Ethereum Classic (ETC), a cryptocurrency that was hit with a 51% attack earlier this year and saw hackers double spend tokens, has been outperforming Ethereum (ETH), a cryptocurrency it spun out of, after the hit.
Earlier this month, Ethereum Classic suffered a block reorganization when someone managed to get 51% of the hashrate on its network. At the time ETC’s development team claimed no attack was going on, but soon recognized what happened.
While reports differ, it’s estimated that about $460,000 worth of ETC tokens were double spent from cryptocurrency exchanges, including YoBit and Gate.io, which covered losses of almost $200,000 for its users.
According to data from CryptoCompare, Ethereum Classic has, since the attack, been outperforming Ethereum. On January 5, ETC was trading at $5.25, while ETH was at $155, and they’re now at $4.4 and $121.9 respectively. While both have dropped, Ethereum’s drop has been more significant.
Various factors may have helped ETC outperform its older brother. For one, the hackers behind the 51% attack has seemingly been returning the ETC token that have been taken from exchanges.
While initially Gate.io revealed it got back $100,000 worth of ETC, blockchain security firm SlowMist has claimed its system found the attacker returned all of the stolen funds.
According to the SlowMist’s BTI System, it was found that all ETC the 51% attacker took from exchanges have returned to them at 11:00 on January 10, 2019. Including @YobitExchange's 122735 ETC and @gate_io's $100,000 worth ETC. @ClassicIsComing @eth_classic pic.twitter.com/0gvxUwokKJ
— SlowMist (@SlowMist_Team) January 16, 2019
Nevertheless, a private mining pool has been accumulating hashpower after the attack, suggesting more could come in the future. On the other hand, as covered, Ethereum’s Constantinople hard fork was recently delayed due to the discovery of a critic vulnerability.
This saw ETH’s price drop over 7% in a short amount of time. Speaking to CryptoGlobe Mati Greenspan, a senior market analyst at eToro, revealed that to him ETC outperforming ETH after suffering a 51% attack “files in the face of logic.”
This, he added, as a cryptocurrency’s value is tied to its immutability. He stated:
The value of a cryptocurrency is tied to it's immutability. If a crypto is vulnerable to a 51% hack than it's hard to see how it retains value.
When asked whether he believes the market is currently being irrational and may correct this in the future, he agreed and said a correction was likely. However, Greenspan noted that “you can never know for sure. Nor can we say how long it could take.”
As covered, Ethereum has also not been the top-performing decentralized application platform, as TRON outperformed it in the last six months over the launch of BitTorrent’s BTT token on Binance’s Launchpad.
Update: Responding to a request for comment Alex Krüger, an economist and trader who often shares technical and fundamental analysis on social media, stated:
Outperformance makes sense. The failed Constantinople upgrade speaks poorly of ETH. Furthermore, even if ETC looks almost like a failed coin (it does), once Ethereum moves on to POS [Proof-of-Stake] ETH miners will be looking to either fork away (creating a third Ethereum coin) or move onto ETC, strengthening the network.
