Ethereum Classic (ETC) exchange rate: how the price of "genuine ether" changed
Ethereum Classic (ETC) has survived the crypto market's massive ups and downs and still ranks among the top 40 cryptocurrencies.
The DAO hack and the first large-scale crypto boom (2106 — 2017)
Due to the massive attack on the Ethereum blockchain-based decentralized project The DAO that occurred in June 2016 and the theft of over $60 million in ETH cryptocurrency, the community demanded a rollback of the Ethereum network state and a hard fork.
However, at that moment, the crypto community was divided into two camps: the first demanded rolling back the state of the Ethereum blockchain and, as a consequence, creating a new chain, while the others demanded leaving the current state intact.
As a result, a hard fork took place in July 2016, and Ethereum continued to operate on a new blockchain while investors managed to recover their stolen funds. The original blockchain was renamed Ethereum Classic and continues functioning without much change. Immediately after the Ethereum Classic hard fork, a new cryptocurrency appeared on exchanges under the ticker ETC. At the time of listing, its price was $0.93, with a market capitalization of $76.7 million.
At first, the price began to fall, reaching a historic low of $0.45 in July, but at the end of the year, it returned to growth, which lasted almost the entire 2017 amid a large-scale boom in the crypto market.
By June, the Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency exchange rate had grown more than 20 times and reached a new all-time high (ATH) at $23.02. In addition to the general positive background in the cryptocurrency market, the growth of ETC may have been influenced by factors such as:
- An update to the Ethereum Classic blockchain protocol, which reduced the load on the network and also strengthened its security;
- The support of significant mining pool MinerGate;
- Listing on major crypto exchanges such as Bitfinex, Kraken, and BTC-e;
After reaching ATH, the ETC cryptocurrency exchange rate began to decline, which was in line with the general downward trend in the crypto market. By the end of October 2017, the value of Ethereum Classic had more than halved to $10.8.
However, the correction soon turned into a new, more active growth phase, as investors, including large investors, began to actively buy bitcoin, which led to a rapid increase in its rate. Against this backdrop, there was news about the plans of the U.S. exchange CME to launch bitcoin trading futures, and developers have set a ceiling on issuance. The latter means that the mining of the Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency will stop when the number of generated ETCs reaches 210 million.
At the end of 2017, the Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency reached a new all-time high at $43.86 with a capitalization of $4.32 billion. However, the crypto market then experienced a prolonged correction period, dubbed "crypto winter".
Crypto winter and the DeFi Boom (2018 — 2021)
Throughout virtually all of 2018, the ETC cryptocurrency exchange rate declined, except for a pullback in late February, when the altcoin's value jumped sharply to $38.57. This rise could most likely be attributed to the pending Callisto hard fork, in which ETC coin owners were to receive new tokens at a 1-to-1 ratio at the time of the blockchain (ETC) snapshot.
In early 2019, the Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency resumed its rise, and by June, its exchange rate had risen to $9.27. However, this was followed by another pullback that lasted until the end of the year, when the value of ETC fell to a two-year low of $3.77.
Since the beginning of 2020, Ethereum Classic has resumed its growth and, by mid-February, had more than tripled to a two-year high of $12.12. Except for the listing on Poloniex, a large exchange at that time, there were no visible reasons for such rapid growth. Almost immediately after that, the ETC rate collapsed to $3.93 but then gradually continued to grow, and by August, the altcoin price more than doubled to $7.4.
After a brief pullback that lasted until the end of 2020, a new phase of growth of the Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency came against the background of the general rise of the crypto market. Already in May 2021, at the peak of the DeFi boom, the price of Ethereum Classic, with a market capitalization of $14.81 billion, reached a new ATH of $176.6, which, as of December 2024, remains in place.
A new phase of correction in the crypto market (2022 — 2023)
After reaching the new ATH, the ETC cryptocurrency exchange rate declined gradually until July 2022, which was in line with the general trend in the crypto market.
There was a sharp jump in August of the same year, and the Ethereum Classic rate rose to $43.41. This could have been due to the upcoming Ethereum Upgrade, which included the planned transition from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), as well as news of an investment of more than $10 million in the Ethereum Classic ecosystem from large mining pool AntPool in late July.
However, the growth didn't last long. In the same month, the ETC exchange rate started to decline, which lasted until October 2023.
Return to growth (2024)
From October 2023 to March 2024, the Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency showed growth. During this period, the altcoin's exchange rate increased to a yearly high of $36.16.
Then, a new phase of correction began in the crypto market, caused by the negative dynamics in the U.S. market, including an increase in the Federal Reserve System's key rate. The fall continued until November of the same year when the ETC rate reached $18.09. This fall was exacerbated by the German government's sales of large amounts of bitcoins and payments to users of bankrupt Mt. Gox and Genesis, who received their funds in the summer.
However, in November, following Donald Trump's election as U.S. president, the exchange rate of many cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum Classic, began to skyrocket, with the altcoin hitting a two-year high of $37.49 in early December. As of the end of December 2024, the ETC cryptocurrency exchange rate is $27.32, with a market capitalization of $4.09 billion.