Gains in Ethereum Classic(ETC) continue to outpace the ones made by the cryptocurrency’s peers Bitcoin(BTC),Ethereum(ETH), andDogecoin(DOGE), which all enjoy larger market capitalizations.
What Happened:ETC has soared 160.83% in a seven-day trailing period, while BTC and ETH have risen 3.54% and 26.80% in a similar period, according to CoinMarketCap data.
At press time on Wednesday night, ETC traded 16.85% higher at $90.06 in a 24-hour period. BTC was up 4.46% at $57,201.19 and ETH was higher by 3.71% at $3,484.
ETC is trading 10.43% below the all-time high of $100.03 it reached on Wednesday.
Ethereum Classiccame into existenceafter a hard fork of the Ethereum blockchain took place in 2016 due to prevailing disagreements at the time in the community.
Barry Silbert — CEO of Digital Currency Group, which owns Grayscale — is a well-known proponent of ETC.
On Wednesday, Ethereum Classic noted that theGrayscale Ethereum Classic Trust(OTC:ETCG) has over $1 billion in assets under management.
Why It Matters:ETC has caught the attention of the social media investment crowd. The cryptocurrency’s ticker featured in the Stocktwits list of top 10 trending streams at press time.
The rise in ETC is despite the fact that it is not typically classified as an “Ethereum Killer,” which is thecase with several coinssuch asPolkadot(DOT),Solana(SOL), andCardano(ADA).
Synergia Capital’s head of research, Denis Vinokourov, said that the rise in ETC “appears to be dominated by ‘cheaper’ Ethereum play and retail flow that has pushed DOGE to sky-high levels,” CoinDeskreported, dubbing the surge in ETC as a sign of froth in the cryptocurrency market.
ETC’s retail fueled rise is similar to the story ofDogecoin(DOGE), which has soared 13,604.64% since the year began. However, even DOGE’s weekly gains of 102.68% are weaker than those of ETC. DOGE traded 6.63% higher at $0.63 at press time.