What is Ethereum Classic?
Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the original Ethereum chain. It kept running after the rest of the community hard-forked away from it in July 2016 to undo the DAO hack. The forked chain became what most people now call Ethereum. The chain that refused the rollback kept the name "Classic" and a smaller community of holders who treat "code is law" as the point of the whole project.
ETC and ETH share a history up to block 1,920,000 in July 2016 and nothing after. They are separate networks with separate ledgers, separate dev teams, and separate market caps. ETC stayed on proof-of-work. ETH switched to proof-of-stake in September 2022. That single difference is most of why the two coins trade the way they do today.
ETC price today
ETC trades against the US dollar, USDT, and BTC on every major exchange. Live data on this page refreshes every 60 seconds and pulls from a multi-venue feed weighted by liquidity. The reference quote in the price card is a volume-weighted average across the deepest order books.
What actually moves ETC on a given week:
- Post-Merge mining flow. After Ethereum left proof-of-work in September 2022, a chunk of displaced GPU miners landed on ETC. Hashrate roughly doubled within weeks. Mining economics on ETC now track GPU power costs and the ETH/ETC narrative more than they did before.
- ETC halvings on the 5M20 schedule. Each 20% reward cut tightens supply growth. The market does not always price these in advance, so post-halving weeks can run hot or flat.
- ETH-vs-ETC narrative cycles. When commentary about "the original Ethereum" picks up, retail flow moves into ETC. These cycles fade quickly but can double the price inside a month.
- BTC correlation. ETC has a high beta to Bitcoin. When BTC moves 5%, ETC tends to move 7-10% in the same direction.
- Exchange-listing changes. ETC has been delisted by some regional platforms over the years on liquidity grounds. Each delisting tends to push price down for a few days; new listings, the opposite.
The price card above is live; the analysis below uses the level at page load.
The DAO hack and the 2016 fork
In April 2016, a project called The DAO raised about $150 million in ETH from roughly 11,000 contributors. It was meant to be a leaderless venture fund running on Ethereum smart contracts. Two months later, an attacker exploited a recursive call bug and drained around 3.6 million ETH (worth about $50 million at the time) into a child DAO.
The Ethereum community had to pick. Option one: leave the chain alone and let the attacker keep the funds, on the principle that smart contract code is the contract and the network does not roll back transactions. Option two: hard-fork the chain, rewrite the ledger to send the stolen ETH back to the original contributors, and accept that the network can intervene when something is bad enough.
A coin-vote in mid-July showed support for the fork. On July 20, 2016, at block 1,920,000, the fork activated. Most miners, exchanges, and the core dev team followed the new chain, which kept the Ethereum name. A minority refused. They saw the rollback as a violation of "code is law" and kept mining the original ledger. That chain became Ethereum Classic. The DAO contributors on the forked chain got their money back. The DAO contributors on the unforked chain did not.
ETC supply and the 5M20 emission schedule
ETC has a hard cap. Total supply is limited to 210,700,000 coins, with around 150 million already circulating. The cap was added in 2017 through ECIP-1017, the proposal that introduced the "5M20" emission schedule.
The 5M20 rule is straightforward: every 5,000,000 blocks (roughly every 2.4 years), the block reward drops by 20%. ETC people often call these halvings, even though the cut is a fifth, not half. The recent reductions:
- March 2020: block reward dropped from 4 ETC to 3.2 ETC.
- April 2022: 3.2 ETC to 2.56 ETC.
- April 2024: 2.56 ETC to 2.048 ETC.
The next reduction is expected in 2026. Because the cuts are 20% rather than 50%, supply growth slows gradually instead of in big steps. The chain will keep issuing new ETC for many decades before hitting the 210.7M cap.
ETC mining: Etchash and the post-Merge surge
Ethereum Classic still uses proof-of-work. The algorithm is Etchash, a modified version of Ethash that ETC switched to in November 2020 to stay ASIC-resistant after most Ethash ASICs targeted ETH. GPUs (mainly Nvidia and AMD cards) do almost all of the mining today, with a smaller share of FPGA rigs.
The big change for ETC mining was Ethereum’s Merge in September 2022. ETH dropped proof-of-work overnight. Millions of GPUs that had been mining ETH suddenly needed somewhere to go. ETC was the obvious destination because Etchash is GPU-friendly and the chain was already running. ETC hashrate roughly doubled within weeks, peaking near 300 TH/s in late 2022.
What this changed for the chain:
- Security improved sharply. A 51% attack on ETC was cheap before the Merge; it got noticeably more expensive once the displaced miners arrived.
- Block reliability improved. Fewer reorgs, more consistent confirmation times, and fewer exchange suspensions.
- Miner profitability stayed thin. More hashrate chasing the same block reward means each miner earns less per terahash than before.
- Pool concentration is a recurring concern. A handful of pools (Ethermine, F2Pool, 2miners) account for the majority of blocks, which is the same situation Bitcoin and most other PoW chains face.
Ethereum Classic vs Ethereum: how the chains diverged after 2016
For the first few years after the split, ETC tried to keep pace with ETH on features and mostly stayed close. Since 2020, the two chains have walked in opposite directions. ETC kept proof-of-work and treats "do not change the ledger" as a core value. ETH moved to proof-of-stake, layer-2 scaling, EIP-1559 fee burns, and a steady stream of upgrades.
The current state of play:
- Consensus: ETC uses proof-of-work (Etchash). ETH uses proof-of-stake.
- Supply: ETC capped at 210.7M with the 5M20 schedule. ETH has no fixed cap but burns base fees through EIP-1559, which makes the supply mildly deflationary in busy periods.
- Smart contracts: ETC is EVM-compatible and runs Solidity contracts. Some newer Ethereum upgrades (account abstraction, Dencun blob storage) are not on ETC, so the bytecode parity is not perfect.
- Ecosystem: ETH has the bulk of DeFi, NFTs, and stablecoins. ETC has a small DeFi footprint and very little stablecoin issuance.
- Governance: ETC is steered by the Ethereum Classic Cooperative, ETC Labs, and the ETC Core Devs. ETH governance is wider, with the EF, client teams, L2 operators, and validators all involved.
A common comparison is to look at ETC against Bitcoin Cash as the other large-cap "kept the original chain after a fork" coin. Both have lost ground to their forked siblings. Both have a vocal community that argues the market got it wrong.
How to buy Ethereum Classic (ETC)
ETC is listed on basically every major exchange. The mechanics of buying it are straightforward; the parts worth thinking about are which platform you use and where the coins live afterward.
- Pick an exchange. You want one with reasonable ETC/USD or ETC/USDT liquidity and a clean security record. Our exchange ratings break down the leading options.
- Get through identity verification. Government ID and a selfie check are standard. Most platforms clear KYC inside 10 minutes for retail amounts.
- Fund your account. Bank transfers (ACH, SEPA) are the cheapest option but take 1 to 3 business days. Cards clear instantly with a 2-4% spread. Stablecoin deposits (USDC, USDT) settle in minutes if you already hold any.
- Place the order. A market order fills at the current spot price. A limit order lets you set the price you are willing to pay, which matters more on ETC than on ETH because the order books are thinner outside the top exchanges.
- Move ETC to a wallet you control. ETC has the same address format as ETH (0x...), and most Ethereum wallets (MetaMask, Ledger, Trezor) support it once you add the ETC network. Send a small test transaction first; sending ETC to an Ethereum-only address on the wrong network is a common way to lose coins.
For longer-term price scenarios on ETC, see our Ethereum Classic price forecast.
Risks of holding Ethereum Classic
ETC carries a few risks that are sharper than the ones you get on Ethereum or Bitcoin. The 51% attack history is the one most worth understanding before you buy.
- 51% attack track record. ETC has been hit by successful 51% attacks more than once. The worst run was August 2020, when three separate attacks inside a single month produced reorgs deeper than 7,000 blocks and forced major exchanges to suspend deposits and withdrawals. The post-Merge hashrate jump made attacks more expensive, but the historical record is what it is.
- Declining developer activity. ETC has a smaller core dev team than ETH and far fewer third-party teams shipping protocols on top. New EVM features land on ETC late or not at all, which gradually widens the technical gap.
- Narrative dependency on the proof-of-work story. A lot of the ETC investment thesis rests on ETC being "the proof-of-work Ethereum." If that framing loses traction, or if proof-of-work falls further out of favor with regulators, the demand side of ETC takes a direct hit.
- Exchange and liquidity risk. ETC has been delisted from a few regional exchanges over the years, often citing low volume. Each delisting reduces accessibility and adds short-term selling pressure.
- Price drawdown. ETC peaked around $176 in May 2021 and has spent most of the time since well below that. Like every crypto asset, peak-to-trough drops over 80% are part of the normal cycle. Position sizes should assume the same is possible again.
This page is information, not financial advice. Talk to someone licensed before allocating real capital.
Ethereum Classic's all-time high of $167.09 was set on May 6, 2021. The current price sits +95.95% below that peak. Distance from the all-time high is a common reference point when evaluating long recoveries and macro support or resistance.
Buying Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a five-step routine once you have picked the right venue and pair. The steps below mirror what most investors do today.
Whether Ethereum Classic is a good investment depends on your goals, time horizon, and tolerance for volatility. Like all cryptocurrencies, ETC carries real market risk: prices can rise or fall sharply in a day, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.
This page provides data and analysis for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. Always do your own research, diversify, and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
