ETC (Ethereum Classic) Review 2020

While most of us are familiar with prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ripple, there are a number of other significant cryptocurrencies that exist in the market. In this article, we are going to discuss one such cryptocurrency that has a ‘sibling’ which is a predominantly popular cryptocurrency. Ethereum Classic resulted from a hard fork of Ethereum blockchain. Why did the fork happen and what is the significance of Ethereum Classic in 2020? Read the article to find out more!

What is Ethereum Classic?

In part, similar to its foundation, Ethereum Classic enables developers to create decentralized applications and smart contracts on its platform. It facilitates recording and exchanging digital assets on a decentralized blockchain ledger. In fact, Ethereum Classic is the original version of Ethereum that has hard forked from it as a result of disagreements among its community. What happened? One of the most funded projects namely Decentralized Autonomous Organization, DAO, raised nearly $150 million in Ether using public crowdfunding. Investors would receive Ether coins in exchange for their investment. These Ether tokens would determine voting rights onto how the DAO funds would be further dispersed. However, due to vulnerability in its coding, a hacker was able to steal nearly $50 million worth of Ether. This resulted in a dispute among its community members. On one side, a majority of members voted that the blockchain should reverse back to the stage before the funds were stolen. A minority opposed that this would essentially disrupt the true state and meaning of a blockchain network. The result was a hard fork, a split in the blockchain of Ethereum. The older version of this blockchain, which includes stolen Ether as well, is Ethereum Classic, while the new blockchain was named as Ethereum. The split happened on 30th July 2015. The native token of Ethereum Classic is ETC. At the time of writing, the value of one ETC coin is $5.07.

Ethereum vs. Ethereum Classic

While ETC is a fork of the original chain, both ETC and ETH yet have stark differences in their functionalities and communities as well. Ethereum holds a much broader and larger community in comparison to Ethereum Classic. Moreover, the usage of ETC has significantly dropped since the fork of Ethereum. Most of the decentralized applications that are currently developed in the blockchain sphere are based on the main Ethereum platform (ETH). Moreover, the Ethereum blockchain also now functions independently without any influence on the Ethereum Classic blockchain. For instance, when Ethereum shifts its core protocol from proof of work to proof of stake, it will not have any impact on ETC’s functionality. As far as the price and market capitalization of the tokens are concerned, the market cap of ETC is $589 million while the market cap of ETH is $15 billion. Talking about ETC vs ETH, the price of one ETC coin is $5.07 while the price of one ETH coin is $137,92 (at the time of writing).

How to Mine Ethereum Classic?

ETC mining works on the same protocol like Bitcoin and Ethereum as it uses the same core functionality of proof of work algorithm. In other words, the basic process for mining remains the same, however, there is a difference in block rewards, mining difficulty, and block timings. First, let’s cover the basics. Miners participate in the open-source Ethereum Classic network. Through the algorithm known as proof of work, miners start verifying transactions on the network. Further, miners add all verified transactions into blocks and link them to previous blocks. In return for successfully verifying and building the ETC blockchain, miners receive rewards that are in the form of ETC coins. The block rewards per block of ETC has now been reduced to 3.2 ETC. The total supply of ETC is set to 210 million. In comparison to other famous coins like BTC or ETH, mining ETC crypto is relatively easier and subsequently requires low investments. There are two ways to mine Ethereum Classic: either to mine solo or to join a pool. Nevertheless, the requirements for mining hardware and software remain the same.

Mining Hardware

The mining difficulty for Ethereum Classic is lower owing to less competition as compared to its counterparts. The choice for mining equipment could be CPU, GPU, or ASIC. However, for mining profitably, it is recommended to select GPU OR ASIC chips. Another requirement is to go for a card with 4GB RAM.

Mining Software

The next step is to download and install an ETC mining software on your system. A popular option available for software mining is Ethminer, that is compatible with popular hardware equipment available on the market.

ETC Mining Pool

While you can also do solo mining, joining a mining pool can yield higher returns. For joining a mining pool, there is a small fee that needs to be paid and miners can further receive steady rewards. While there are a number of options available, ETC Nanopool is one of the popular options available on the market.

Where to Buy Ethereum Classic?

Since Ethereum Classic is regarded as one of the prominent cryptocurrencies, a number of exchanges list the coin on their platform. However, payment method availability of traditional options like credit or debit card may not be available on all platforms. Most of them provide exchanging of ETC coins with prominent cryptocurrencies like BTC or ETH. Let’s take a look at some of the exchanges that offer the option of ETC coin.

• On ChangeNOW, you have the option of buying ETC coins in a few simple steps along with a negligible transaction fee - and without registration. Moreover, the exchange service provides you with the choice of buying ETC coins through a wide variety of cryptocurrencies.
• Binance offers a broad gallery of cryptocurrencies and Ethereum Classic is among them. At present, you can buy ETC coins by either exchanging it with stablecoins available on the Binance platform or through trading it with other cryptocurrencies.
• Coinmama offers you to buy ETC coins directly with a fiat currency. At present, the fiat currency options available for ETC include USD, EUR, GBP, CAD, among some others.

What is the Best Ethereum Classic Wallet?

Now we explore the different options available on how to store Ethereum Classic. A number of different wallets are available on the market that has different functionalities and security. Take a look at it below:

• Hardware Wallets. One of the most secure ways to store ETC coins is using a hardware wallet. Every time you want to transact or exchange them, you need to connect it to your computer or laptop. Hence, some users may not find it accessible as compared to other options. Hardware wallets include Trezor and Ledger that are popular in the market.
• Desktop Wallets. A desktop wallet stores your ETC coins locally on your computer or laptop. They are relatively less secure than a hardware wallet as anyone can have access to your coins in case if the system is compromised in any way. However, users also find desktop wallet more user-friendly in comparison to hardware wallets. Atomic Wallet is a desktop wallet that enables you to store your ETC coins and is compatible with multiple devices as well.
• Mobile Wallets. As the name suggests, a mobile wallet allows any user to store their ETC coins directly on your smartphone devices. Although you have better accessibility with mobile wallets, some consider them as being somewhat less secure as compared to other options. Guarda mobile wallet enables you to store ETC coins on your mobile devices.

Furthermore, a user can also choose multiple devices to distribute their currency onto various platforms. This ensures security to the funds while also giving you better accessibility.

Conclusion

Although Ethereum certainly leads the way, over the years Ethereum Classic has managed to gain a steady community of users. Moreover, its long term price predictions suggest a positive trajectory growth in the upward direction. At the same time, currently, ETC price per coin is considerably less. This further enables users to invest in the coin and gain significant returns in the next few years. To learn more about ETC price prediction, please visit the following post in our blog.