While ETC started the year under $ 5, the cryptocurrency is trading above $ 51 at the time of writing, making a return of 804% according to YTD Messari.

Source: TradingView

In fact, ETC hit an all-time high (ATH) near $ 170 just over 2 months ago after the general bull market, 67.3% above its current level. However, the underlying and related psychological factors remain strong, as evidenced by the YTD metrics mentioned above.

In addition, ETC’s 24-hour volume also shows bullish sentiment. According to Coinmarketcap, the ETC volume is over $ 2.7 billion at the time of writing, making it higher than most cryptocurrencies on the market with the exception of USDT, BTC and ETH. In fact, this happens most of the week.

So what drove that volume and positive vibe?

Price doubled

Recently, the Digital Currency Group announced it would buy shares in the Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust for a total of $ 50 million. In fact, this development drove ETC’s price up more than 50% over the next few days.

Magneto hard fork

The second factor is the upcoming hard fork from Ethereum Classic – Magneto. Magneto is scheduled for July 21st and will deploy ECIP-1103.

With the price of ETC consolidating somewhat on the charts in the past few days, many expect the altcoin to rebound due to magneto activity later this month. Earlier, Etherplan proponent Donald McIntyre had made a similar prediction. He stated that at the end of this market cycle, ETC will be valued between $ 900 and $ 1,000, such as Bitcoin magazine reported.

Ethereum is losing market share to Ethereum Classic

Another factor that seems to favor ETC is the transition from Ethereum to the PoS chain over the next few months and years. While the network is currently urgently finalizing this transition, the community has not yet fully approved it as many miners oppose proposals like EIP-1559. In fact, some have also predicted that at some point miners will switch to a different PoW chain that can adapt and make better use of their GPU mining rigs.

Ethereum Classic is one of the standout alternatives, with Tim Beiko of the Ethereum Foundation admitting that several miners in the community have spoken to the project about it. Adam Cochran from Cinneamhain Ventures too to repeat Similar opinion:

“I’ve been holding ETC for a while because I think that if a lot of rich miners move to ETH2.0 PoS, they will move to other PoW chains and ETC will be the place to keep their wealth going.”

No more 51% attack?

Ethereum Classic was the subject of a series of 51% attacks in August 2020 that had serious consequences not only for the market value but also for the perception of ETC. However, will these attacks continue? That’s unlikely, according to McIntyre, thanks to contingency solutions and upgrades like NESS and ETC Hash, which strengthen the security of the network.

Since more miners are expected to switch to ETC when ETH moves to 2.0, “ETC could become as safe as ETH,” he said.

Ethereum Classic’s on-chain indicators are also showing optimism. For example, the number of ETC 24-hour active and transactional addresses has reached the February 2020 level at the time of going to press. Accordingly, both underline the market activity to date.

Number of active ETC addresses | Source: BitInfoCharts

Additionally, most of ETC’s social indices are also sloping upward, according to LunarCrush, with the altcoin posting a Galaxy Score of 65.

Bullish mood | Source: LunarCrush

In addition, Ethereum Classic has many other advantages. While McIntyre’s predictions may be a bit optimistic, there are good reasons to believe that ETC will pick up again.

You can see the ETC prices here.

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