share of new launches.