Bitcoin (BTC) against Monero (XMR)
Bitcoin and Monero next to each other: how the prices travelled, what differs under the hood and what each coin is built for.
BTC and XMR: what is under the hood
| Bitcoin (BTC) | Monero (XMR) | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $76,380.00 | $495.66 |
| Ticker | BTC | XMR |
| Type | coin of its own network | coin of its own network |
| Launched | 2009 | 2014 |
| Built by | Satoshi Nakamoto | — |
| Consensus | Proof of Work (SHA-256) | Proof of Work (RandomX) |
| Block | ~10 min | ~2 min |
| Supply cap | 21 M BTC | no cap |
| Privacy | transfers are public | always on |
| In circulation | 20.09 M BTC | 18.81 M XMR |
| Market cap | $1.53 T | $9.31 B |
| Rank by cap | #1 | #14 |
Source: CoinGecko, Sep 17, 2026 08:24. Where these numbers come from
Who went where: BTC and XMR
Both prices start the period at 100, so the chart shows which one rose or fell harder — not the prices themselves.
| Period | BTC | XMR |
|---|---|---|
| Week | −2.72% | −2.32% |
| Month | +18.08% | +20.59% |
| Quarter | +21.07% | +56.98% |
Over the quarter their daily moves line up at 0.43 (they travel alike).
What each one is built for: BTC and XMR
- Holding value long termBitcoin
- Private paymentsMonero
- Payments and transfersMonero
How Bitcoin and Monero are built
How Bitcoin works
The network uses Proof of Work with the SHA-256 algorithm: miners compete to add a new block roughly every 10 minutes and receive newly issued coins plus fees. Every 210,000 blocks (about four years) the block reward is cut in half, which slows issuance until the 21 million cap is reached. Balances are tracked as unspent transaction outputs (UTXO).
What Bitcoin is for
Bitcoin is mostly held as a long-term store of value and used as the base asset of the crypto market: most trading pairs, indices and derivatives are priced against it. It is also used for cross-border transfers and, through the Lightning Network, for small fast payments.
How Monero works
Every transaction hides its details by default: ring signatures mix the real sender with decoys, stealth addresses create a one-time destination for each payment, and RingCT hides the amount. Mining uses the RandomX algorithm, designed for ordinary processors, with a new block about every 2 minutes. After the main emission ended, a small permanent reward of 0.6 XMR per block keeps miners paid.
What Monero is for
Monero is used for private payments and savings, when users do not want their balance and history to be visible to anyone who knows their address. Because all coins look the same on-chain, XMR is fully fungible.