In this digital era of cryptocurrencies, many of the cryptocurrencies have benchmarked its identity. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most common names which are generally popular if there is any discussion about cryptocurrency.
In this article, let’s have a brief discussion over the biggest altcoin Ethereum (ETH) and it’s hard fork Ethereum Classic (ETC).
The Origin of Ethereum
The story of Ethereum network starts back in 2013, when an idea of a 20 year old guy, Vitalik Buterin, for a new programming language did not attract the Bitcoin community. Then he made a case for Bitcoin to create a new programming language that could automate tasks and allow applications to be built on its blockchain.
But as a result, his idea did not collect so much response, thus he decided to raise funds via a crowdsale. And in July 2014, one of the largest crypto fundraising efforts took place — amassing 25,000 BTC with a market capitalization of $17 Million at the time. That led to the formation of Ethereum — a global, open-source software platform.
What is Ethereum?
Ethereum is the community-run technology which powers the cryptocurrency ether (ETH) along with thousands of decentralized applications. It is a decentralized open-source blockchain system. It works as a platform for numerous other cryptocurrencies as well as for the execution of decentralized smart contracts.
It was also developed by Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood, along with the additional founders of Ethereum included Charles Hoskinson, Anthony Di Iorio and Joseph Lubin. It was first described in a 2013 whitepaper by Mr. Buterin. Ethereum’s own purported goal is to be a global platform for decentralized applications, that will allow users around the world to write and run software that is resistant to censorship, downtime and fraud.
What is Ethereum Classic?
Ethereum Classic is an open source, blockchain-based distributed computing platform that runs smart contracts functionality. Its original developers are Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood. The hard fork of Ethereum was launched in July 2016 that has the ability to host and support decentralized applications (DApps).
Since its launch, Ethereum Classic has sought to differentiate itself from ETH, with the two networks’ technical roadmap diverging further and further from each other with time. It must be noted that Ethereum Classic first set out to preserve the integrity of the existing Ethereum blockchain after a hack of a third-party project led to the theft of 3.6 Million ETH.
Difference Between Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC)
| Features | Ethereum | Ethereum Classic |
| Consensus Algorithm | Proof-of-Stake | Proof-of-Work |
| Coin Supply | No Hard Cap | Hard Cap at 210 Million, block rewards cut by 20% every 5 Million blocks |
| Database | Fragmented | Replicated |
| Monetary Policy | Variable | Fixed |
Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2023/01/01/the-history-of-ethereum-difference-between-ethereum-and-ethereum-classic/