Ethereum Classic-koers

Ethereum Classic is a decentralized smart contract-enabled network that aims to become a global payment system. Originating from the Ethereum network, Ethereum Classic uses the proof-of-work consensus mechanism and supports decentralized applications. Ethereum Classic emerged after a split of the original Ethereum blockchain due to an attack on the first ever decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), dubbed The DAO. In June 2016, The DAO, a decentralized, autonomous organization based on Ethereum, suffered a major hack. The attacker exploited a flaw in The DAO's code and made off with $50 million worth of ETH at the time. In the aftermath of the attack, 97% of the Ethereum community voted to create a hard fork to undo the malicious transactions and restore the blockchain to its pre-hack state. The hard fork, therefore, bailed out the victims of the attack. Although a vast majority voted for the hard fork, a few community members disagreed due to philosophical and ideological differences. They argued that blockchains should be immutable, meaning that transactions cannot be reversed, upholding the "code is law" ethos. After the hard fork, the old Ethereum chain was supposed to be phased out but instead, those who disagreed with the fork kept the network alive. This led to the genesis of Ethereum Classic, with ETC as its native token. Although ETH and ETC initially shared several similarities, the two networks have grown far apart regarding technological features. Ethereum Classic utilizes the Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism that Bitcoin first introduced. Proof-of-Work or PoW enables a miner-based validation and emission system where participants are incentivized to confirm that new transactions do not contradict or invalidate the data existing on the blockchain. However, like Ethereum, the Ethereum Classic blockchain offers more functionalities than Bitcoin, as users can access smart contract-enabled applications. Due to the availability of smart contracts on Ethereum Classic, it is possible to host tokens and build decentralized applications (DApps) on the ETC blockchain. In other words, applications launched on Ethereum Classic can issue and manage their native tokens. This system is similar to what we have on the Ethereum blockchain. In addition to the peer-to-peer transactions that Ethereum Classic enables, it also offers smart contract functionality. As such, it facilitates an ecosystem where users can either deploy or access decentralized applications and tokens. ETC functions as the payment currency of the blockchain. Users can transfer values denominated in ETC on Ethereum Classic. Additionally, it can be used to pay for fees, particularly when executing smart contract-enabled applications or transferring Ethereum Classic-based tokens. ETC anchors the mining economy of the Ethereum Classic ecosystem. The network rewards miners with ETC whenever they add a block of transactions to the blockchain.