If You Invested $1,000 In Ethereum Classic One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Investors who have owned stocks in the past year have generally experienced some big gains. But there is no question some big-name cryptocurrencies have left the stock market in the dust.

Ethereum Classic’s Big Run: One cryptocurrency that has been a great investment in the past year has been Ethereum Classic ETC/USD.

Ethereum Classic has been an exceptional investment going all the way back to its launch in 2015. Ethereum ETH/USD, the world’s second most valuable cryptocurrency, wasn’t the original Ethereum. Classic was the original, but the Ethereum Foundation created a new version of the cryptocurrency in 2016 following a hack of a third-party project.

After Ethereum Classic’s price spiked from around $13 at the beginning of 2017 to around $35 during the peak of the 2017 crypto bubble, Ethereum Classic spent most of the next two years trading back under $8.

Ethereum Classic prices started heading in the right direction in 2020 thanks to massive government stimulus spending to support the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the pandemic began, the government has spent more than $6 trillion, and investors concerned about the potential for hyperinflation have poured into cryptocurrencies as potential hedges.

At the beginning of 2020, Ethereum Classic was trading at just $4.50. When March kicked off, the cryptocurrency had risen to $7.40 as news of the virus spreading in China prompted concerns about a U.S. pandemic.

On March 13, 2020, Ethereum Classic plummeted to its pandemic low of $3.30 as global stock markets tanked. The good news for Ethereum Classic investors is that the crypto bounced off that level as the stock market began to stabilize shortly thereafter and the government started printing money.

By Nov. 1, Ethereum Classic was back up to $55.59.

Related Link: If You Invested $1,000 In Litecoin One Year Ago, Here's How Much You'd Have Now

Ethereum Classic In 2021, Beyond: On Jan. 19, 2021, influential Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk added #Bitcoin to his Twitter bio and tweeted “In retrospect, it was inevitable.” Musk’s tweet sent the entire cryptocurrency market soaring, including Ethereum Classic.

Ethereum Classic ultimately hit a new all-time high of $173.23 in May, but has since pulled back significantly. Today, Ethereum Classic is trading back down at $41.38.

Still, Ethereum Classic investors who bought one year ago and held on have generated huge returns on their investments. In fact, $1,000 in Ethereum Classic bought on June 24, 2020, would be worth about $6,566 today.

Looking ahead, it’s impossible to value cryptocurrencies like Ethereum Classic because they produce no cash flow, pay no dividend or interest and are still used for only a tiny fraction of global financial transactions.

Up to this point, Ethereum Classic has made for a spectacular speculative investment. But until the extreme volatility in the Ethereum Classic market dies down, it will likely have a difficult time winning over investors looking for a safe, secure alternative to cash that won’t keep them up at night.