Monero is implicated in another cryptojacking scandal; XMR/USD under pressure

• Hackers used Taylor Swift picture to smuggle malicious code to users devices.
• XMR/USD is moving inside the downside range, dominated by bearish sentiments.

Monero is one of the worst-performing altcoins on Saturday. XMR/USD has lost nearly 4%. At the time of writing, the coin is changing hands at $45.45, off the intraday high of $46.97. Monero's market capitalization is registered at $790 million, while an average daily trading volume has settled at $109 million, in line with the recent values. 

Monero has been under pressure recently as many global cryptocurrency exchanges are wary about privacy-focused coins. Thus, Bitbay and Poliniex delisted Monero in the recent month. Earlier, OKEx made a similar decision within a broader move to prevent money-laundering on the platform. 
 
Hackers and cryptojackers pour oil over the burning fire. Malicious codes and scripts smuggled onto devices of innocent users are often used to mine Monero, leaving another stain on coin's reputation. 

In the recent development experts from the cybersecurity company, Sophos found out that a cryptocurrency botnet MyKingz, also known as Smominru, DarkCloud and Hexmenis had been spreading the software in files with images of Taylor Swift. The malicious EXE-file is hidden in JPG. At first sight, it looks like an ordinary picture of a popular country-pop singer, but a closer look reveals that it contains malware.

XMR/USD: technical picture

From the technical point of view, the price is staying close to the lower line of 4-hour Bollinger Band. Once it is out of the way, the sell-off is likely to gain traction with the next focus on $44.00 reinforced by December 18 low. This move will bring Monero to the lowest level since December 2018 and bring more bears to the market.

On the upside, we will need to see a recovery towards psychological $50.00 to mitigate the initial bearish pressure. Once it is out of the way, the recovery may continue towards $51.50 (the middle line of the daily Bollinger Band) and $55.80 ( SMA50 (Simple Moving Average) daily). The price has been moving below this MA since November 19.

XMR/USD, the daily chart