The merger of Ethereum has sparked great interest in Ethereum Classic (ETC). As Ethereum transitions from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), ETC remains committed to PoW consensus. This presents an opportunity for ETC to attract miners moving away from ETH mining post-merge. However, ETC faces security and ecosystem challenges compared to Ethereum. ETC has suffered multiple 51% attacks that have undermined trust, while Ethereum has a much richer ecosystem for developers and dApps.
ETC emerged from an Ethereum hard fork after the DAO hack
Ethereum Classic originated from a hard fork in the original Ethereum blockchain after the infamous DAO hack in 2016 resulted in $60 million in stolen Ether. The Ethereum community voted to restore the lost funds by forking the chain, but a minority believed this violated principles of immutability. They continued on the unforked blockchain, which became Ethereum Classic with the ETC token.
ETC stays committed to PoW while ETH transitions to PoS
With the upcoming Ethereum merge, ETH will shift from PoW to PoS consensus. Meanwhile, ETC remains committed to PoW, which could attract some displaced ETH miners in search of a new mining reward token post-merge. However, a rumored ETHW fork could also compete for these miners.
ETC has faced multiple 51% attacks while ETH remains secure
Ethereum Classic has suffered from multiple 51% attacks that allowed hackers to double spend on the network. These attacks have undermined trust in ETC’s security. Meanwhile, despite processing a similar number of transactions per second, Ethereum has never fallen victim to a 51% attack. Its planned transition to PoS through the merge may provide additional security.
ETC lacks the vibrant Ethereum developer ecosystem
Ethereum has over 2,900 live dApps on its network compared to under 40 for Ethereum Classic. ETH benefits tremendously from its first mover advantage in locking down developer mindshare. ETC lacks many of the tools and infrastructure that allows easy dApp creation on Ethereum, making it more challenging for its ecosystem to grow.
While Ethereum Classic could attract some miners displaced from the Ethereum ecosystem post-merge, it faces an uphill battle competing with ETH. ETC suffers from security concerns due to previous 51% attacks as well as a sparse developer ecosystem. Still, if technical issues emerge with the Ethereum merge, it remains a potential hedge for ETH miners and developers.