Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the original Ethereum (ETH) blockchain that launched in July 2015. Its main function is as a smart contract network, with the ability to host and support decentralized applications (DApps). Its native token is ETC.

Since its launch, Ethereum Classic has sought to differentiate itself from Ethereum, with the two networks’ technical roadmap diverging further and further from each other with time.

Ethereum Classic first set out to preserve the integrity of the existing Ethereum blockchain after a major hacking event led to the theft of 3.6 million ETH.


## Who Are the Founders of Ethereum Classic?

Ethereum Classic is in fact the legacy chain of Ethereum, and its true creator is therefore the original Ethereum founder — Vitalik Buterin.

A contentious hard fork on Ethereum occurred in July 2016, when participants disagreed over whether to revert the blockchain to cancel out the effects of a major hack. This impacted The DAO, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) which had raised approximately $150 million in an initial coin offering (ICO) several months earlier.

Ethereum Classic came into being as the network which did not revert the chain. Developers state that there is no “official” team attached to the project, and that its “global development community is a permissionless 'do-ocracy,' where anyone can participate.”


## What Makes Ethereum Classic Unique?

Ethereum Classic’s unique attributes are a combination of the following features:

* Proof-of-Work: ETC is a will remain as a proof-of-work blockchain which is the most secure consensus mechanism known to man.

* Sound money: ETC is digital gold because it is a proof of work blockchain, thus the cost ti produce the money is the same as the cost to produce the blocks, and it has a fixed monetary policy with a supply cap of 210,700,000.

* Programmability: ETC is programmable with smart contracts making it much more versatile and useful than other simpler cryptocurrency chains such as Bitcoin or Litecoin.

* Full replication: ETC is most secure because it is fully replicated across all nodes of the network. Where other smart contract blockchains are implementing “sharding”, “parachains”, or “sidechains” that reduce security, ETC will remain fully replicated.

* Composability: Composability in ETC means that all the applications enabled by programmability are inside the same system, thus making them equally secure and also able to interact with each other in single complex transactions.

* Size: The larger a blockchains is, and even more if it is the largest in its category, makes the system eve more secure. ETC is the largest smart contracts blockchain that is proof of work and has a fixed monetary policy.

All the above unique features combined make ETC dapps the most secure daps in the world.

## How Is Ethereum Classic Different From Ethereum?

Ethereum Classic (ETC) and Ethereum (ETH) are two separate blockchain networks that share a common history but have since diverged in philosophy and development.

Ethereum Classic is the original version of Ethereum that was launched in 2015. It is a decentralized, open-source blockchain platform that allows developers to build and deploy decentralized applications (dApps) and smart contracts. Ethereum Classic secures its network using a Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm.

Ethereum, on the other hand, is a fork of the original Ethereum blockchain created in 2016. It emerged as a response to a hack that caused the loss of millions of dollars worth of Ether. The Ethereum community implemented a hard fork to reverse the hack and return the stolen funds to their owners. As a result, two separate blockchains, Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC), were created.

One of the main differences between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum is their approach to governance. Ethereum has a more centralized system, with a core development team that makes decisions about the platform's future. In contrast, Ethereum Classic has a more decentralized approach to governance, with decisions made by the community through a consensus process.

Another key difference between the two is their development roadmap. Ethereum has transitioned from a Proof-of-Work (POW) consensus algorithm to a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) algorithm after The Merge in September 2022. Ethereum Classic, on the other hand, has focused on maintaining its original PoW algorithm and staying true to its decentralized philosophy.

## Concerns About Ethereum Classic

Ethereum has grown in popularity due to network effects and more developer and user activity, even though Ethereum Classic and Ethereum both offer smart contracts and compete for the same market.

The main concerns of ETC are scalability, bloat, and backward compatibility. These are constraints shared by all layer 1 smart contracts blockchains. Both Ethereum and Ethereum Classic will be scalable through layer 2 systems.

Backward compatibility will be solved when “Account Versioning” and “EVM Versioning” are implemented in the EVM standard in general. Bloating is a work in progress and depends more on client efficiencies, data structure changes, and other advances.