A lot of exciting things are happening in the world of cryptocurrency these days, so much so that even trading platform operators seemingly can’t escape the gravitational pull of all the surrounding hype and FOMO. In this regard, Robinhood has decided to list Ethereum Classic on its platform, despite the coin possessing very limited usability at this stage.
Robinhood Gets Swept up in the Hype
Although the addition of Robinhood to the cryptocurrency ecosystem has been considered a good decision, one has to wonder how the company is going about its business. Exposing investors and consumers to cryptocurrency in a convenient manner will help the industry grow as a whole. However, companies like these also need to be very careful as to which currencies they decide to support through their platforms. Any “clutter’ or “shitcoin” should never make its way to these types of platforms.
Keeping that in mind, it remains unclear as to why Robinhood wanted to add Ethereum Classic in the first place. This forked version of Eth has not fulfilled any real-world use cases nor is it actively used as a payment method. On top of that, its price has been subjected to pump-and-dump cycles multiple times over.
What’s the Motivation Behind This Move?
After it became known that ETC would be coming to Coinbase fairly soon, Robinhood released a similar statement which makes it appear as though the company is mainly intent on beating the competition to the punch.
While one can appreciate this “competitiveness”, supporting ETC will not necessarily help the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, especially since the usability of this altcoin remains a big question at this time.
For speculators, this addition to Robinhood will unlock a lot of new of business opportunities. A currency marred in pump-and-dump cycles can allow speculators to make a lot of money in very quick succession.
Final Thoughts
Rest assured the hype and FOMO surrounding Ethereum Classic will only intensify over the coming week. It is an excellent speculative vehicle to make money with quickly, but other than that it doesn’t seem to serve any real purpose. Once the Robinhood and Coinbase addition excitement dies down, Ethereum Classic will slowly fade into obscurity again until the next pump materializes out of nowhere.
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