What is Ethereum Classic?
Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the original Ethereum blockchain that maintained its unaltered transaction history after the 2016 DAO hack. When the Ethereum community voted to reverse the hack through a hard fork, Ethereum Classic continued on the original chain.
ETC upholds the principle of 'Code is Law' — the belief that blockchain transactions should be immutable and irreversible, regardless of circumstances. This philosophy attracts supporters who value censorship resistance and immutability.
After Ethereum's move to Proof of Stake in 2022 (The Merge), Ethereum Classic became the largest Proof of Work smart contract platform, attracting miners who migrated from Ethereum's PoW chain.
ETC Tokenomics
ETC has a capped supply of approximately 210.7 million tokens, unlike Ethereum's uncapped supply. Block rewards are reduced by 20% every 5 million blocks. This monetary policy was implemented in 2017 to give ETC a more predictable and deflationary supply schedule.
ETC Historical Price Performance
Ethereum Classic was born from the July 2016 DAO fork, starting at about $0.75. It reached $176 in May 2021 during the bull market. After Ethereum's Merge to PoS in September 2022, ETC saw a brief hashrate surge from migrating ETH miners, though price impact was limited.
Frequently Asked Questions
After the 2016 DAO hack ($60M stolen), the Ethereum community voted to reverse the hack. Those who opposed the reversal — believing in immutability — continued on the original chain, which became Ethereum Classic.
No. They share the same history up to July 2016 but are now completely separate blockchains with different communities, development teams, and monetary policies. ETC remains Proof of Work; ETH is Proof of Stake.
ETC is largely EVM-compatible, meaning many Ethereum applications can be deployed on it with minimal changes. However, ETC has a much smaller ecosystem and developer community compared to Ethereum.
Yes, ETC uses the ETChash Proof of Work algorithm. After Ethereum moved to PoS, ETC became the largest PoW smart contract platform, attracting miners with existing GPU hardware.
Why did Ethereum Classic fork from Ethereum?
After the 2016 DAO hack ($60M stolen), the Ethereum community voted to reverse the hack. Those who opposed the reversal — believing in immutability — continued on the original chain, which became Ethereum Classic.
Is ETC the same as ETH?
No. They share the same history up to July 2016 but are now completely separate blockchains with different communities, development teams, and monetary policies. ETC remains Proof of Work; ETH is Proof of Stake.
Can you run Ethereum dApps on ETC?
ETC is largely EVM-compatible, meaning many Ethereum applications can be deployed on it with minimal changes. However, ETC has a much smaller ecosystem and developer community compared to Ethereum.
Is ETC still mined?
Yes, ETC uses the ETChash Proof of Work algorithm. After Ethereum moved to PoS, ETC became the largest PoW smart contract platform, attracting miners with existing GPU hardware.
Risk Warning
Cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can change rapidly. The information on this site is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, or trading advice.