Ethereum has established itself as an excellent coin system. However, as with any system, there are some shortcomings. The designers have thought about these shortcomings and developed ETC. Here is what we can say about Ethereum Classic in general: It was created in July 2016 as a hard fork of Ethereum (ETH). It serves as a network for smart contracts that can host and support decentralized applications (DApps). Its native token is ETC.
What are the differences between ETC and ETH?
Ethereum Classic has sought to differentiate itself from Ethereum since its debut, and the technology roadmaps of the two networks have diverged over time. Ethereum Classic was created to protect the integrity of the Ethereum blockchain after a severe hacking attack that resulted in the theft of 3.6 million ETH.
Who created Ethereum Classic?
Ethereum Classic is the original Ethereum chain, and the original Ethereum developers Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood are its actual creators.
Ethereum members disagreed on whether to restore the blockchain after a violent attack in July 2016, leading to a controversial hard split. This hurt DAO, a decentralized, autonomous organization that raised more than $150 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) several months ago.
Designed to compensate for losses
Ethereum Classic was founded as a blockchain network that cannot be reversed. According to the creators, no “official” team is attached to the project, and “the global development community is an unauthorized ‘do-ocracy’ in which anyone can participate.”
How is Ethereum Classic different from other coins?
The main goal of Ethereum Classic is to preserve the Ethereum blockchain as before the DAO attack.
The old network initially appealed to those who disagreed with Ethereum’s response but now has a broader following, including key investors like Barry Silbert, CEO of Grayscale.
As a nonprofit organization, ETC’s architects have no intention of turning the network into a for-profit business. Similar to Ethereum, transaction fees are collected by miners using a proof-of-work (PoW) mining algorithm.
Unlike Ethereum, Ethereum Classic has no plans to move to proof-of-stake (PoS) mining, but several developers continue to work on future improvements, such as scaling solutions.
How many ETCs are there already?
ETC was created in almost the same technical state as ETH, aside from how the DAO hack was handled.
However, Tokenomics has evolved since its inception, and participants voted to cap the amount of ETC in December 2017. The maximum supply of ETC is about ten times that of Bitcoin (BTC), but ETH has no limit.
Similar to Bitcoin, ETC has a proof-of-work (PoW) mining algorithm that rewards miners with new coins as they work to validate the network. The dividend per block drops from 3.2 ETC to 2.56 ETC at 15,000,000 blocks, or around April 2022.
How reliable is ETC?
Proof-of-work protects the Ethereum Classic network, but as a minority chain, it has been the target of repeated attacks.
The last one occurred in August 2020 and involved multiple 51% attacks in gaining control of the mining hash rate, conducting fraudulent transactions, and doubling the number of coins.
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