ETC reached an all-time high of $176.16 on Thursday and has declined 24.75% from those levels. Why It Matters: Ethereum Classic emerged as a result of a hard fork of the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain in 2016. Bitcoin Diamond is a fork of Bitcoin (BTC) that took place in 2017. See Also: ETH traded 0.98% lower at $3,456.75 at press time, while BTC traded 1.3% lower at $56,292.17 at press time. ETC’s year-to-date gains have outpaced those of both BTC and ETH and it has captured the attention of social media investors. Synergia Capital’s head of research, Denis Vinokourov, said the appreciation in ETC “appears to be dominated by ‘cheaper’ Ethereum play and retail flow that has pushed DOGE to sky-high levels,” according to CoinDesk.