10 Differences Between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic

If you’ve been around crypto block long enough, you’re sure to have heard of Ethereum Classic. Just in case you need a quick recap of how Ethereum Classic came into being, let’s first talk about what led to the split in Ethereum and the birth of Ethereum Classic. Once we’ve established the key reason for the split, we shall discuss the 10 key differences between Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).

What Gave Rise To Ethereum Classic?

As we all know, the Ethereum blockchain network is commonly used for running blockchain smart contracts and serve enterprise needs. One such smart contract-related protocol run on it was a DAO or a Decentralized Autonomous Organization. A bug in the DAO resulted in a hacker siphoning off a large amount of Ethers from the network. In the aftermath of this security breach, the Ethereum community decided to have a hard fork to revert the hack and erase the incidence of the breach. However, some traditionalists in the network did not want the hard fork. They cited a blockchain network’s immutability as the reason behind their decision and held on to the older platform. This old platform and its token came to be known as Ethereum Classic.

Differences between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic:

1. Token:

The token for the Ethereum Classic platform is known as ETC, while the token for the new, forked version of the blockchain,the actual Ethereum, is known as Ether, abbreviated as ETH.

2. Management:

Although blockchain networks are theoretically decentralized, the Ethereum blockchain is managed by a central authority, without directly affecting its decentralized character. It is managed by the Ethereum Foundation or EF. On the other hand, a distributed community that seeks to promote the aspects of openness and immutability, work together to maintain the Ethereum Classic blockchain.

3. Popularity and Public Interest:

If you were to get on Google Trends and compare how often people searched about Ethereum and Ethereum Classic on the internet, you would find that the statistic of the latter is dismal as compared to that of Ethereum. Many more people look up Ethereum on the internet than Ethereum Classic and that clearly reflects the popularity of the former. In the following image, the blue line depicts the search stats of Ethereum and the red line depicts that of Ethereum Classic.

4. Function of Ethereum Classic versus Ethereum:

Ethereum is known to be the favoured blockchain network for a large number of businesses as it is offers tools such as smart contracts to realise the business benefits of blockchain. Therefore, in terms of its function, it is better known for serving as a host blockchain, where ETH simply powers the transactions within the blockchain. Ethereum Classic, on the other hand is treated primarily as a cryptocurrency meant for trade.

5. Visibility of the People Behind the Two Blockchain Networks:

In case of the Ethereum blockchain, we frequently see the people behind it make statements and remain active in the crypto world. For example, even a crypto layman has probably heard of Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin. Moreover, other people like Gavin Wood and Joseph Lubin are also pretty well known in the crypto world. On the other hand, the developers behind ETC prefer to stay behind the scenes and use unidentifiable pseudo names.

6. Hashrates of the two Blockchain Networks:

The two networks have widely different hash rates and hence hugely varying transaction speeds or efficiency levels. The hash rates evolve and change with time but if you were to compare hash rates of ETC and ETH on www.bitinfocharts.com, you’d see that ETH’s hash rate is close to 300Th/s (trillion hashes per second) while that of ETC is less than even 1/10th of that value.

7. Adoption of Blockchain Network:

Ethereum’s popularity among the public is mirrored in its acceptability among businesses. With the help of Enterprise Ethereum Alliance, many companies ranging from payments giant MasterCard to tech behemoth Microsoft, have embraced Ethereum. Ethereum Classic, however, has failed to achieve that level of adoption.

8. Percentage of Original Investors:

When the fork and the split in Ethereum happened, Ethereum Classic managed to hold on to only a small number of investors, amounting to a little over 10% of the total number. On the contrary, 87% of the investors shifted to Ethereum.

9. Logo:

Both Ethereum and Ethereum Classic use the same recognisable octahedron shaped logo but the colours are different. Ethereum uses a grey and black logo while the logo of Ethereum Classic has shades of green in it.

10. Price:

ETH is much higher priced than ETH. Currently, at press time, ETH is priced at 199.37 USD and ETC is priced at a fraction of that at 9.13 USD. Clearly, the differences in popularity and adoption have had a clear impact on the prices of these two as well. Given the high difference in prices and given returns are likely to be higher for Ethereum, you might now want to find out how to buy Ethereum!