Ethereum Classic (ETC) Price
Here you can see the current Ethereum Classic (ETC) price and its historical trend. Ethereum Classic (ETC) is one of the cryptocurrencies you can trade on BISON.
Did you know that ethereum is a fork of the original Ethereum? While the Ethereum project, led by Vitalik Buterin, split off with a hard fork, the original “Ethereum” was renamed “Ethereum Classic”. Let’s take a closer look at this cryptocurrency.
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What is Ethereum Classic and how does it differ from Ethereum?
Inspired by the Bitcoin whitepaper, young Vitalik Buterin delved into the crypto world. He realized that while Bitcoin was a great invention, more could be achieved with blockchain technology. This led to the Ethereum whitepaper, which differs from Bitcoin primarily in its implementation of smart contracts.
A smart contract is an automated program on a blockchain that performs specific, predetermined actions once certain conditions are met. For instance, it can be set up to send an email with specific content once a certain amount of ETH is sent to an Ethereum wallet. With Ethereum’s system, dApps can take advantage of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
The Ethereum project started in 2015, but was hacked in 2016. The community and developers couldn’t agree on how to handle the hack. As a result, Vitalik Buterin’s team decided to perform a hard fork and separate from the original Ethereum blockchain.
A hard fork is a significant change in the rules of a blockchain protocol, leading to incompatibility with the previous version of the blockchain. This means all nodes in the network must update their software to continue participating. A node participant must make a proactive decision on which version to verify and confirm transactions.
In this case, the hard fork was the result of a conflict, similar to what happened with Bitcoin Cash. However, there can also be planned hard forks, as seen with Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
The “new” Ethereum continued to be called Ethereum, while the original Ethereum became “Ethereum Classic”. The market capitalization indicates the majority’s support for Vitalik Buterin’s decision. As of October 2023, Ethereum’s market cap was 185 billion euros (ranked 2nd), while Ethereum Classic’s was 2 billion euros (ranked 29th), which is still considerable.
What consensus mechanism does Ethereum Classic use?
Both Ethereum Classic and Ethereum have long used the Proof-of-Work mechanism. Ethereum Classic has chosen to maintain the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism. Since the core idea of both cryptocurrencies is the same, Ethereum Classic has consistently implemented updates previously carried out by Ethereum.
Due to its considerably smaller size compared to Bitcoin, Ethereum Classic (ETH) is more vulnerable to 51% attacks. The network painfully experienced this in 2020, repeatedly falling victim to such attacks. The Proof-of-Work mechanism is based on computational power, with decentralization arising when as many different parties as possible provide significant computational power. In the Bitcoin network, for example, a large portion of the computational power is distributed across various mining pools. The smaller the network, the easier it becomes to provide enough computational power to own more than 50%. This can lead to an attacker falsely confirming blocks as correct, which cannot be corrected by anyone else. Consequently, the attacker could gain control of the network and execute transactions to their advantage. To reduce this risk, the so-called Thanos upgrade was implemented. However, it’s important to note that Ethereum Classic has already been the victim of successful 51% attacks several times.
What distinguishes Ethereum Classic from Ethereum PoW?
When the major Ethereum update occurred in 2022, the network switched from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. This switch was a deliberate hard fork of the network. However, a small portion of the community did not agree with this decision and chose to continue running the existing system. This led to the creation of Ethereum PoW, or Ethereum Proof-of-Work, essentially repeating what happened in 2016 with Ethereum Classic. The community around Vitalik Buterin opted for a change, but a smaller part disagreed with this change.
While ETC had been technically diverging since 2016, Ethereum PoW is based on all the changes Ethereum underwent until September 2022. This includes updates necessary for the transition to Proof-of-Stake. Thus, both Ethereum variants differ from each other. A key feature of Ethereum PoW is its focus on network scalability. Ethereum Classic, on the other hand, is particularly notable for its staunch stance on the immutability of code, a mindset also familiar to the Bitcoin community, which only minimally optimizes Bitcoin and maintains its original form.
In July 2023, the website Cryptopolitan published a detailed article on the differences between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum PoW. This article also explains the role Ethereum PoW played for Ethereum and the switch to Proof-of-Stake.
The market capitalization of Ethereum PoW (ETHW) indicates that only a small part of the community continues to support the Proof-of-Work mechanism and views it as a superior solution. While Ethereum Classic remains in the top 30 of the most valuable cryptocurrencies (as of October 2023), Ethereum PoW ranks at 160th, with a market capitalization of 136 million euros. As of October 2023, one Ethereum PoW coin is worth about 1.30 euros, while Ethereum is around 1,500 euros. One Ethereum Classic is worth about 15 euros in October 2023.
