A couple of years ago Ethereum network experienced a hard fork, creating two separate blockchains: Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC). Sometimes confused with Ethereum, Ethereum Classic is now a totally different cryptocurrency with different technological and philosophical goals, specifically, a special focus on immutability popularly expressed as “code is law.”
Ethereum Classic is also a decentralized computing system that can run a wide variety of applications. ETC is Ethereum Classic’s native currency, which is used to power transactions and smart contracts on its network.
How Ethereum Classic works?
Ethereum Classic users pay fees in ETC to execute smart contracts, which is kind of like a fuel that keeps the whole thing running. Gas fees pay miners which solve “proof of work” puzzles using sophisticated computers to help verify the network.
A key distinction, between ETH and ETC, is planning to migrate from “proof of work” mining to a new system called “proof of stake.” Ethereum Classic has no such plans and intends to keep traditional mining on its own blockchain after Ethereum migrates.
Like ETH, new ETC is issued to the circulating supply as a reward for miners as new blocks of transactions are added to the blockchain. Unlike ETH, which doesn’t have a fixed supply, ETC has a maximum supply of 210,700,000 coins.
How is ETC mined?
Powerful computers mine ETC, adding it to the circulating supply. While ETC can be mined using widely-available graphics processors, it’s most likely not profitable unless you use an ASIC, which is a specialized device designed for crypto mining.
After Ethereum Classic’s fork from Ethereum in 2016, ETC has struggled to compete in terms of market capitalization, developers, and network security as measured by total mining power. Over its history, ETC has been subject to numerous “51% attacks” in which malicious actors control a majority of the mining power and were thus able to spend coins they didn’t actually own.
Check out our other article about Bitcoin predictions in 2022.