Ethereum Classic
- Ticker
- ETC
- Category
- Smart-contract platform
- Risk profile
- Volatile
What it is
The continuation of the original Ethereum ledger by participants who rejected the 2016 hard fork that reversed The DAO theft, on the principle that a ledger should not be rewritten.
Why this risk level
- Both chains share every block before the split, so the difference is not the technology but a decision about whether an exceptional intervention was legitimate
- Ethereum Classic kept proof of work when Ethereum moved to proof of stake, and a smaller share of mining power makes a chain cheaper to attack — this network has suffered documented deep reorganisations
- ETC pays gas on its own chain and is a separate asset from ETH; the two have not shared an upgrade path since 2016
A plain-English risk overview for education, not investment advice. Risk profiles describe the asset's own characteristics, not a price forecast — always do your own research before buying.
Other coin guides
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