Ethereum Classic is the original version of the Ethereum blockchain. It was released on 30 July 2015. The fork (new version) occurred on the 20th of July 2016 after a hack on a third-party project on the Ethereum blockchain, during which the hacker stole $50m of Ether. The new version took the ticker symbol ETH to distinguish itself from the legacy version, ETC.
This guide will take you through all of the steps needed to understand ETC and how it works in 2024.
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What Is Ethereum Classic?
Bitcoin is the most widely used and traded cryptocurrency in the world. Instead of requiring a centralised body such as a bank to verify transactions, all Bitcoin payments are recorded on a public ledger called a Blockchain which is constantly maintained by users of the cryptocurrency. This means that Bitcoin can be bought, spent, and traded without the need for any institution to oversee the process.
Of Ethereum's original 8 co-founders, only Vitalik Buterin is still working on the project. Buterin's initial co-founder, Gavin Wood, has left the project. Buterin, the Russian-Canadian programmer founded it when he was 19 years old in 2013 with Wood. He owns 333,500 in his public wallet, worth more than $1bn today. The Thiel fellowship gave the then 20-year-old Buterin $100,000 to pursue his mission in the 2-year Thiel Fellowship program, created by Peter Thiel, co-founder of Paypal and founder of a startup, Palantir, a high tech surveillance company named after the orb used by the wizard Saruman in Lord of the Rings to see into the future.
Barry Silbert made most of his $1.5bn fortune from Crypto ownership and companies. He has been an outspoken supporter of ETC, as we have already seen.
Today, ETC states that its “global development community is a permission-less 'do-ocracy,' where anyone can participate.”
- ETC is completely decentralised.
- ETC supports Smart contracts and dApps. This gives it widespread usage across multiple industries and verticals.
- It is working with Cardano (ADA) to mitigate risks and improve security. This will remove one of the big reasons for the split of ETH from ETC.
- ETC is not backwards compatible with ETH since the fork, though the 2 companies are working together more closely now. However, this is likely to remain the case going forward, despite closer cooperation.
- Much of the initial interest in ETC has migrated to ETH, but you wouldn't know that if you looked at the price appreciation of ETC in 2021
- ETC has a trust deficit due to 51% attacks. Unless it solves this with help from Cardano, it's likely finished as a viable alternative to ETH.
- The public is lowing trust. David Seaman said [Ethereum Classic] is just an insecure orphan chain which is being promoted by a wealthy guy [Barry Silbert] in New York, relentlessly, in a way that would be absolutely illegal if “Ethereum” were a publicly traded company or commodity.”
How Does ETC Work?
Ethereum Classic is a decentralised Turing Complete virtual machine, like most modern computers. Turning complete simply means a computer can solve problems.
This "machine" executes scripts using an international network of nodes.
ETC secures contracts and enables dApps to be built on its network.
"Gas" is the internal mechanism for pricing which is used to allocate network resources.
The network is secured by proof of work but it has suffered regular and numerous attacks, which it is now attempting to address.
How to Buy - Step by Step
Step 1: Exchange
Step 2: Sign up for an Account
Step 3: Purchase
Congratulations, you've just bought your first Ethereum Classic!
