Cryptocurrency

All you need to know about Ethereum classic cryptocurrency

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As cryptocurrency continues to rise in mainstream finance, many of its tokens and altcoins are finding ways to improve and innovate their systems to provide better functionality to its users. Most of the crypto coins such as Bitcoin faced a hard fork, while Ethereum underwent a chain split that gave way to Ethereum Classic.

Dive deeper into the world of Ethereum! Learn all there is to know about Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency from its history to its contrasts with Ethereum here at BTC Post.

What is Ethereum Classic?

Ethereum Classic is an open-sourced cryptocurrency platform that features a smart contract scripting function. As a chainsplit of Ethereum, it is also decentralized and is based on the blockchain technology built as a platform for distributed applications (DApps) and smart contracts.

A chain split refers to a break in the digital recordings (blockchain) that is made by computers running the crypto technology. It is similar to a hard fork where a blockchain splits into two separate chains after new governance rules are set up into the blockchain’s code.

With Ethereum Classic, DApps are programmed without the risk of censorship, monitoring, downtime or third-party restraint. It also stays true to the belief of blockchain’s immutability. Ethereum Classic consists of the following parts:

  • a blockchain ledger,
  • a sound ecosystem of on-chain apps and services, and
  • its native Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency coin (ETC).

History of Ethereum Classic

On April 5, 2016, Slock.it crafted The DAO (Decentralised Autonomous Organisation) Ethereum Contract. Moreover, a security audit was run by Dejavu. By the end of the month, The DAO smart contract was deployed which allowed members of the public to send it value in exchange for DAO tokens.

In the next month, Slock.it made a US$1.5 million-proposal public to secure the integrity of The DAO. It was paid in Ether (ETH) by the recent crowdfund. On the last day of the crowdsale, The DAO curator Vlad Zamfir called for a halt on The DAO on the grounds of many game-theoretical security issues.

Be that as it may, the crowdsale finished and made a world record as the largest crowdsale by far, raising a whopping total of US$150 million. On June 9, 2016, Peter Vessenes publicly shared the presence of a critical security risk that was mostly overlooked in many of its Solidity contracts.

On June 12, 2016, Stephan Tual made claims that The DAO funds are safe and secured despite the significant flaw in its security system. However, a few days later, Ether was slowly drained from The DAO as the re-entry bug was applied. Griff Green announces the hacking attack, resulting in the price of Ether slashed in half.

Ethereum Classic emerged as a split version of Ethereum’s blockchain after the hacking attack on Ethereum. From the incident, the hackers managed to steal up to US$50 million worth of funds. However, a group of white-hat hackers managed to secure 70% of the stolen The DAO funds.

In order to return the stolen funds to their rightful owners, Ethereum made the split according to the records prior to the hacking attack. This also made the hackers’ transaction void, with the fork exercise leading to the two versions existing at the same time.

By July 20, 2016, a forked chain arrived as The DAO Bailout fork activation block 1,920,000. The Ethereum Foundation referred to the new one as Ethereum while the non-forked chain was dubbed as Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency.

On December 11, 2017, the Ethereum Foundation hard-capped the total supply of Ether (ETC) of Ethereum Classic at 210,700,000 ETC through the Gotham hard fork upgrade. It was documented in the Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposal 1017 as a Bitcoin-inspired deflationary emission schedule also known as 5M20. It has also taken the moniker of ‘The Fifthening’.

What is the difference between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic?

Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency functions almost the same as Ethereum. Both cryptocurrencies offer computational software that is capable of running smart contracts and DApps on the network.

The main difference between the two includes the issuance cap and reduction periods. In a much greater depth, the issuance cap is set at 210 million. This means that the mining rewards are reduced by 20% in every 5 million blocks.

Moreover, Ethereum Classic runs on the Proof of Work (PoW) system while Ethereum transitions to Proof of Stake (PoS). Another difference is their supply of coins. Following the footsteps of Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic hard caps the total supply at roughly 210 million. On the other hand, Ethereum creates new Ether tokens at a consistent rate with no hard cap on the total crypto coins that can be mined.

How to get Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency

At the time of writing, the price of Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency is valued at US$6.91. It has a market cap worth US$803.4 million while the current circulating supply records 116.3 ETC. Just like other crypto tokens and altcoins in the market, Ethereum Classic cryptocurrency can be obtained in 3 different ways:

  • Buy ETC – It is possibly the best and easiest way to get ETC. This is because there are many crypto exchanges that offer the buying and selling of the crypto coin.
  • Mine ETC – For more tech-savvy crypto traders, mining ETC is a great way as well. This method refers to the ETC reward acquired from allocating computer resources to support the Ethereum Classic network.
  • Earn ETC – You can also trade goods and services in exchange for ETC. An example of earning ETC is through becoming a developer who builds your own Ethereum Classic apps.

Learn more about Ethereum Classic when you browse more of our pages. Always be up to date with the latest and hottest crypto topic in the market here at BTC Post!

Cryptocurrency Market Capitalization
  • bitcoinBitcoin (BTC) $ 65,749.00 3.21%
  • ethereumEthereum (ETH) $ 3,411.88 5.48%
  • tetherTether (USDT) $ 0.999842 0%
  • bnbBNB (BNB) $ 534.40 5.25%
  • solanaSolana (SOL) $ 183.54 9.85%
  • xrpXRP (XRP) $ 0.615800 0.03%
  • staked-etherLido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,403.53 5.54%
  • usd-coinUSDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.04%
  • cardanoCardano (ADA) $ 0.632250 6.07%
  • avalanche-2Avalanche (AVAX) $ 57.93 4.74%

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