Following months of community discussion and a formal poll among verified vendors and high-volume buyers, the WeTheNorth marketplace made Monero (XMR) the default payment currency for all new listings and orders in late July 2025. Bitcoin remains available as an optional payment method, but users must actively select it at checkout.
The decision reflects a community-wide shift in understanding of cryptocurrency privacy. While Bitcoin was the pioneering currency for anonymous markets, its transparent blockchain has become increasingly susceptible to chain analysis. Firms like Chainalysis have developed tools sophisticated enough to trace BTC transaction flows through multiple hops, often linking marketplace wallets back to exchange-verified identities.
Monero, by contrast, uses ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT to make every transaction private by default. Even the transaction amount is hidden from external observers. Security researchers widely consider Monero transactions to be computationally infeasible to trace with current technology.
The marketplace administration cited several factors in the decision: (1) a significant majority of users were already voluntarily choosing XMR, (2) the privacy gap between XMR and unenhanced BTC creates unequal security for less technically sophisticated users, and (3) Monero's liquidity on P2P exchanges has improved substantially, making it accessible to buyers without requiring KYC verification at centralized exchanges.
Existing BTC balances remain usable and BTC listings remain active. The change primarily affects the default presentation and checkout flow. Vendors can still opt to accept BTC, though new listings default to XMR-only unless the vendor specifically enables Bitcoin at the listing level.