Ethereum Classic (ETC) is going on a tear right now, as it’s up over 16 percent in value over the past 24 hours at press time, and the run looks like it still has steam.

Now, there are a ton of newcomers in the crypto space, many of them who have watched Ethereum (ETH) surge the past few days with awe. But that awe gives way to confusion quickly: what is ETC and what separates it from ETH?

After you understand some of the nuances of the contrasts, then you’ll have to decide for yourself whether you think Ethereum or Ethereum Classic would be a better hold for 2018. Or, of course, you can always hold both.

We’ll walk you through some speculative considerations that might help you make up in your own mind going into this new year.

Ethereum Classic a hedge against ETH

Ethereum Classic bills itself as the “censorship-resistant,” original Ethereum. The ETC community disagreed with the Ethereum developers’ decision a few years ago to fork Ethereum to return funds to the investors who lost their money in the infamous DAO hack, and ETH and ETC have gone in different directions ever since.

Accordingly, the ETC community is against “central planning.” Sort of like how Bitcoin Cash (BCH) fans bill their community as the censorship-resistant brand of Bitcoin (BTC).

And that kind of marketing is particularly attractive to the many libertarian-minded individuals in the cryptocurrency space. So, in a purely speculative way, Ethereum Classic can be a way to hedge your bet against Ethereum.

Say you hold some Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash in your portfolio, and may the best coin win. You’ve got your bases covered because you hold some of both.

So if you take the same mindset to Ethereum, you have a few options. Alongside your ETH, you could try putting some money on the “Ethereum-killers” like Cardano (ADA) or EOS. But why not ETC, too?

To the surprise of some, Ethereum Classic’s devs have had a super productive year. To that end, check out this recent tweet from Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp. Note where ETC’s devs ranked in productivity:

2017 reference impl commits & merges:

Bitcoin Core: 1,925

Litecoin: 1,298

IOTA: 1,166

Monero: 1,199

Bitcoin ABC: 1,104

Ethereum Classic: 895

Ethereum (geth): 833

Zcash: 491

Stellar: 453

Dash: 394

Bitcoin Classic: 374

Ripple: 271

Bitcoin Unlimited: 218

Bitconnect: 23

Dogecoin: 0 — Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 31, 2017

With 895 combined commits and merges, ETC’s devs had more than ETH’s. That’s a good, if superficial sign, as it shows in the very least that Ethereum Classic has an active developer community that’s constantly at work. Of course, it matters more what they’re working on, but it’s a point to consider for sure.

An underrated hold in 2018?

There’s no question that ETC has flown over a lot of investor’s radars in recent weeks. But there’s no doubt that as more people find out about Ethereum, more people will also find out about Ethereum Classic.

That means ETC has solid, prospective growth in the months ahead. It’s an interesting darkhorse hold for 2018 because it has a lot of room for growth compared to more super-saturated coins, e.g. Cardano ADA’s current market capitalization.

You’ll have to do your own research, as these are just speculative considerations and not financial advice. But perhaps it wouldn’t be surprising if ETC was trading over $100 in one year’s time. Time will tell.

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