Reasons for the Monero ($XMR) price spike, and why it will grow more (Mobile wallet, Bithumb, localmonero, RingCT 2.0)

Monero (XMR) had a recent price spike, from $50 to currently ca. $130 USDT across exchanges. What are the reasons for this spike, and what will the future hold?

There are often misconceptions of Monero being the driving currency for Dark Markets (its not). There are many legit use-cases for Monero. While this does not explain the recent price spike, here are some hard facts explaining the recent increased interest:

• RingCT 2.0 - Monero recently introduced RingCT 2.0, a "A Compact Linkable Ring Signature Based Protocol", which many other currencies will also likely be implementing in the future.
• Listing on Bithumb - Monero has been integrated on Bithumb on 27 August 2017, and they are frequently holding "trading contests", which are the main reason for the price spike.
• localmonero - based in Hong Kong, localmonero is a peer trading platform that permits any one to trade local fiat currencies for Monero (XMR), similar to the LocalBitcoins setup.
• Monero Android Wallet MONERUJO - there finally is a mobile wallet for Monero, called Monerujo “Silver Bharal”, Point Release 2 which makes the currency significantly more attractive to end-users.

What will the future hold?

My advice is to hold, (or to buy, if you are not already in), as the technical advantages of Monero are definitely superior to any other currency out there. Saturday, 2nd of August the next price spike is expected, as a "top trader" event is scheduled to run on the week-end to encourage XMR trading.