In a market that’s been going steadily down for months, Ethereum Classic’s recent behavior is remarkable. The digital asset had some excellent days recently, at the time every other coin was losing value.

It reached the eleventh place by market capitalization, leaving Tronix (TRX) and Monero behind and surpassing the 2 billion capitalization barrier. Then, it went down again, and it’s currently seemingly stable at the 13th spot.

However transitory that peak was, it’s made optimists out of Ethereum Classic‘s holders and even some neutral observers. They expect ETC to increase in value significantly before the year’s end (most predictions are for next November). This optimism is not just about that recent fluctuation in price but also because of some recent favorable developments that point to an increase in the token’s demand and value sometime very soon.

Not too long ago, Robinhood, a cryptocurrency trade mobile platform announced the adoption of Ethereum Classic in its platform which is now available in almost twenty states in the USA.

The app allows users to buy the supported cryptocurrencies in their mobile phone using credit cards as means of payment. Because of its portability and friendly user interface, Robinhood has access to many users that would otherwise avoid the crypto markets due to lack of expertise.

Then, there’s the Coinbase Pro listing. It’s happening. Ethereum Classic was scheduled to go live at Coinbase about a couple of days ago already. It is a massive development as it will give the cryptocurrency access to thirteen million new users. That’s a lot of new demand. Also, as ETC joins the Californian platform’s services, it will be the cheapest token available, which is probably going to make it attractive (or, at least, less intimidating) to new holders.

Both events make it so much easier to use fiat currency (USD in this case) to buy Ethereum Classic for so many new users in just a matter of days that the ETC market can only change for good because of the expansion. There is no doubt it’s a new room for growth.

Ethereum Classic at $40 by the end of 2018 looks realistic (but)

The most enthusiastic observers predict a bullish run so strong on ETC that it will reach a value of around 62 USD (which is roughly fourth of the current value). While this is, indeed, possible, it seems a little too optimistic, even in the light of ETC’s recent triumphs.

Other, more neutral observers, predict a more conservative (and more feasible) price of 40 USD (roughly a little over twice of its current value) and they also point out that this increase will bring ETC into the world’s top five by market capitalization.

And that’s why it seems that they are overenthusiastic. While it’s true that, in the current market, such increment in price will put ETC in the top five, that prediction forgets an elementary fact: if it’s possible for ETC to grow that much that quickly, it can only be possible if the rest of the market is growing as well.

The top five coins are not going to hold their value down as they wait for ETC to surpass them. That’s the problem with these predictions; they are predicated on the assumption that ETC lives in a void, which it doesn’t.

But that’s not to say that Ethereum Classic (ETC) won’t perform well for the rest of the year. The Coinbase listing has eluded some of the most significant projects in Crypto such as Ripple, so while increases of 100-300% are a hard buy, there’s no doubt that ETC will probably do better than most other digital assets as the year concludes.

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Disclaimer: This article should not be taken as, and is not intended to provide, investment advice. Global Coin Report and/or its affiliates, employees, writers, and subcontractors are cryptocurrency investors and from time to time may or may not have holdings in some of the coins or tokens they cover. Please conduct your own thorough research before investing in any cryptocurrency and read our full disclaimer.

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