reasons that made Coinbase bypass Ripple (XRP) and choose Ethereum Classic

A crypto coin making it to the list of an exchange is not a major news but, when it is Coinbase it is a major news. This is mainly because Coinbase is extremely selective and till date offers only four virtual currencies- Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash. Also, unlike many other crypto exchanges, Coinbase prefers to work hand-in-hand with regulators. So, the addition of another cryptocurrency (Ethereum Classic) is surely a major news. The Twitter post of Coinbase on 12th June 2018 says, “We are pleased to announce our intention to add support for Ethereum Classic (ETC) on Coinbase in the coming months.” Ethereum Classic was itself busy recently as the developers had to introduce a hard fork of their own to remove the ‘difficulty bomb’. It was a part of the original Ethereum blockchain designed to increase the difficulty level of mining.

According to the Coinbase blog, “customers can expect to see public-facing APIs and other signs that the asset is being added. When we reach the final testing phase of the technical integration, which we expect to occur over the next few months, we will publicly announce a launch date for trading via our blog and Twitter.”

So, what are the reasons that made Coinbase bypass Ripple (XRP) and choose Ethereum Classic that is currently ranked at the 18th position on coinmarketcap.com?

• As per the Digital Asset Framework: Digital Asset Framework keeps tab of the performance of the crypto assets and estimates the stability and the prospects of the digital assets. Ethereum Classic accords to most of the points in the Digital Asset Framework. After almost two years of the hard fork, Ethereum Classic has the looks of a separate promising altcoin that has a good development team with a distinguished roadmap.
• Trading volume accordance: The market cap and daily trading volume of a crypto coin actually narrate its progress in the market. Ethereum Classic (ETC) shows a good trading volume for the past month with a value above $100,000,000 USD and sometimes over $200,000,000 USD. After the announcement of Coinbase regarding the inclusion of ETC in their list of crypto assets, the volume (24h) had jumped to nearly $686,019,000 USD on 12th June 2018. Also, if the trading volume is compared by analyzing the 30-day historical data of ETC from coinmarketcap.com then, compared to the other top-ranked coins, ETC shows more consistency.
• Probably Ethereum Classic was already being considered: Coinbase continues to keep tabs from the DAO hard fork that had occurred in 2016. At that time, it had resulted in a loss of nearly 3.6 million Ether tokens whose net worth was approximately $50 million. Those who held onto the coins they will most likely make a nice profit and load their wallets once they reach new heights or if they perform well enough in the near future. So, Ethereum Classic that has an enlarged community and a familiar name will obviously create an interest in anyone acquainted with the cryptocurrencies. It is also to be noted that Litecoin (LTC) had made some rapid progress after it was listed on Coinbase last year.
• Proven technology: Ethereum Classic sports a known technology and the wallet system is secure. It is unlikely to experience any glitches. Derivative instruments of the crypto coin are also present that have acquired the interest of many traders. The Coinbase users will be able to take advantage of this fact with the inclusion of the cryptocurrency.
• Approval of regulators: Coinbase is always careful to enlist cryptocurrencies that are accepted by securities or regulators. Another probable reason for enlisting ETC may be that Ethereum Classic is a platform asset and a utility coin. Ripple (XRP), on the other hand, was experiencing a little turbulence and some arguments that could be considered as a security. Moreover, the Thailand market authorities had recently approved Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Stellar (XLM). This way Ethereum Classic also made a more prominent mark in Asia.