According to CoinMeta, Monero (XMR) continued its upward trend over the weekend, breaking through the $500 mark. It has seen a continuous rise over the past 7 weeks, with an increase of over 46% since the beginning of August. Despite being blacklisted by several top exchanges, the demand for Monero remains strong, reflecting the popularity of privacy coins in the market. CoinMeta data shows that the number of open contracts for Monero surged from $131 million in August to nearly $260 million, indicating strong demand in the derivatives market. The price fluctuations of Monero may also be related to a recent upgrade (Thorchain), which provided native support for Monero, allowing users to conduct token exchanges.