Ethereum Classic jumps by 29% ahead of anticipated upgrade

Ethereum also rose by as much as 18% as the crypto industry awaits the blockchain’s biggest transition which could take place in September

Ethereum’s long-anticipated software upgrade has made the blockchain’s early offshoot an unexpected winner, pushing up the prices of the latter’s token in recent days.

Ethereum Classic, which was created after a 2016 software change known as a ‘hard fork’ on Ethereum’s blockchain, saw its token’s price jump by as much as 29% on Wednesday. Ethereum also rose by as much as 18% as the crypto industry awaits the blockchain’s biggest transition, also called the Merge, which could take place in September after being pushed down the road for several years.

Cryptocurrencies surged across the board Wednesday amid a broad rally in risk assets, with Bitcoin rising as much as 10%, the most in more than a month.

The Merge is set to take Ethereum to a system called Proof of Stake, in which staked Ether tokens will order transactions, from its current system called Proof of Work, a mechanism which uses powerful computers to order transactions.

The offshoot’s outperformance first came after Ethereum blockchain’s co-founder Vitalik Buterin mentioned it at the annual Ethereum Community Conference, or EthCC, in Paris on July 21.

If you want to cancel Proof of Stake, we are not going to cancel you. There’s Ethereum Classic, which is the original Ethereum, he said. It’s a very welcoming community and I think they’ll definitely welcome proof of work fans. It’s not even a joke. If you like proof of work, you should go use Ethereum Classic. It a totally fine chain.

Buterin’s comment has helped ‘drive speculation’ among traders, Thomas Dunleavy, senior analyst at crypto research firm Messari, said.

Ethereum Classic, which still uses the Proof-of-Work mechanism, may be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Ethereum’s migration, which is expected to cut off earnings for as many as one million people.