This article describes the current position of Ethereum Classic in the crypto space. Will ETC be able to take its rightful place among cryptocurrencies, or will it be strangled by more successful competitors? Let’s figure it out!
Criticism of Ethereum Classic
Ethereum’s competitors gain points by criticizing Ethereum Classic’s weak scalability, long delays in conducting transactions, the high cost of operations, and exposure to hacker attacks in its smart contract system. Do the aims of ETC’s rivals correspond to eliminating the Classic Ethereum? It would be surprising if this were not the case, however, their criticism is largely fair.
Is Classic Ethereum Going to Succeed?
Although ETC has completely fallen into the shadow of its predecessor, the creators are still optimistic and believe that the currency has something to offer the modern crypto sphere.
In the official ETC Twitter, a message was recently published that the Classic Ethereum network-based number of accounts exceeds the same indicator of Zcash, BTC Cash, Monero, Cardano, Tron, LitecoinDash, and NEO, united – though the capitalization of many of them is much higher.
The company Grayscale, engaged in asset management in crypto, believes that ETC has several advantages:
“There is an extending community of entrepreneurs, designers, representatives of non-profit organizations, and just active participants involved in the advancement, training, and implementation of ETC.”
In addition, Grayscale representatives point out that hashing ETC is more affordable since it is not so demanding in terms of iron – energy costs are lower, and equipment resources for confirming the transactions are also required less compared to BTC:
“Mining Ethereum Classic can be potentially interesting for low-profit miners, as it requires less energy and lesser operational costs.”
However, the founders of ETC bear some key risks, for example, problems with scalability. Also, the ETC network’s decentralization level is a concern, as the two major pools regulate 50% of the hash rate:
“ETC faces serious competition from such widely demanded universal platforms as ETH, EOS, Horizon, and Tezos.”
In any case, Grayscale positively assesses the prospects of ETC and expects that the network will retain and strengthen its position, even regardless of the growing advantage of its elder brother in the face of ETH:
“Thanks to a global developers network, entrepreneurs, and just apologists, Ethereum Classic has been able to prove its stability and maintain good development dynamics, while it can benefit from the innovations introduced in Ethereum.”
Features of ETC:
- The “complexity bomb” – an algorithm that obscures the tokens mining -will be neutralized in Ether Classic;
- Ethereum Classic platform has much fewer decentralized applications than on Ethereum platform, but developers are steadily improving the tools for generating them and enhancing the system’s capabilities;
- While in Ethereum, no limits are provided for issuance, in Ether Classic the number is limited to 230 million.
The Ethereum Classic project has not reached a high success level, but it is firmly occupying its position in the top twenty – twenty-five digital assets in capitalization, and the creators believe that real independence and decentralization will sooner or later bring recognition to users.
Is ETC the Real Ethereum?
In fact, it is. Ethereum Classic is the old Ethereum before the hard fork.
In case Ethereum Classic developed more dynamically, it would be called a competitor of ETH without any concessions. A smaller crypto community of the earlier Ethereum did not agree with the interference of developers in the project’s blockchain and, having separated, launched ETC, that considered its main principle the phrase “Code is law”.
Facts About Two Cryptocurrencies
Below is an infographic where you can find the distinction between two tokens. In terms of attractiveness, ETH wins, and there are many explanations for this: a large developers group, so several hundreds of decentralized applications are accessible for all occasions. ETH is leading in such an important parameter as the number of daily transactions – recently the indicator exceeded 1 million transactions per day, coming close to the record of 1.35 million transactions reached in early 2018. At ETC, this figure is more modest – only 30,000.
Here’s some info to compare ETH vs. ETC.
| Basis of Comparison | ETC | ETH |
| Launch Date | 20/7/2016 | 30/7/2015 |
| Available Supply | 113.78 Million | 107.90 Million |
| Transparency | Less transparent | Transparent to some extent |
| Philosophy | “Code being a law”. | Against the philosophy |
| Market Cap | Nearly $510.91. | Around $19.06B. |
| Popularity | Less widespread | Popular crypto after BTC. |
| Compatibility | Does not adhere to Backward Compatibility | Supports Backward Compatibility |
| Ticker | ETC | ETH |
| Ranking | 21 | 2 |
As the table shows, ETH has a serious advantage for some indicators. Over the years, the dynamics of ETH price growth were noticeably better than the Classic version.
Conclusion
Despite its shortcomings, Ether Classic is a fairly promising cryptocurrency, especially after its team has stepped up work and made several significant updates. There is a high probability of the growth of this coin in the future, although there are also risks. However, it has a loyal community and a strong development team. This means that it is unlikely to get out of the currency race on the crypto market.
