BTCC, a major Chinese Bitcoin exchange, recently launched a new USD-to-Bitcoin exchange. Upon its successful US debut, the company announced its support for Ethereum Classic over ETH.
On July 26, the Ethereum development team completed its hard fork to protect investors against the DAO attack. Almost immediately after the hard fork execution, Ethereum Classic emerged, to maintain the original governance model of Ethereum.
Leading Bitcoin exchanges, including Kraken and Bitfinex, have supported both Ethereum Classic and Ethereum since, considering large market caps of both ETC and ETH. However, BTCC is planning the sole integration of Ethereum Classic, clearly expressing their preference amongst the two governance models.
On various social media platforms, including Twitter, BTCC responded to the request of its users for Ethereum support. The BTCC team stated:
@p4miller @ConsenSysAndrew Classic :-)
— BTCC (@YourBTCC) November 3, 2016
BTCC Dominance
At the moment, BTCC processes more than 50 percent of all Bitcoin-to-CNY trades in China. On average, BTCC handles a daily trading volume of 1.8mln Bitcoin, which is equivalent to around $1.3bln. Of China’s total daily volume of 3.41mln, BTCC is accountable for at least 52.7 percent of all Bitcoin trades, demonstrating its clear dominance over the largest Bitcoin market in the world.
Considering its influence over global Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets in general, the company’s decision to support Ethereum Classic could hugely impact the trading volumes and market cap of the cryptocurrency, which is listed as the fifth most valuable cryptocurrency in the world, above Monero and Dash.
Samson Mow, a long-time advocate of Ethereum Classic and COO at BTCC, has consistently demonstrated his support for Ethereum Classic over the past few months, visiting various Ethereum Classic meetups and hinting at the creation of a Ethereum Classic mining pool.
The @YourBTCC team at the Ethereum Classic Meetup in Shanghai. We actually had 2 more but they left earlier. pic.twitter.com/5G2c12Fmtw
— Samson Mow (@Excellion) September 4, 2016