The story of Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) began with a major event that led to one of the most famous forks in blockchain history. Here is their origin and development history:
origin
Ethereum (ETH) was proposed by Vitalik Buterin in 2013 and officially launched in 2015. It is an open source blockchain platform designed to support the development of decentralized applications (DApps) and smart contracts.
Fork Events
In 2016, a decentralized autonomous organization called The DAO raised a large amount of funds through crowdfunding on Ethereum, but due to a smart contract vulnerability, hackers stole about $50 million worth of ETH. To solve this problem, the Ethereum community decided to conduct a hard fork to return the stolen funds to the original holders. However, this decision caused a split in the community:
• Members who support hard forks: They believe that the blockchain should be intervened to protect investors’ funds, so a new Ethereum (ETH) was created.
• Members who oppose the hard fork: They adhere to the principle of “code is law” and believe that the blockchain should not be tampered with, so they continue to maintain the original chain and form Ethereum Classic (ETC).
Differences in ideas
• ETH: focuses more on flexibility and technological innovation, and is committed to improving the scalability and efficiency of the network through upgrades (such as Ethereum 2.0).
• ETC: Emphasizes the immutability and decentralization principles of blockchain, and insists on using the Proof of Work (PoW) mechanism to ensure security and stability.
Development History
• ETH: It quickly recovered and developed after the hard fork, becoming a core platform in the field of smart contracts and decentralized finance (DeFi). It also plans to transition from PoW to Proof of Stake (PoS) mechanism to improve performance.
• ETC: Although it faces many challenges after the fork, it has gradually won some supporters by virtue of its adherence to the principle of decentralization. It is regarded by some as a purer blockchain implementation, focusing on improvements in privacy, security, and the mining ecosystem.
status quo
• ETH: As the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, ETH has a large developer community and a broad application ecosystem.
• ETC: Although it has a smaller market cap, it still has an independent ecosystem and a loyal mining community.
Future Outlook
• ETH: Expected to continue to dominate the blockchain industry, leading innovation in smart contracts, dApps and DeFi.
• ETC: May continue to attract users who value blockchain’s principles of immutability and decentralization.
In short, the story of ETH and ETC is not only a reflection of technical differences, but also the result of the collision of blockchain concepts.
