Ethereum Classic sounds more like Ethereum when you exclude the “classical”. Hence, people begin to wonder if it is an advanced version of the Ethereum blockchain or if it is another blockchain itself. Anyone it entails you’d come to discover it here. We’ve carefully discussed all Ethereum Classic (ETC) on this page.
Meanwhile, Ethereum itself consists of a blockchain platform similar to bitcoin, having one major difference. Which includes you can also use it as a distributed computer to run self-executing smart contracts apart from recording transactions of value. However, Ethereum Classic (ETC) enables smart contracts by providing the benefit of decentralized governance. This implies that you can execute the contract without a third party involved, such as a lawyer.
We recommend you continue reading to learn more about Ethereum Classic (ETC) and how it related to Ethereum (ETH).
What Is Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Ethereum Classic majorly involves an open-source, public, blockchain-based distributed computing platform featuring smart contract functionality. ETC platform offers a Turing-complete virtual machine (the Ethereum Virtual Machine) that can implement scripts using an international network of public nodes.
Furthermore, after the founding of the DAO hack, a majority of the Ethereum community concluded that they would “hard fork” Ethereum to replenish the investor’s financial loss and reputation. A hard fork is a kind of split or divergence where the community decides to radically change a network’s protocol that makes previously invalid blocks and transactions valid. So a hard fork was executed on the Ethereum blockchain at Block 192000 to repay the loss of the DAO investors. The hard fork made the hacked transaction invalid and formed a new version of the blockchain.
However, some users didn’t agree with the hard fork, so they continued on the old blockchain and called themselves “Ethereum Classic”.
What Are The Features Of Ethereum Classic?
Ethereum classical serves wonderful purposes online and has great features which include;
History of Ethereum Classic
The Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss non-profit founded by Vitalik Buterin and the core Ethereum team initially released the Ethereum Classic mainnet via Frontier on July 30, 2015. Primarily the team focused on realizing the idea of putting executable smart contracts on the blockchain.
Meanwhile, hackers exploited a popular dApp called the DAO in June 2016 and stole over $50 million from users. The hackers manipulated a bug in the code that enabled them to recall extra DAO tokens beyond the user’s actual deposit. Thereby draining over a third of the DAO’s core funds. This sparked a controversial debate as to how the developers should react and if the chain should fork.
Initially, they developed the Ethereum blockchain as a single network that facilitates transactions by using the cryptocurrency ether or ETH. The new network quickly became popular for initial coin offerings (ICO), as various teams used the protocol to launch their tokens.
One of the most successful ICOs became the DAO, a decentralized venture fund where investors vote on assets to invest in. The DAO quickly acquired over 11 million ETH, from more than 18,000 investors, before unknown hackers found a smart contract bug enabling them to withdraw about a third of the DAO’s accumulated ether (ETH).
Due to the order of the hack, many investors recommended nullifying the Ethereum blockchain to rescue the affected investors. However, others insisted that doing so would set the precedent for coming bailouts. After a poll, 97% of the community voted to restore the lost funds through a hard fork.
Thus, due to this, the Ethereum blockchain divided into two separate networks. The newer network bore the name Ethereum and uses ether (ETH) as its cryptocurrency. While the older one, which became known as Ethereum Classic, uses ETC.
How Is Ethereum Classic Different from Ethereum?
Although Ethereum Classic’s ETC retains value as a risky digital asset that investors can trade, we still consider Ethereum’s ETH more legitimate and widely traded. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) in early 2021, authorized the trading of ether (ETH) futures. Only Bitcoin and Ether have been approved for such transactions. Futures Trading includes derivative contracts on an underlying security having a fixed price and maturity date. Ether futures enable investors to trade ether (ETH) for assumption but also to hedge an exceptional position in other cryptos too.
Furthermore, we can find the between ETH and ETC following how the investment community views them. Hence, by analyzing how much capital or investment they commit to the two currencies. Even while comparing the two in terms of market capitalization, ETH wins.
Hence, ETC has a market capitalization of $6.1 billion and about 133.9 million coins in circulation. While in the other hand ETH has almost 120 million in circulation and a market cap of over $417 billion. ETC traded at around $46.00, while ETH traded for over $3,475 per coin as of April 2, 2022.
Additionally, although both networks facilitate smart contracts, the potential threats for the already mentioned surrounding ETC will likely push investors to invest in ETH. Thus, most investors will prefer to adopt Ethereum’s smart contracts versus those of Ethereum’s Classic.
How To Use Ethereum Classic (ETC)
You can use ETC in similar ways we use ETH. Nonetheless, currently, users who want to run a node or transact on the Ethereum Classic network will require to have the appropriate Ethereum Classic software.
While we primarily use ETC for moving value on Ethereum Classic’s L1 network. Additionally, we use ETC as a speculative investment tool and a form of payment.
Frequently Asked Questions About Ethereum Classic (ETC)
Is Ethereum Classic a competitor to Ethereum?
YES ETC competes with ETH. Ethereum Classic (ETC) design directly competes against the Ethereum network by pursuing a different path of growth while using the same source code.
When will staking ETC be released?
Ethereum Classic has denied Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and thus, doesn’t support it.
What does Ethereum Classic aims to solve?
ETC strives to solve the same issues as Ethereum, which includes transaction finality, decentralized governance, and applications that run. It also strives to run applications exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, fraud, censorship, or third party.
Conclusion
Finally, we may say the future of Ethereum looks brighter than Ethereum Classic (ETC). Maybe because we consider Ethereum the more legitimate of the two networks, especially when considering the security of Ethereum Classic.
However, ETC still holds good prospects, and thus why it still attracts investors. Therefore, if you consider investing in ETC it still looks promising. But don’t forget to invest what you can’t afford to lose.