Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) – what’s the difference?

Let’s take a closer look at the distinction between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic.

Compatibility

As of today, they show good compatibility between each other. It is also worth noting that Ethereum is focused on creating secure contracts, but it is very open for developers, which is the basic goal of the currency.

At the same time, the Ethereum Classic is open to creating more complex encryption, because of which the base for developers has to be partially sacrificed.

Development features

In Ethereum, all currency decisions are made only according to the community’s choice, which is then certified by the Ethereum Foundation and implemented. As for the Classic variant, decisions on it are made thanks to three disparate teams in conjunction with input from users.

The disadvantage of this variant is the poor coordination of the teams, which generates a lot of stoppages. Nevertheless, the system now works quite stably.

Variability of the blockchain

Ethereum is a variant of the blockchain that is modifiable, but only after agreement with the majority of users. The Classic variant is static in this sense, so there is no room for changes regardless of community opinion.

Transaction speed

The two digital currencies also have different speeds, although they are similar in the way they process information. In the case of Ethereum, the average processing time is 14 seconds.

As for the Classic variant, its transaction speed is only 13 seconds. The upgrades for this currency are planned, as a result of which the speed of transaction processing will remain approximately at the same level or decrease to 10 seconds, allowing users to enjoy all the benefits of the currency even more conveniently.

Community

Currencies have different electronic community gathering points, where they make their suggestions and discuss the changes that have already appeared. There is no way to say that any of the profile forums are better and give easier feedback, so they are equal.

Blockchain capacity

For Ethereum, this metric is very important and is around 1.2 million transactions per day to fill blocks. This could entail even higher transaction fees. The issue of expanding the number of blocks can be solved through updates, so it will all depend on users.

The Classic variant has a lot of free space in blocks, so no problems with increased transaction fees for users are expected yet.

As of today, both currencies are equally promising, so it may be difficult for a potential investor to decide on the chosen option for investment. Also worth noting is the fact that Ethereum is more attractive from an investment perspective due to the ability to make frequent changes agreed upon by users.

The Classic option is preferred because its transaction speed is very fast and there are enough blocks to fill, which keeps transaction costs at a very reasonable level.

Both currencies are very well traded on exchanges, so it is worth making a choice for yourself in favor of one or the other currency option, although you can make the purchase of both options of this electronic commodity, so that later you can take full advantage of such investment.

As for mining, it is still relevant for both currencies, so it is possible to get your hands on the coins not only after buying them on the exchange, but also after mining them yourself.

Conclusion

Analysts say that over time, the value of both currencies will only grow because of their high level of adoption, decentralization, a large number of startups that use it as well as a number of other advantages that make both currencies useful and in demand, and therefore attractive for investment.

That is why, to make your choice in favor of one of them is to provide yourself with an opportunity to profit from an investment in a promising technology.

Today we will talk about the future of such cryptocurrency as Ethereum Classic. We will try to forecast the cryptocurrency Ethereum Classic (ETC) for the end of 2021 and to estimate the rate of its development. Is it worth investing, will the price of these coins grow?

1. 1. Content 
   2. A word about Crypto
   3. Forecast for the end of 2021
   4. Long-term perspective
   5. Is it worth investing
   6. Conclusions

Content 

• A word about Crypto
• Forecast for the end of 2021
• Long-term outlook
• Is it worth investing?
• Conclusions

A word about Crypto

At first you should get to know how the ETCs came to be. This will help you to understand a lot about the developers and policy of the company. In a nutshell, it’s a fork of the already well-known network Ethereum, which was loved by many miners. Despite the fact that the measure was built on the basis of ETH with the correction of errors and bugs in the code with an increase in security level, it is still a fully autonomous currency, which lacks the shortcomings of its founder.

After its appearance, this network gained a wide spread, in part due to the popularity of Ethereum. Therefore, many miners turned their attention to it from the first days. And they were right, as ETC was a very profitable token for mining from the beginning. To this day, Ethereum Classic mining is relevant, though not as profitable as before.

Forecast for the end of 2021

To somehow predict the future of ETC, you should look at its past. In particular, you should pay attention to the following indicators:

• The value of the token on the exchanges.
• Capitalization.
• Trading volume.

So, the first thing to look at is the value of this coin. And here you can observe growth. At the beginning of 2021 the token cost about $ 5.5, while at the time of writing this article the rate was $34.5. During the year, the price rose up to $ 150. And although this phenomenon is short-lived, still if we take the middle course, we see a tendency to increase. This is a very important indicator. You can learn more about the factors that will affect the Ethereum Classic course by the end of 2021 at the following link.

In addition, initially the issuance of this token was not planned. But, given the realities of modern cryptocurrencies, the course of policy has changed and the number of coins has been limited. This means that over time, with each coin mined, the complexity of the network will increase. All this determines the further increase in the value of the Ether Classic token. Therefore, in 2022, we will see an increase in value of at least 10% – probably up to $ 70 per coin. It is impossible to accurately determine the growth rate and indicate the cost of ETC, as well as the complexity of the network, as it is influenced by many factors that do not depend on each other.

Long-term perspective

If we talk about the long term, we can say with confidence that Ethereum Classic has every chance not only to survive but also to become a profitable investment. It is possible that with the increasing complexity of the network, mining will gradually take a back seat and will not be as relevant as at the moment. But when it comes to trading on exchanges or long-term investment, you can see similarities with Bitcoin. Maybe the exchange rate will not rise sharply, but still now everything indicates that the cost of ETC will only grow.

The fall in the value of the coin can be observed, but only in the short term. Moreover, as a rule, after a slight fall, the exchange rate not only levels off, but also rises, slightly exceeding the value before the fall in price.

Is it worth investing

Analytics of Ethereum Classic show that it is currently one of the most promising cryptocurrencies, second only to Bitcoin and its forks, and its ancestor, Ethereum. Given all the above, we can conclude that you can invest in this cryptocurrency. Of course, it is important to understand that this is very risky, because in the world of cryptocurrencies everything can happen completely unexpectedly. Therefore, no one will be able to give guarantees.

But so far the prospects for the future are quite pleasant. Among other things, Ethereum Classic should be invested in because of following reasons:

1. Trust and support from such a well-known exchange as Poloniex.
2. High level of security, protection against attacks and support from exchanges. All this allows you to nullify such attacks as dumping strategy, DDoS attacks and so on.
3. The presence of the issue.
4. Strict adherence to the traditions of cryptocurrency developers, which increases the level of trust among users.

It is worth noting that in some matters Classic overtook ETH, and thanks to the issue, the network has the opportunity to compete with leaders in this field.

Conclusions

Given all the above factors, we can make some predictions for the future of this cryptocurrency. Of course, it is simply impossible to describe everything, and it does not make sense. Everything can change at any moment. The main thing that is important to know:

1. The tendency to further increase the value of tokens.
2. The development of the network, the growth of trust not only among users, but also exchanges such as Poloniex, which is also a positive indicator.
3. High trust means increased investments in the network – new investors lead to even greater development.
4. Mining trust and promotion among miners that make this network even more attractive. The fact is that the faster the coins are mined, the higher the complexity of the network and the cost of tokens.

What conclusion can be drawn from all this – this network and its cryptocurrency currently has a high level of trust and serious prospects for the future. After analyzing all the parameters, we can conclude that with a high probability Ethereum Classic will not only live and compete, but will grow in price. This means that ETC is a profitable investment in the long run.

Do you remember how it all started?

The idea of a fundamentally new technological platform was finally formed by Buterin by 2013. And with the beginning of 2014, practical preparations for the implementation of the project began. The first Ethereum presentation took place in February, and developers Gavin Wood and Jeffrey Wilke were hired full-time. For almost a year prior to this event, Wood and Wilke had been working on bare enthusiasm, writing the code for Ethereum. By the way, it was Wood who put forward the idea of developing the Solidity programming language, which later became the basis for creating smart contracts.

Even before the launch of the platform, the partners did not come to a consensus on the direction in which to move. Charles Hoskinson, who was at the origins of Ethereum and left the project in 2014, suggested commercializing it initially by raising venture capital and, as a consequence, centralizing the management structure.

Buterin saw the development differently: as a base for the affordable implementation of blockchain technology in third-party projects. Proposing to leave Ethereum decentralized and non-commercial. Hoskinson recalled:

“It was a board fight!”

By that point, there were eight people on the board. Eventually Hoskinson left. And Buterin, recently, on September 2, 2021, when asked by a user:

“What do you regret most in the context of working on Ethereum?”

He answered:

“The whole ‘8 co-founders’ thing (chosen quickly and indiscriminately).”

It is fair to say that the “Ethereum Eight” were far from amateurs: entrepreneur Anthony Di Iorio, programmer Jeffrey Wilke, one of the creators of the Colored Coins concept Amir Chetrit, ConsenSys head Joseph Lubin, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson and Gavin Wood, who is at the helm of Polkadot.

Besides, no one forced Buterin to include the entire team as founders. Geniuses may be brilliant at everything, but certainly not at the art of management.

Split

The project evolved and within a few years came out to a solid second place in terms of capitalization and number of users.

In 2016, users discovered a bug in the source code of the newly created DAO platform. At first, the Etherium team did not pay attention to this fact, but then “the thunder rang out”.

Attackers using the found vulnerability were able to withdraw almost a third of the coins, which at the time was the equivalent of $50 million. The cryptocurrency world was struck with panic.

In order to return funds to the affected users, the management of Ethereum held a hardfork. However, not all users accepted the database adjustment, which eventually led to the separation of the project and the emergence of Ethereum Classic.

What is happening with Buterin and his team now?

Currently, Buterin and his former colleagues are direct competitors. Hoskinson and Wood created a new project, IOHK, about six months after leaving Ethereum, whose main brainchild was the multi-layered Proof-Of-Stake blockchain platform Cardano. It launched in late September 2017. The platform’s tokens, ADA, went public on October 1 of the same year. As of today, the project has a capitalization of just over $55 billion, and the value of the altcoin is around $1.60.

Gavin Wood started DeFi, a platform called Polkadot, in 2016. The first ICO of DOT altcoin took place in the fall of 2017. At the end, more than 2.7 million tokens were sold, at an average cost of $0.29. In November 2021, the token showed a historical high of $53.95 (according to Coinmarketcap). The capitalization at the moment is $38 billion. But most importantly, experts call Polkadot – “the killer of Ethereum”.

The circle closed – first everyone created the “bitcoin killer” together, and now there is a “killer” of Ethereum itself.

It turns out that the developers behind Ethereum created two projects that are in the top 10. Together with Ethereum, they are nearly a third of the best blockchain projects today. Apparently the team was destined to break up anyway. Because realizing your ideas and your potential is the main driving force for a talented person. And the ideas of the first Ethereum team were different.

The Ethereum project had some shortcomings that caused the network to split into two camps, and the result of all this was the emergence of a new cryptocurrency. This is what we will talk about next – we will look at the reasons for the division of Ethereum.

Content

• The situation around The DAO
• Birth of Ethereum Classic
• Ideas and principles of the new currency
• Reasons for the split of Ethereum (video)

The situation around The DAO

To understand what “The DAO” is, as well as what happened to it, it is necessary to look into the past, namely in the process of emergence and development of the ETH cryptocurrency. It is no secret that Ethereum has aroused serious interest from investors almost from the very beginning, and quite large ones. Moreover, the network itself was growing rapidly. Against the background of this success, a project called The DAO was created in parallel. This is a kind of investment fund that worked autonomously and had its own tokens that were used within the network. This network ran on the Ethereum platform, which means that it also supported a decentralized management model.

The startup Slock.it, co-founder and chief operating officer of which was Stefan Tual, was involved in the creation of this fund. The fund’s affairs went quite well, there was a tendency of constant growth. And the founder of the Ethereum network himself stood behind this project. However, there was one flaw in the network code, which was used by hackers. A few days before the attack on June 13, 2016, the media reported that over the past 24 hours, The DAO has seen strong growth of almost 16% against the US dollar, as well as more than 5% against Ethereum.

However, it turned out that not everything is so smooth. Earlier, two weeks before the fall of the network, a series of publications appeared that revealed several vulnerabilities of The DAO project. Stephan Tual himself then stated:

“So it’s important to understand there was never a hack on Ethereum. There’s been a few DDoS recently, though, something that will be mitigated by having a healthy client implementation distribution”.

At the same time, investors and project participants began to sound the alarm, about a serious attack on the network. As it turned out, one of the hackers found a vulnerability in the network code and “stole” tens of millions of dollars (to be exact, 3 641 694 ETH, which at the 2016 exchange rate was about 50 million dollars). Naturally, this provoked strong panic in the cryptocurrency market. Along with the collapse of The DAO, the Ethereum course collapsed. ETH developers, together with Vitalik Buterin, also came under fire. However, the culmination of the strongest controversy was without exaggeration the epic appearance of the same hacker who used the vulnerability of the network, who stated literally the following:

“I have carefully examined the code of The DAO and decided to participate after finding the feature where splitting is rewarded with additional ether. I have made use of this feature and have rightfully claimed 3,641,694 ether, and would like to thank the DAO for this reward. It is my understanding that the DAO code contains this feature to promote decentralization and encourage the creation of “child DAOs”.

However, it is worth noting that Vitalik Buterin himself said,

“The code is the law.”

This was the policy of the Ethereum network. And once the code allowed to receive such reward, therefore, everything is legal. And it was from this moment that the split in ETH community and the division of Ethereum began.

Birth of Ethereum Classic

Immediately after the attack, the hacker, who received a large jackpot, could not use the funds received, as the smart contract allowed the use of tokens only after 28 days. In this regard, several options have been proposed to solve this problem:

• Do nothing and leave everything as it is.
• Release softfork.
• Release the hardfork.

And from that moment the camp was divided into two fronts. On the one hand, a group of developers advocated freezing the “hacker’s” account and canceling transactions to return deposits to investors and ordinary users. Which was a gross violation of the whole philosophy of this network and all cryptocurrencies in general. At the same time, to eliminate the vulnerability, it was planned to release a fork on the same platform, but with fixes. And the majority of votes were inclined to this option, so it was decided to release a softfork.

On the other side of the “barricades” was a group of developers who advocated the legitimacy of the attacker and the continuation of the policy – “The code is the law”, and once it is found a loophole, there are no violations. Many supported this idea and the preservation of a decentralized network. Thus, there was a division of Ether and the birth of a new cryptocurrency, called Ethereum Classic.

Ideas and principles of the new currency

The philosophy of the new cryptocurrency is quite simple – in spite of everything, the preservation of the principles of the blockchain. Decentralized system without transaction cancellation. In essence, support the philosophy of the blockchain and any cryptocurrency, without violating these laws under any circumstances.

It should be noted that most investors and developers still remained supporters of the original Ethereum. This, in turn, significantly slowed down the commercial development of ETC (Ethereum Classic). However, ETC is evolving (though not as fast as the airwaves) and has some prospects for the future. Already today, many exchanges are working with these tokens. Moreover, large investors paid attention to it, and the capitalization exceeded $ 1 billion.

What happened is closely related to an initiative called The DAO. The latter was an investment fund aimed at financing promising projects. The organization was seen as a center for the accumulation of investor funds.

On June 17, 2016, a group of hackers discovered a vulnerability that helped them gain access to The DAO’s funds (about $50 million). Technically, the incident could have been solved, by conducting a hardfork (since the hackers could not gain full access to the investment until 28 days later).  However, at this point, an ethical dilemma arose for members of the cryptocurrency community.

The fact is that during the creation of Ethereum, the developers and users interested in the development of the project were guided by the principle “the code is the law”. What is law cannot be changed. A hard fork means making adjustments. Accordingly, in terms of the original idea of the project, such changes are impossible.

However, if the hard fork was rejected, Ethereum could lose The DAO funds, which were accessed by attackers. Due to the discovered circumstances, the participants of the crypto-community were faced with the question of choosing the further development path of the project. The latter contained two options:

1. Leave the code unchanged, guided by the principles. In this case, the funds would have finally fallen into the hands of attackers. As a way to fix the security problems, the developers were suggested to make minor corrections to the code.
2. Perform a hard fork and continue to exist on a new, updated, better version of Ethereum. The bug that led to the theft of funds by attackers would have been fixed. The DAO’s assets would have been returned.

Gavin Wood, one of the Ethereum developers, on the attack on The DAO:

Representatives of the project were unable to reach a unanimous decision. Some users insisted on protecting the code from changes, while others leaned toward improving quality through the crime of principles.

As a result of the controversy, the Ethereum cryptocurrency community split into two camps at the end of July 2016:

1. Users who did not want to change the code continued to work with the cryptocurrency in its original form. The name of the project was changed from Ethereum to Ethereum Classic (the classic version of the asset).

The second birthday of the cryptocurrency is July 20, 2016. It was on this day that the project community published a declaration of independence. The document states the intention of users to continue working on the classic version of Ethereum, which from now on should be recognized as a separate project.

1. Members of the crypto community, who did not agree to put up with the imperfections of the code, supported the hard fork. The latter resulted in the emergence of the Ethereum cryptocurrency. The asset became “mainstream” because the majority of the project’s users voted for it.

It turns out that Ethereum Classic is the true cryptocurrency launched by Vitalik Buterin and his team in 2015, and the project known today as Ethereum is only a fork of the “classic” version of the asset.

The ETH ticker has been assigned to Ethereum. ETC cryptocurrency continued under a new ticker.

At the time of the project split, Ethereum Classic needed support from miners and major exchanges. Cryptocurrency mining was needed to stabilize the price, while listing on trading platforms was needed to maintain demand and status.

Poloniex, a digital asset exchange, played an important role in the future fate of the “classic” version of the asset. Thanks to Poloniex specialists, ETC cryptocurrency was listed on a major trading platform in the shortest possible time.

At the end of 2018, the project experienced a crisis due to the refusal of the current development team (ETCDEV) from further work on the cryptocurrency. The reason was funding problems.

Despite the difficulties and the refusal of the developer funding from the members of the cryptocommunity, the project continued to exist at the expense of programmers working on a voluntary basis.

Ethereum Classic vs Ethereum

Ethereum Classic today is significantly inferior to Ethereum in popularity and demand on the market. The situation can be explained as follows:

• Most developers, led by Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, supported the new version of the cryptocurrency. Ethereum Classic went “free-floating” with an incomplete team.
• The code adjustments made the cryptocurrency fork, now known as Ethereum, a more efficient version of the asset. In the course of eliminating weaknesses in the technical component, experts formed a platform for further changes to the project for the better. As a result, the fork outperformed the original in many ways.

The Ethereum community has eventually outgrown the community of its progenitor. At the time of writing the review, Ethereum Classic is inferior to its little brother in many aspects: from the level of capitalization to the number of partners. The differences between the cryptocurrencies can also be seen in the behavior of their exchange rates.

Critique of ETC cryptocurrency

“Classic” version of the cryptocurrency often faces criticism from members of the cryptocurrency community. The main arguments against the asset include the following:

Exaggerated value. According to many members of the cryptocommunity, trying to defend the code as a law, in the context of the weak technical performance of the cryptocurrency and the presence of security flaws, is not appropriate.

Ethereum Classic has no value as a separate project. Technically, ETC cryptocurrency is the same ETH, only in its worst form.

The “classic” version of the cryptocurrency is underdeveloped. With the main developers switching to Ethereum, work on improving the first version of the asset has seriously slowed down.

It is important to note that Ethereum Classic, due to the similarity of the code with Ethereum, can copy almost all the technical solutions of the latter’s team. It turns out that Classic is able to “parasitize” on its own fork by adopting the developments of the new project. In this case, the ETC cryptocurrency team may consider ETH as a test bed: in case of a successful implementation of a technical solution, it may be borrowed.

A new wave of criticism fell on representatives of Ethereum Classic in early 2019, amid a 51% attack, to which the cryptocurrency was exposed.

Initially, the project team denied what had happened, but later experts were forced to admit the fact. The attack was attributed to the negative impact of testing new miners. The episode undermining the security system in the cryptocurrency network has been confirmed by many popular companies, including Coinbase.

At the moment, programmers of the project are considering the possibility of abandoning the word “Ethereum” in the name. According to ETC cryptocurrency Labs developer Stefan Lozh, this decision will allow the asset to “leave many of the top coins far behind.”

Ethereum Classic ecosystem

As a result of being forced to branch into two cryptocurrencies, the first version of Ethereum has its own, different ecosystem from the fork. At the time of writing, according to the official website of the “classic” cryptocurrency, the structure of the project looks as follows

Initially, Ether was proposed by Vitalik Buterin, the man who founded the well-known to all traders Bitcoin Magazine. The first idea was put forward at the end of 2013, and already on July 30, 2015 the network was completely ready for operation and put into operation. Since entering the market, the resource has shown itself on the positive side, causing interest not only in new startup projects, but also among large investors.

However, in June 2016, an extremely unpleasant incident occurred. The DAO found an error in the program code. On June 16, the vulnerability of the platform for autonomous investment capital management led to a hacker attack. Unknowns transferred more than a third of all assets worth US $ 50 million to their respective storage facilities. But the device of wallets and the system itself did not allow immediately withdrawing these funds. Translation was available only after a month.

The Ethereum leadership was thinking about how to return the invested capital to investors and resolve this unpleasant incident as a whole. As a solution to the problem and to save money in the future, the developers and founders of the platform decided to change the blockchain and return the stolen money. But not everyone agreed with this course of events. Some believed that the information chain should remain unchanged and safe.

As a result of a split of opinions, the platform was divided. That is, from the original Ethereum two projects were born – Ethereum Classic and Ethereum. Adherents of the classic resource continued to mine coins based on the old blockchain, while others began work on the new one created as a result of the hard fork. But it is worth noting that during the fork, the capital of each investor doubled, as a result of this, many continue to use both sites.

Features Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic is not quite like regular altcoins or the same illustrious Bitcoin. Therefore, it is important to understand what is the peculiarity of this cryptocurrency as a whole. This will help to understand the feasibility of contributions to the Ethereum classic and the convenience of working on its site.

The cryptographic market experts include the following characteristics to the features of this resource:

1. Smart contracts are an agreement on the signing and observance of conditions that are regulated and monitored by specialized software. The digital mechanism clearly follows the instructions, so interference with the process is not possible. This ensures the transparency of the transaction between traders and the honesty of the parties.
2. The programming language Solidity DApps is a standard form of programming used to create Ethereum Classic. Used to develop self-executing contracts and was created as part of the project.
3. An untouched transaction history – as a rule, this indicator is responsible for the reliability of the blockchain. Such an information chain is considered “untouchable”, that is, that which will remain unchanged. But forking can lead to adjustments. This is exactly what happened after the hacker attack in 2016. However, the history of the transaction still remained untouched, except for one point: the fork took the stolen investment money from the hacker and placed it in a refund deposit.
4. Debugged infrastructure – the data center is located in Europe, America and Asia. Moreover, it is a real physical server with protection against DDOS attacks.
5. Nicehash support – resource integration provides for a dedicated port, full compatibility with the Nicehash version of the stratum protocol, as well as the presence of recommended pools in the list.
6. Notifications by email and Telegram – the system notifies users by sending notifications of new blocks. Also, the results of monitoring the state of workers, which are free for any number of farms, are sent through communication channels.

Summing up the general results, it is worth saying that the Ethereum classic is a decentralized platform on the basis of which intellectual contracts work. At the same time, they operate completely freely, without censorship, and are accurately executed by the prescribed software without delays or anyone else’s involvement (interference). That is, the human factor is 100% excluded and has no effect on network performance. This is the main idea of ​​using the system.

Also, what is noteworthy in its work, the cryptocurrency resource uses the postulates that are placed on the main page of their site, where each user can familiarize themselves with them. The principles of activity include such qualities as unchangeable and not subject to censorship. That is, the idea of ​​complete freedom is embodied on the site. But the Ethereum Classic differs from others in several other features:

1. Security – the level of security of the resource is high, because, despite numerous hacking attempts, the network continues to work stably without failures and delays.
2. High trading volumes – the indicator is quite high compared to other stock market participants. Moreover, in some periods the turnover grows even more than that of the main competitors.
3. Limited emission – the release of assets is limited, which will not allow coins to depreciate.
4. Ethereum Classic is simply exchanged for fiat funds, because you do not need to convert them to BTC.

So, due to these parameters, Ethereum Classic is a special asset that is firmly rooted in the field and, according to analysts, will be among the leaders for more than one year.