Bitcoin operates as transparent infrastructure—every transaction visible on the public ledger. Monero, by contrast, prioritizes privacy first, masking sender, receiver, and transaction amounts by default.

Think of it this way: one is public infrastructure, the other is encrypted banking. For anyone valuing financial sovereignty or operating in jurisdictions with capital controls, the choice becomes obvious.

As regulatory scrutiny tightens and surveillance concerns grow, naturally private cryptocurrencies like XMR should command significant premiums. $10,000 isn't ambitious—it's just recognizing that genuine privacy infrastructure will eventually be valued accordingly. Users and institutions seeking shield from financial monitoring will migrate accordingly.

The real question isn't whether privacy coins appreciate. It's when mainstream adoption catches up to the underlying utility.