Capital.com Research TeamPeople within the cryptocurrency space and even some outside it know about Ethereum. It is, perhaps, one of the most prominent digital coins in terms of usage. However, when it comes to this rapidly developing industry, there are plenty more fish in the sea than just well-known ETH, BTC and XRP that investors could consider.
Ethereum Classic is one of them. The project is the original Ethereum as it still uses its initial blockchain. It is a decentralised platform that runs smart contracts without the interference of any third party. Similar to Ethereum, Ethereum Classic has its own national cryptocurrency known as ETC, a blockchain ledger, and an ecosystem of decentralised apps and other services that run on top of it.
With Ethereum getting most of the attention, in this article, we want to cover the latest news on Ethereum Classic.
Ethereum Classic news that one should consider before investing
Ethereum Classic has had a conflicting year so far, similar to what the general cryptocurrency market has experienced year-to-date. Despite that, there is still some great ETC coin news in spring 2020 regarding its regulation, price analysis, and project development.
The first aspect to look at is the latest developments in the project. On March 16, the Ethereum Classic network conducted its second block reward reduction per their monetary policy. The event took place when the network reached block number 10,000,000.
The Ethereum Classic network reduced its block reward by 20 per cent in a process called fifthening. Following the update, mining reward on the Ethereum Classic network was slashed from 4 ETC to 3.2 ETC. This is in line with the project’s monetary policy, which dictates that the mining reward is cut by 20 per cent every 5 million blocks or 2.25 years.
Late last month, Ethereum Classic Labs announced its partnership with Chainlink (LINK). The collaboration between the ETH and Chainlink will see decentralised oracles and external data migrated to the Ethereum Classic blockchain. This latest development will be beneficial to the Ethereum Classic developers as the oracles can help migrate data into the smart contracts and execute actions on external networks following pre-set instructions.
According to the latest Ethereum Classic news, the project has been making slow but somewhat recognisable progress on the adoption front. In January, the Ethereum Classic Labs (ETC Labs), donated $1m to the UNICEF Innovation Fund. With the money, UNICEF will develop highly functional distributed ledger technology (DLT) solutions to aid most of its humanitarian work. The Ethereum Classic network would gain further adoption thanks to UNICEF, which would most likely roll out its solutions on the Ethereum Classic blockchain.
On the regulation front, Ethereum Classic is affected by the rules put in place for the general cryptocurrency market. Following the Supreme Court ruling in favour of cryptocurrency transactions in India, the government of the country is now discussing a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies with the Securities and Exchange Board of India, known as the SEBI, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The government is set to finalise its position on cryptocurrency regulation after another ruling by the Supreme Court. As such, the policymakers are looking into the possibility of the RBI regulating the crypto sector if they cannot ban the use of the crypto assets.
In Zimbabwe, meanwhile, things are getting better for the industry as the government is changing its stance from anti-cryptocurrency to a more favourable position. As such, the country’s central bank is working on a regulatory sandbox for companies operating in the crypto space. This is a piece of excellent news as Zimbabwe remains one of the best places for cryptocurrency adoption due to the high inflation rate affecting their local currency.
While the outlook for the project looks rather optimistic, there is still some negative ETC crypto news that could affect the ETC in the long run. According to multiple reports, Antminer E3, the first and only mining device on an Ethash algorithm ASIC, has stopped mining Ethereum Classic. While it was quite pricey, the mining rig has been popular for a while now. The event led to the rapid drop in the Ethereum Classic network’s hash rate, as most miners using the Antminer E3 hardware stopped mining the coin.
Ethereum Classic price analysis: the coin’s performance so far in 2020
At the start of the year, ETC was trading at $4.51 per coin. The price of the cryptocurrency surged to $10.23 per coin in the middle of January, signally over 100 per cent increase in price.
Such a dramatic spike in valuation was mainly due to the implementation of the Agharta update on the network. The update created backward compatibility between the Ethereum Classic and Ethereum networks, which could lead to meaningful opportunities for project partnerships in the future.
Coronavirus affects markets
In February, ETC continued its hike higher as the general cryptocurrency market recorded massive growth. The coin’s price peaked at $13.15 on February 6 but has been on a downward spiral since then. The decline continued despite the partnership with Chainlink late last month.
ETC traded between $7–$8 until March 8. Only a few days later, it fell as low as $3.43. On March 15, the coin briefly rose past the $5 mark after the network announced the reduction in its mining reward. The ETC price is now wobbling around the $5 level.
The price of ETC has been affected by the general slump in the cryptocurrency market. The crypto market, similar to the other financial markets, continues to be negatively affected by the coronavirus outbreak, which has halted most economic activities around the world.
Short-term Ethereum Classic price forecast: what to expect next
ETC is currently trading around the $5 mark. However, things do not look good for the coin in the short term, according to most analysts.
Wallet Investor, a popular online forecasting service, suggests the ETC price could decline to $3.43 per coin by the end of March. It would likely continue falling throughout the course of the year, dropping as low as $0.76 by the end of October.
Longforecast also takes a bearish stance. However, they believe the price of ETC would most likely stay between $4 and $5 for most of the year. Despite that, it could probably end 2020 trading at $3.83 per coin.
The bottom line
Over the past few years, the crypto market has experienced several ups and downs. For that, when choosing what cryptocurrency to invest in, it is always crucial to consider the latest news, market trends, expert opinion and technical analysis.
We always recommend you to arm yourself with as much knowledge as possible.
If you think you are not ready to make long-term investment commitments, but still want to try to profit from the coin’s volatility, you can do so through contracts for difference (CFD).
You can learn more about CFD trading with free online courses and find out how to trade crypto CFDs by reading our comprehensive guide. Always stay on top of the latest news on Ethereum Classic with Capital.com.
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