Barry Silbert was celebrating as Ethereum Classic (ETC) briefly overtook Dash to become the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.
ETC Challenges Dash For 5th Place Supremacy
In a tweet Thursday, the entrepreneur, who at the end of April launched a dedicated private fund in ETC, quoted Coinmarketcap statistics showing the shift.
Ethereum Classic ($ETC) has just surpassed Dash to become the fifth largest digital currency pic.twitter.com/2HkG4VSZ24
— Barry Silbert (@barrysilbert) May 5, 2017
Interest in ETC shot up following announcement of the fund and its launch, with investors piling in to take advantage of what many suspected would be a rags-to-riches story similar to its sister asset Ether (ETH).
As of press time Friday, ETC’s market cap is back below Dash at $723 million versus the latter’s $747 million.
The price per coin reversed losses from earlier in the week to stand at just under $8. Prior to the fund launch, it traded at around $3.
ETC’s Surprising Support Includes Dedicated ‘Thesis’
Despite Dash and Ether being the broad success stories of the altcoin resurgence this year, ETC’s performance is remarkable. While not yet having achieved the sky-high price attracted by the two, the speed with which its market cap increased is likely unparalleled on the market.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Silbert’s Digital Currency Group (DCG), the parent company of Grayscale Investments which is behind the ETC private fund, has released a “thesis” on the altcoin’s potential. The document, which was released Friday, reads:
Ethereum Classic is a next generation blockchain platform for a new internet infrastructure – one that dramatically enhances the ways that information and value are shared in the digital economy, unlocking trillions of dollars in untapped surplus in the process.
Giving various essential metrics supporting the asset’s importance, the thesis then concludes:
We have come to believe that ETC marks the next generation in a class of investible digital assets, complementing bitcoin, and broadening a dynamic new asset class… With its store-of-value properties, abundant real-world applications, asymmetric return potential, and diversifying characteristics, ETC stands to improve many aspects of our lives while also providing investors with a new tool to build efficient portfolios.
The somewhat more philanthropic tone struck by the DCG provides a further sign that investors momentum behind this particular digital asset is substantial. Whether it can rise to become the “next Dash,” however, is difficult to tell from current statistics.
What do you think about ETC and Barry Silbert’s support? Let us know in the comments below!
Images courtesy of Grayscale Investments, AdobeStock