About Ethereum Classic

“Decentralized. Immutable. Unstoppable.”

Ethereum Classic is a forked version Ethereum which was created in 2016 during the formative early years of Ethereum. In May of 2016, a venture capital fund called the DAO was hacked and approximately $50 million USD-worth of Ethereum was stolen and moved to an unknown address. A vote was taken shortly after the hack where a majority of the Ethereum development community agreed on a hard fork. This allowed all the stolen ETH to be restored to their original owners on a new Ethereum chain.

However, some members voiced their discontent with the Ethereum hard fork because, to them, the blockchain should be immutable. These members went on to keep the original unforked Ethereum chain, naming it Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Ethereum Classic boasts all the original elements of Ethereum but has its own separate development roadmap and team. The advocates of Ethereum Classic generally say “code is law” when it comes to blockchain development. However, Ethereum Classic is not supported by the Ethereum Foundation and has no relationship with its current developers. The only real difference between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic is the version of blockchain they are using.

ICO Price

Being a coin created as a result of Ethereum’s hard fork, Ethereum Classic had no ICO. Instead, each ETH holder received ETC at the time of the hardfork at a 1:1 ratio.

Key Features

Ethereum Classic offers all the same features that Ethereum has.

• A functioning, decentralized blockchain system currently operating on a proof-of-work mining model.
• Trading on almost all cryptocurrency exchanges and has high liquidity.
• Intended for smart contracts and decentralized applications.
• Maintains the original Ethereum idea and Ethereum’s updates generally also apply to Ethereum Classic.
• The code is law.

Ethereum Classic is thus built on a different philosophical principle from Ethereum where the original code can never be altered. Ethereum Classic proponents argue that their version of Ethereum “runs exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud, or third-party interference.” The original Ethereum chain maintains the blockchain system as intended where Ethereum is seen as a system susceptible to state-like governance that is pseudo-decentralized.

Thus, for Ethereum Classic fans, Ethereum Classic is the real Ethereum. However, the two projects have been able to co-exist since the hard fork occurred back in 2016.

About the Team

Most of Ethereum Classic’s dev team is anonymous. The community around ETC is largely decentralized, with individuals putting forward ideas and creating better UI and platforms. Being an open-source project, Ethereum Classic is constantly being tinkered with and improved.

Price History

Ethereum Classic peaked in price around January of 2018 where it reached an all-time-high of $45. Since then, due to the market winter, it as collapsed at the time of writing to a price of $4.29.

Website & Social Media

For all the latest Ethereum Classic news, take a look at their subreddit and main website. The Ethereum Classic github also boasts reading materials for those new to the Ethereum Classic project.

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