News

Ethereum Classic (ETC) Investment Trust Approved Following Protocol Upgrades

Adam James · @Shasdam | May 05, 2018 | 15:00

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Fans of the “original” Ethereum, Ethereum Classic (ETC), have received some good news ahead of the project’s planned upgrades.

Institutional Investment

According to a press release from Grayscale Investments, LLC, common units of fractional undivided beneficial interest (“Shares”) in Ethereum Classic Investment Trust have been approved by the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) for a public quotation (OTCQX:ETCG) on OTC Market’s OTCQX® Best Market.

The Ethereum Classic Investment Trust was launched in 2017 as a private, open-ended trust which holds Ethereum Classic (ETC). As such, it derives its value entirely from the value of the ETC it holds. As explained in the press release:

It enables investors to gain exposure to the price movement of ETC without the challenges of buying, storing, and safekeeping ETC. As of April 30, 2018, each Share of the Trust represents ownership of 0.96988630 ETC. The Trust will not generate any income and regularly sells/distributes ETC to pay for its ongoing expenses. Therefore, the amount of ETC represented by each Share gradually declines over time.

Grayscale is already well-known for its family of single-asset and diversified investment products, which expose investors to Bitcoin (BTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum Classic (ETC), Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), Ripple (XRP), and Zcash (ZEC).

Thus far, the response from the Ethereum Classic community on Reddit has been somewhat muted, with only user DrunkenMantis27 responding, “Been waiting on this news for a long time.” User pakcrypto also commented, “Great.”

Updated Monetary Policy

Grayscale’s announcement follows an uncontested update to Ethereum Classic’s monetary policy.

In a joint statement from many leading Ethereum Classic participants, the total supply of ETC has been capped. Reads the statement:

We understand that a monetary policy has been proposed that establishes an upper bound on the total number of ETC that will ever be issued, and that this policy was the result of extensive discussions within the community. The policy also defines a method of reducing the block reward over time.

The new monetary policy sets a limit for the total ETC issuance. The block reward will be reduced by 20% at block number 5,000,000, and another 20% every 5,000,000 blocks thereafter. Uncle block rewards will also be reduced. Due to variations in the reward rate of ETC, we anticipate the total supply to be approximately 210 million ETC, not to exceed 230 million ETC.

Diehard $ETC protocol upgrade successful. Nethash stable, geth and parity mine blocks, transactions coming through. Congrats, everyone! pic.twitter.com/GD5EzeAnWQ

— BitNovosti.com⚡️ (@bit_novosti) January 13, 2017

ETC also recently went through a non-contentious network upgrade at block height 3,000,000, which resolved critical issues such as the much-dreaded difficulty bomb and the potential for replay attacks.

What do you think about Ethereum Classic (ETC) in relation to Ethereum (ETH)? Do you think Ethereum Classic is set for a big 2018? Let us know in the comments below!

Images courtesy of [tw], Bitcoinist archives, Twitter/@bit_novosti.

[Full disclosure: The author of this article is a holder of both Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Ethereum (ETH).]