Ethereum Classic surges 200% In Jan 2020 to Hit Top Five Crypto Spot, Grayscale Extends Support

The first month of 2020 has been a great start for the cryptocurrency market as Bitcoin and several other altcoins showed a positive momentum adding over $65 billion to the overall cryptocurrency market cap.

Ethereum offshoot, Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been one of the best performers so far in 2020 as its price has almost tripled in the last month. The ETC price has surged nearly 200% in Jan 2020 from below $4.5 to moving all the way above $12.5 last Friday, Jan 31st.

With this phenomenal run, Ethereum Classic has now secured its spot as the top five cryptocurrencies by market cap. From less than $500 million during the start of 2020, the ETC market cap has now crossed $1.3 billion in just one month’s time period.

While the entire crypto market was more focused on Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic emerged as a dark horse by massively rewarding its investors.

Another good news for the Ethereum Classic investors is that the digital currency asset manager Grayscale Investments has recently announced to extend its support for the Ethereum Classic project for additional 2 years.

To support the ETC development till 2021, Grayscale will donate nearly one-third of its management fees from its Ethereum Classic Trust to the ETC Cooperative. So far since 2017, Grayscale has donated nearly $1.1 million to the ETC cooperative. This includes $338,000 investment alone in the last year of 2019.

As per the data provided by ETC Block Explorer, Grayscale is one of the largest investors in ETC holding 14% of the total ETC supply. The asset manager manages nearly $80 million in their ETC vehicle. These investments are spread across 10 million shares each amounting to less than 1 ETC.

Bob Summerwill, the executive director for ETC cooperative said: “It is a big vote of confidence which we deeply appreciate. This funding allows us to continue our support of the ETC protocol and ecosystem. We will provide grants for key projects, as we have through 2018 and 2019”.

Well, the additional support extended by Grayscale his like to bring more institutional investors to buying ETC in the coming times. This is most likely to trigger more retail participation and trust in this project.