News Ethereum Classic Tech Update Sees 30% New Year Price Spike

South Korea’s biggest exchange Bithumb has led a trading spike in Ethereum Classic (ETC) which saw the altcoin gain 29% in 24 hours Monday.

Korean Market Leads 40% Of ETC Charge

Handling over 40% of ETC’s 727 million daily volume, Bithumb support fuelled a price reversal towards recent all-time highs above $40.

Following a general cryptocurrency market decline last week, ETC had fallen rapidly to below $27 according to cross-exchange data from Coinmarketcap.

Unlike many, however, the Ethereum fork has staged an equally swift comeback, second only to Stellar as new announcements emerged about its Emerald development project.

A blog post published January 31 outlined full details of Emerald’s three-tier features suite to further ETC use cases, including Dapp development opportunities and an in-house consumer wallet.

Drawing conspicuous attention to Ethereum (ETH) co-founder Gavin Wood’s embattled wallet project, the post reads:

This helps ETC lay down a solid foundation free from weaknesses that can be exploited, such as the first and second Parity vulnerabilities, and large token losses with ERC20 Token Standard vulnerabilities.

The update appeared to have a significant effect on sensitive ETC markets, with a jump from $27 to $36 occurring within hours as traders reacted.

It’s Not All ‘Shillbert’

Historically, the ETC ecosystem had largely depended on publicity activity from major proponent Barry Silbert, whose comparative withdrawal from public advocacy earlier this year came in tandem with several months of flat growth.

A brief return saw Silbert plug the altcoin on mainstream media TV at the height of Bitcoin’s price peak, a move which has since been criticized as being apt to attract needless attention from regulators.

The Digital Currency Group CEO’s Twitter posts on ETC specifically could create problems associated with price manipulation, two attorneys told Reuters last week.

Silbert had stressed to the publication that he was “highly, highly sensitive” to requirements laid down by securities authorities to keep tokens above board.

What do you think about Ethereum Classic’s prospects compared with Ethereum or other altcoin assets? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of CoinMarketCap, DinBits