Ethereum Classic Price Analysis - Bullish continuation
Ethereum Classic (ETC) now has a market capitalization of US$1.7 billion, making it the 15th largest cryptocurrency. Trading volume recently hit record highs of US$1 billion in a 24 hour period, exceeding even Ethereum (ETH) on that day. Trading volume puts ETC in the top five most traded cryptocurrencies. The coin is up 979% from January 1st this year.
ETC was born out of a questionably contentious hard fork following the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) hack. The DAO, which was originally established as a venture capital fund, launched with a crowdsale in April 2016. As of May 2016, the fund held ~14% of all ETH issued at the time, roughly ~US$150 million, from 11,000 investors.
ETC hashrate and difficulty have also trended upward since the beginning of the year, with a record high in hashrate on November 12th. Despite this, ETC has attracted a mere 7% of ETH hashrate. According to CryptoCompare, ETC is also slightly more profitable to mine. Unlike ETH, the block reward for ETC remains at 5 ETC per block. Difficulty, block times, and price all affect mining profitability.
In June 2016 several vulnerabilities allowed ~US$50 million to be drained from the DAO through recursive call attacks. With no governing or protecting body, community members and the creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, came to the conclusion that hard forking the chain to recoup lost funds would be the best solution.
The original chain survived as Ethereum Classic, due to several users, miners, and later exchanges listing the currency. ETC proponents questioned the immutability of the ledger after the hard fork solution.
Barry Silbert, of Digital Currency Group, was a prominent member of the community embracing ETC and encouraged future development very early on, establishing a US$10 million developer fund and an ETC trust.
Barry Silbert, of Digital Currency Group, was a prominent member of the community embracing ETC and encouraged future development very early on, establishing a US$10 million developer fund and an ETC trust.
ETC hashrate and difficulty have also trended upward since the beginning of the year, with a record high in hashrate on November 12th. Despite this, ETC has attracted a mere 7% of ETH hashrate. According to CryptoCompare, ETC is also slightly more profitable to mine. Unlike ETH, the block reward for ETC remains at 5 ETC per block. Difficulty, block times, and price all affect mining profitability.
ETC hashrate and difficulty have also trended upward since the beginning of the year, with a record high in hashrate on November 12th. Despite this, ETC has attracted a mere 7% of ETH hashrate. According to CryptoCompare, ETC is also slightly more profitable to mine. Unlike ETH, the block reward for ETC remains at 5 ETC per block. Difficulty, block times, and price all affect mining profitability.
