Ethereum Classic (ETC) once considered a dead coin is now backed by the most powerful people and companies in the industry. How did that happen? Well, Ethereum Classic (ETC) proved that it can not only survive an orchestrated campaign to wipe it out of the market, but it can also thrive under hostile conditions. After the Ethereum (ETH) fork, Ethereum Classic (ETC), the original chain was left to die. Developers, miners, funds and community support shifted from the old chain (ETC) to the forked chain (ETH). On top of that, the people backing Ethereum (ETH) had now two coins, ETH and ETC. So, what did they do with their ETC coins? When Ethereum Classic (ETC) would rise by a few cents, these people would dump their bags of ETC on exchanges.

This cold hearted manipulation stunted the growth of ETC/USD while the rest of the market thrived. During the last bull run, most cryptocurrencies rallied hard and reach new all time highs. Ethereum Classic (ETC) however reached a new time high of $47 and had one of the most disappointing returns on investment. This was a careful ploy to make investors even more hostile towards this coin. This is when debates about Ethereum Classic (ETC) being a scam or a sh*tcoin started to surface. A lot of controversies were created around Ethereum Classic (ETC). On top of all those controversies was that Ethereum Classic (ETC) is being run by Barry Silbert, the founder of Digital Currency Group. This resulted in slogans like, "Pump it, Barry"and "In Barry We Trust". ETC developers have vocally stated that the Ethereum Foundation created this controversy to malign Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Chart for ETC/BTC (1D)

Both Digital Currency Group and Digital Finance Group have made donations to various teams working on Ethereum Classic (ETC). However, that does not give them controlling interest in Ethereum Classic (ETC). That being said, the recent move to push out ETC Dev and throw weight behind ETC Labs can be considered an attempt to wield more influence in the direction of Ethereum Classic (ETC) development. ETC Labs has already started an aggresive progarm to get Dapp developers onboard. In the months ahead, we will see a growing number of Dapps built on the Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain. Most of these Dapps are targetting IOT (Internet of Things). ETC Labs is providing qualifying teams with start up capital of more than $100,000 to build successful Dapps on the Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain. ETC Labs is backed by Digital Finance Group, DCG and HCM-Foxconn.

There is no denying that Jack Lee, the managing partner of HCM-Foxconn, Barry Silbert, the CEO of Digital Currency Group or James Wo, the chairman of Digital Finance Group are not throwing their weights behind Ethereum Classic (ETC) out of the kindness of their hearts. Obviously, they see it as a proitable investment. The three of them have a large amount of ETC coins that they hold directly or indirectly. The point is, they have a lot to gain from a rising Ethereum Classic (ETC) valuation. They could have picked another coin to invest in, but they picked Ethereum Classic (ETC). This means that they believe in the future potential of Ethereum Classic (ETC). They realize that Ethereum Classic (ETC) is extremely undervalued at its current price and just with a little hard work and marketing, we could see a massive spike in adoption which would send its price through the roof.