Monero (XMR) Gains Attention, Zcash (ZEC) Faces Wild Swings, and More: Bits Recap October 23

Monero's XMR rose above $650 on October 22, its highest level since January, after its team announced a minor GUI update, version 0.18.5.4, that restored wallets on test and staging networks and addressed software faults. The token later traded near $605, while rival Zcash reached a nine-day peak above $1,360 on October 21 amid reports its team targets a November 5 NU7 upgrade to triple block production speed and as two major investors opened about $37 million in 10x leveraged long positions; ZEC then fell near $1,200. Bitcoin slipped about 1% over the week and hovered near $81,500 after failing to reach $85,000 on October 22, while 40 newly created wallets withdrew more than $770 million in BTC since October 1.