Bitcoin maintained its position above the $700 mark on November 6, 2016, trading at $711.52 as the cryptocurrency market absorbed the latest development in the rapidly evolving privacy coin space. The launch of Zclassic — a community-driven fork of the newly minted Zcash — added another dimension to an already eventful autumn for digital assets.
TL;DR
- Bitcoin traded at $711.52, continuing its steady climb through late 2016
- Ethereum held at $10.87 with a market cap of $932 million
- Zclassic launched as a fork of Zcash, removing the controversial 20% founder tax
- Total crypto market cap stood at approximately $13.6 billion
- The scaling debate continued to dominate Bitcoin community discussions
Bitcoin’s Quiet Ascent
While the spotlight in early November 2016 fell on the newly launched Zcash and its dramatic price swings, Bitcoin continued its methodical climb. At $711.52, the leading cryptocurrency had nearly doubled from its $430 level at the start of the year. The July 2016 halving — which reduced the block reward from 25 to 12.5 BTC — had tightened supply, and growing demand from China and other Asian markets provided steady upward pressure.
The hashrate underpinning the network continued to grow as more mining operations came online, reinforcing Bitcoin’s security model. Mining difficulty adjustments kept block production on schedule, averaging one block every ten minutes despite the steady influx of computational power. The network’s resilience through the halving transition demonstrated the robustness of Bitcoin’s economic design.
The Broader Market Picture
Beyond Bitcoin, the cryptocurrency landscape on November 6 presented a fascinating snapshot. Ethereum maintained its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency at $10.87, though it was still recovering from the turmoil of the DAO hack and the subsequent hard fork that had split the network into ETH and ETC. Ethereum Classic traded at $0.98, a fraction of its sibling’s value.
XRP occupied the third spot at just $0.0082 per token, with a market cap of $292 million. Litecoin, often called the silver to Bitcoin’s gold, traded at $3.89. Monero at $4.97 and Dash at $9.40 rounded out the privacy-focused segment of the market — a category that was about to get significantly more crowded.
The Zcash Effect and Zclassic’s Response
Zcash had launched just nine days earlier on October 28, 2016, to massive hype. Its zk-SNARKs technology promised truly private transactions, a capability that neither Bitcoin nor Monero could match at the time. Initial Zcash trading saw extreme price volatility, with some early exchange rates reaching extraordinary levels before settling dramatically.
The excitement around Zcash also brought scrutiny, particularly regarding its Founder’s Reward — a protocol-level rule directing 20% of all mining rewards to the Electric Coin Company and affiliated entities. For a community rooted in decentralization principles, this felt like a step backward. On November 6, developer Rhett Creighton responded by launching Zclassic, an identical copy of Zcash with the founder tax stripped out.
Scaling Debate Looms Over Bitcoin
While privacy coins grabbed headlines, Bitcoin’s own internal tensions continued to simmer. The block size debate — whether to increase Bitcoin’s 1MB block limit to accommodate more transactions — remained unresolved. Segregated Witness (SegWit) had been proposed as a solution, but miner adoption was sluggish. Transaction fees were beginning to rise as blocks filled up, creating urgency around finding consensus.
The debate had real implications for Bitcoin’s use case. At $711, Bitcoin was increasingly seen as both a store of value and a transactional currency. But without scaling solutions, the network risked losing ground to competitors offering faster, cheaper transactions. Ethereum’s smart contract capabilities and Zcash’s privacy features were eating into Bitcoin’s narrative dominance.
The Stablecoin Quiet Before the Storm
Tether, listed on CoinMarketCap but not yet in the top 20, was quietly growing in importance. Its dollar-pegged tokens provided a way for traders to move in and out of positions without converting to fiat — a utility that would prove transformative in the years ahead. In November 2016, few market participants appreciated how central stablecoins would become to the crypto ecosystem.
Why This Matters
November 6, 2016 captured the crypto market at an inflection point. Bitcoin was emerging from its post-halving consolidation, privacy technology was advancing rapidly with Zcash and Zclassic, and the scaling debate foreshadowed the contentious forks that would define 2017. The market’s total capitalization of $13.6 billion would seem quaint within months, as Bitcoin’s rally toward $1,000 and beyond would ignite the next great crypto bull run. The ideological questions raised by Zclassic’s launch — about founder compensation, decentralization, and who blockchain networks should serve — remain unresolved and continue to shape the industry today.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk. Always conduct your own research before making investment decisions.
btc holding 700 while all these altcoins fight for relevance – king stays king
zclassic launching without founder reward is the right move – zcash should have done the same
agree with that – the founder tax was a dealbreaker for a lot of miners
privacy wars are heating up just as btc stabilizes – interesting timing for the whole market