Ether Classic Shifts as Bitcoin Outshines Gold: BTCManager’s Week in Review March 6

As bitcoin continues to make fresh highs and the unit price exceeds that of gold, Ethereum Classic looks to implement a change that will fix the supply, moving away from the inflationary Ethereum model, announced March 1. Software clients are scheduled for Summer 2017 and if accepted by the community, the block reward decline is due to start December 2017.

Also, the ETF approval date from the SEC approaches, with a decision due by March 13. BTC-USD has made a recent high at $1298.00, where a failure to break this level by the end of next week will be considered a bearish signal for the cryptocurrency.

If the COIN ETF is approved, this could pave the way for Ethereum or Ethereum Classic ETF’s, opening the world of cryptocurrency to traditional investors. Especially if the token cap is initiated, this could prompt heightened investor interest in Ether Classic as a digital asset.

This week’s review is compiled from contributions by Alexander Lielacher, Christoph Bergmann, Joseph Young, Nigel Dollentas, and Nuno Menezes.

It is official; the bitcoin price hits a new all-time high. The media seems to be waking up, but it still does not feel like a bubble. Could it be that the bubble of the third reward era has not even begun? As reasons for the recent appreciation, the DPA identifies speculations on the ETF, a general worry about political instabilities in the US and Europe, as well as capital controls in China. While all this is not untrue, the DPA misses the most important reason. Maybe the only reason that is important; the halving.

For the first time in bitcoin’s price history, one bitcoin had exceeded the value of an ounce of gold, an asset that is often compared to the cryptocurrency. Trading at $1260 at the time of writing, it is also a new all-time high for bitcoin as well. Furthermore, bitcoin has broken through the psychological barrier of four digits. This feat has been achieved in every single fiat currency in existence, reminding us of the contrast between the digital scarcity of bitcoin and the creation of traditional money out of thin air, via banks extending loans.

Ethereum Classic (ETC), the spinoff project of the original Ethereum network created in response to the decision to bailout investors of the DAO, is fully detaching itself from the traditional Ethereum model, starting with the elimination of the original monetary policy, with the idea first floated in late 2016. “In order to further Ethereum Classic’s vision, the community needs to adopt a monetary policy that balances the long-term interests of investors, developers, and business operators,” said the Ethereum Classic development team in a joint statement.

“Our House of Nakamoto is the first Bitcoin Store in Vienna, maybe in the whole world,” Magdalena Isbrandt, the founder of the “House of Nakamoto,” says, “the store has a size of 350 square meters and is on two floors. On the ground is the area for customers, above a lecture room and our offices.” The store, which mistakenly has been called a ‘Bitcoin Bank’ by some media, is located in the center of Mariahilfer Street. One month after it opened its doors, there are still 80-100 customers, who visit the store daily.

In the midst of BTC-USD being propelled to dizzying new all-time highs thanks to an unprecedented amount of support and bullish sentiment, two people have partnered together in what seems to be a rapid acquisition of intellectual property around Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Craig Wright and Calvin Ayre are the two individuals of interest, going on a patent filing spree.

Several business heavyweights have joined forces to create new computing systems based on the Ethereum platform. Around 30 companies are participating in the creation of what they are calling the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, focused on utilizing the new potential blockchain technology allows, announced February 28. The official announcement has seen a spike in the price of ether, with details first emerging of an ‘Enterprise Ethereum’ in early January, with ETH-USD trending toward the all-time high at $21.48, breaking the $20 handle on March 6.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the largest clearer of financial securities in the US, announced that it has completed a test of a blockchain-based system to better manage the process for repurchase agreements for U.S. government securities and will decide by June whether it will begin development of the new system.