Why is Monero so unpopular?

[Xal0lex]

Monero has its niche in the market and has its utility, why should it be overly popular? It is just about the only old pow coin that is still trusted by privacy enthusiasts. Such projects don't need excessive attention from regulators and adoption, as it will ruin the coin, it will start to be banned even more, they will try to regulate it and things like that. Don't expect Monero to be as fast as DOGE.

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[d5000]

There are many centralized exchanges delisted Monero

While that is true, Monero didn't suffer that much from these delistings. This is the XMR/BTC chart, which shows approximately the evolution versus the general market sentiment*:


Source: Coingecko

You can see that in early 2023 there was definitely a decrease of XMR compared to BTC, but it wasn't catastrophic. It only returned to 2022 levels.

My guess is that XMR is more complicated to handle than BTC, the long addresses for example may look a bit intimidating, so it sees slower adoption than more easily usable cryptos. It's mostly used by people caring about privacy a lot. Not only criminals. I guess that this group has a chance to grow, but rather slowly, not explosively like with "hype" coins.

*Take into account that in early-to-mid-2023 many altcoins, particularly centralized ones, performed much worse than BTC, and BTC's dominance is currently increasing.

[Adbitco]

Back in those days Monero was actually gaining much popularity and attention from people especially since it was about privacy, it managed to gain lot of investors after making their profits investors then looks over to other newly launched project to utilize their profit making. That is to say they only moved from project to project to double their money, after that wave passes they all look for another newly birth project that has the potential to increase by 2x to 40x that's what most of the investors looks after. But still is a matter of choice you can buy and hold as all altcoin seems to be pretty doing well during the bull and you can't detects anyone that hardly do not make another ATH.

[nelson4lov]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

There are number of reasons for this and most community members have talked about the legal implications that Monero has to exchanges and users.

Another reason not mention but relevant is the fact that there haven't been much work on the technical side to incorporate Monero as one of the DeFi primitives available on-chain. If Monero becomes available as a trustless bridge between other change, it would skyrocket its usage. Also, the processing of setting up and using Monero is not user-friendly. Only OGs will know how it works.

Finally, KOL and other monero advocates are not incentivized enough for people to talk about it.

[LogitechMouse]

Because it's a privacy coin? I mean all privacy coins right now aren't that popular, and hasn't been talked online by many media outlets.
On the other hand, we have these criminals who are using privacy coins, so the government can't trace their transactions whatsoever. We might not have any concrete evidence to this one, but I think many of us know already that criminals wanted to hide from the government thus, they are using privacy coins like Monero and others.

There was a time in the past where privacy coins are becoming popular, but that didn't last long. Though I've seen privacy coins in the past that became popular, that didn't last long as well, and the last coin that I know that added some privacy in their project was Litecoin's Mimblewimble. Overall, Monero has been at the top ever since, and there is still a community behind it that's why it remained at the top.

[Hispo]

It is not as popular as it should be because it has been stigmatized by centralized exchanges and providers of liquidity, because it's status as a privacy coin, and the assumption it is widely used by criminals to move their money and ask for ransom.

Nonetheless, I would not underestimate the potential of Monero in the long term. Sure, it's price has stayed stuck but it is one among thousands of alternative coins which I do not consider to be a shitcoin. It actually delivers what it is promised and the developing team has addressed the vulnerabilities in a efficient manner, implementing cryptographic solutions which Satoshi only dreamt of. There is also an active community who follows and backs the projects through donations, art and coding.

[GreatArkansas]

Bitcoin for me is already a privacy coin.
I'm not a hater of Monero but it's just an altcoin after all. It's just the same with other altcoins that became on top because of hype.
Now Monero is becoming unpopular because there is no hype anymore and there is a lack of adoption and there is also a lot of competition from other privacy coins.

[Wexnident]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

I don't think the vast majority of people think of Monero when it comes to privacy, Bitcoin started it and has always been at the headlines/forefront since it's inception. I don't think Monero can squeeze in.

There's also the idea that since it was established as a "privacy" coin, it was bound to be noticed by government institutions, and you know how that flags it as a coin of lower priority than other coins not noticed.

[Godday]

I didn't find any news about Monero. Granted they are blue chip coins but what makes Monero less popular is that they have never seen a significant increase in price. I think that Monero is a good asset but not good enough to generate profits.

[blockman]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

It's because it's not the firstborn. It used to be Bitcoin that was for privacy and turned into decentralization focused until Monero became the main thing and was followed by other privacy coins. Then, the government has kept chasing Monero and other privacy coins that are listed in different South Korean exchanges and have them targeted to be removed by them. That made fear everyone and started to avoid it but, it's still the main thing in terms of privacy and despite that, we can't control the likes of the people and the fear that it had made for those who just simply like it and have it sold later on turned away from it for their own safety and liquidity.

[ololajulo]

A few months back, I had a purpose for assessing Monero's performance. I was pleasantly surprised by its strong performance as a private coin, especially considering the underappreciated aspect of coin anonymity. Currently, it maintains its position in the top 30 of market capitalization, with a 72% value compared to its all-time high, and it contributes to over 30% of the total market trading. The key question remains: Who are the individuals trading this coin, and what purposes are they utilizing it for?

[gunhell16]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

Before I got here in the crypto space, monero was already here in this industry. And as far as I know monero is not a security instead, it was designed as a cryptocurrency to be private as well. And some of the governments restricted it due to it became used for some illegal activities.

But despite of all these challenges where some other government banned it, monero remain its popularity in the cryptocurrency, its not true that it isn't popular. And its not the main coins because of its privacy features. Based on what I know about it.

[o48o]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

When the whole an only purpose of a coin is to escape regulations, don't you think that regulators will move against it sooner or later? You could have privacy while being regulatory compliant but monero use cases don't fit into that, it would only get worst parts of that deal.

Delisting has already started and i can't see it having any future, when the whole space is being regulated. Maybe it has some future with person to person trading, but i have hard time seeing it having anything near to valuation it had when it had actual fast liquidity. Not to mention that in the future, when you need to prove the origin of the money, it will be hard to do with Monero, if it even will be accepted as a source.

[Tipstar]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

There are no any privacy focused coin as popular and widely accepted and used as monero. Privacy coin is itself is a low demand genre. And most of it's demand is supplied through monero. There are a large number of privacy focused coins and once there was a trend of issuing privacy focused coins but a lot of the so called privacy focused coins have some flaws compared to monero and some had made compromises that have threatened the privacy of its users. And monero is the one actively working for its users privacy and making it a compelling coin for trade.

[Hypnosis00]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

Supposedly it was, unfortunately, people don't just come for privacy but they are here for making money and they saw Monero don't have such quality and so they junk and ignore it. And besides, it is not a question of why it was not the main coin because, in the first, Bitcoin has been created first before it was born.

Anyways, Monero is one of the long-existing projects in the crypto space but seems to say that people haven't seen it as a progressive project and worth investing in. Though it was not popular but at least it gives some contribution to the market as well.

[Abiky]

Monero has its niche in the market and has its utility, why should it be overly popular? It is just about the only old pow coin that is still trusted by privacy enthusiasts. Such projects don't need excessive attention from regulators and adoption, as it will ruin the coin, it will start to be banned even more, they will try to regulate it and things like that. Don't expect Monero to be as fast as DOGE.

That's certainly true, mate. It's best for Monero to remain "under the radar". Else, it would bring unwanted attention. Governments don't like privacy coins, so expect further opposition against Monero in the long run. With how things are turning out to be for the cryptocurrency, it's likely XMR will only be traded at DEXs in the future. Every new project we see these days is focused on smart contracts, scalability, and user-friendliness. Privacy/anonymity doesn't come to the minds of developers like it used to back in the early days. A pity because this will make crypto more centralized and transparent under the eyes of mainstream governments and third-parties alike.

At least, Monero is still the #1 privacy coin in the world. Whereas Zcash, Grin, and BEAM are lacking behind, Monero keeps bringing innovation and continuity to the privacy-oriented crypto space. Who knows if Monero is the only privacy coin left in the future? Just my thoughts

[Knight Hider]

The average Joe doesn't care about privacy, that's why it's not more popular.
Speaking for myself: I like and use Monero.

--Knight Hider

[DeathAngel]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

Monero is genius, it does everything you require from a privacy coin. Unfortunately its strengths have led to its downfall in the hopes of becoming a main coin. Governments hate it & regulators have threatened exchanges with operating bans in their jurisdictions if they list XMR. That has meant exchanges have delisted XMR & that’s the reason why the price isn’t as high as it should be.

It’s a great coin for anonymity but it will never be a main coin sadly.

[Hispo]

Privacy is a necessary feature in my opinion, but why hasn't Monero become a main coin?

Monero is genius, it does everything you require from a privacy coin. Unfortunately its strengths have led to its downfall in the hopes of becoming a main coin. Governments hate it & regulators have threatened exchanges with operating bans in their jurisdictions if they list XMR. That has meant exchanges have delisted XMR & that’s the reason why the price isn’t as high as it should be.

It’s a great coin for anonymity but it will never be a main coin sadly.

Ironically, while Monero is not available in Binance USA; last time I checked I could buy it in Binance global. I did so I could withdraw at lower fees which I would have had to pay in order to withdraw with Ether or Bitcoin. Withdrawing Monero only take a few cents in Binance. Perhaps CZ had grown fond of it or he realizes its importance in the world.

So since Monero has not been delisted from Binance global, I think there is still much potential liquidity for that ecosystem to accumulate; even if someday Monero gets excluded from Binance, that won't stop the developers and the community behind this project. One could argue on the use some people give to a privacy coin like this one, but the important fact and what everyone needs to get is privacy as a right and not something we should kindly ask to big corporations and the big brother.  

[Abiky]

Ironically, while Monero is not available in Binance USA; last time I checked I could buy it in Binance global. I did so I could withdraw at lower fees which I would have had to pay in order to withdraw with Ether or Bitcoin. Withdrawing Monero only take a few cents in Binance. Perhaps CZ had grown fond of it or he realizes its importance in the world. So since Monero has not been delisted from Binance global, I think there is still much potential liquidity for that ecosystem to accumulate; even if someday Monero gets excluded from Binance, that won't stop the developers and the community behind this project. One could argue on the use some people give to a privacy coin like this one, but the important fact and what everyone needs to get is privacy as a right and not something we should kindly ask to big corporations and the big brother.  

It's obvious Binance US doesn't have XMR as a trading pair. That's because they want to avoid trouble with the regulators. With how aggressive the SEC is, crypto exchanges will think twice before continuing their operations within the US. Other countries are more flexible in regards to crypto/Blockchain tech regulation. Wherever privacy coins are accepted with open arms, will be the place where exchanges will list XMR without remorse.

Don't expect Monero to gain popularity, as most of the world's governments hate it. I'm fine with Monero just the way it is, as long as it remains decentralized and open to everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if XMR ends up being traded only on DEXs and P2P trading platforms due to ever-tightening crypto regulations. Who knows what the future holds for the cryptocurrency? Just my opinion