Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic: Everything You Need to Know

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a cryptocurrency that runs on a blockchain network that supports smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps). Ethereum Classic is the original version of Ethereum that was launched in 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and the Ethereum Foundation. However, in 2016, a major hack of a DApp called The DAO resulted in the theft of 3.6 million ETH, which was worth about $50 million at the time. This caused a split in the Ethereum community, as some wanted to revert the blockchain to undo the hack, while others wanted to preserve the immutability and integrity of the blockchain. The former group created a new blockchain called Ethereum (ETH), while the latter group continued to use the old blockchain, which became known as Ethereum Classic (ETC).

Ethereum Classic and Ethereum share the same history and features until the point of the split, but they have since diverged in their development and vision. Ethereum Classic maintains the original proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which relies on miners to validate transactions and secure the network. Ethereum, on the other hand, is transitioning to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which relies on validators who stake their ETH to participate in the network. Ethereum Classic also has a fixed supply of 210 million ETC, while Ethereum has no hard cap on its supply.

Ethereum Classic aims to uphold the principles of decentralization, censorship-resistance, and immutability that underpin the original vision of Ethereum. It also seeks to differentiate itself from Ethereum by focusing on security, scalability, and interoperability. Some of the projects and initiatives that are being developed on Ethereum Classic include:

Mantis: A client for Ethereum Classic that is written in Scala and offers improved performance and security.

Emerald: A software development kit (SDK) for Ethereum Classic that allows developers to create DApps and wallets using various programming languages.

Atlantis: A network upgrade that implemented several improvements and enhancements from Ethereum, such as opcode support, contract size limit, and gas cost adjustments.

Agharta: A network upgrade that added compatibility with Ethereum’s Constantinople and St. Petersburg hard forks, which enabled interoperability between the two networks.

Phoenix: A network upgrade that completed the alignment of Ethereum Classic with Ethereum’s Istanbul hard fork, which introduced several optimizations and security enhancements.

Thanos: A network upgrade that increased the size of the directed acyclic graph (DAG) file, which is used by miners to verify transactions. This reduced the hardware requirements for mining and increased the security and decentralization of the network.

Magneto: A network upgrade that incorporated several improvements from Ethereum’s Berlin hard fork, such as reducing gas costs, increasing transaction efficiency, and mitigating denial-of-service (DoS) attacks.

Ethereum Classic is one of the oldest and most established cryptocurrencies in the market, with a loyal and passionate community of supporters and developers.