After Dogecoin’s lead in the altcoin space, Ethereum Classic (ETC) exploded to a new all-time high on April 16 and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) doubled as the altcoin forks started to gain traction.
It is now undeniable that BTC and ETH are currently the two most dominant cryptos, and in that context, they receive most of the attention from the mainstream media, retail investors, and institutions. However, it does not mean that the industry leaders are not occasionally challenged by competitor networks.
Two forked projects that previously sought to challenge Bitcoin and Ethereum for their seats at the top are Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic. In the last week, both coins have shown that they are still capable of generating excitement and producing big gains.
Data acquired from TradingView indicates that the price of BCH has surged by 125% over the last two weeks, rising from a low of $523 on April 4 to reach a high of $1,175 on April 16. In the same period, ETC staged a 250% rally from $13.30 to reach a new all-time high at about $46.53 on April 16.
BCH/USDT
Bitcoin Cash awakened and came out of contention in the Bitcoin community focused around the scalability of the Bitcoin blockchain and the desire to increase the block size. As a result of this disagreement, a segment of the community split off ‘forked’ bitcoin to create bitcoin cash to implement the desired code updates.
This protocol now aims to become a peer-to-peer electronic cash system that is capable of being used to conduct fast payments globally with low fees, user privacy, and a high transaction capacity.
Momentum for Bitcoin Cash started pickup up at the start of April as the crypto market, in general, got more attention from the mainstream media and financial markets. One theory says that the new investors seek the older coins with lower valuations as a beginning point instead of chasing after Bitcoin and Ether, which may seem expensive to the new crypto traders.
With BTC now hovering around $62,000 and its hash rate reaching record highs of 200 exahashes per second, the biggest crypto is out of reach for most of the smaller investors and miners who might now be turning to Bitcoin Cash as a more feasible option.
ETC/USDT
ETC emerged in 2016 as a result of a hard fork within the Ethereum community after the hack of a popular platform known as The DAO. Originally, The DAO was an early decentralized autonomous organization that intended to act as an investor-directed venture capital firm.
Ethereum Classic is the original legacy chain of the Ethereum network that did not take corrective measures to recover funds that were lost in the hack, an act takes as a way of maintaining the ethos of finality.
While Ethereum has gone on to become the widely adopted version of the network, ETC has continued on its path and it is once more gaining attention from the crypto world as high transaction costs and ETH’s transition to a proof-of-stake consensus has pushed Ethereum Classic to new highs as the users seek compatible options.
The hash rate of the Ethereum Classic network has constantly been climbing in the last six months alongside the surging price of ETC. This surge has helped to make the network more attractive to the interested miners and increased its general security.
With a higher price comes greater block rewards, which then creates a larger incentive for miners join network. This both increases network security and keeps honest miners happy to do so. pic.twitter.com/Kkob0nvqht
— ETC Cooperative (@ETCCooperative) April 16, 2021
As more participants join the crypto market searching for good deals on established projects, the legacy coins like ETC and BCH might see more price growth.
