Ethereum Classic (ETC) Exchange

About Ethereum Classic

"ETC is the native token of Ethereum Classic, the original Ethereum blockchain that maintained its unaltered transaction history after the contentious July 2016 hard fork. The fork was triggered by the DAO hack on June 17, 2016, when an attacker exploited a smart contract vulnerability to drain over $50 million in ETH from the Decentralized Autonomous Organization. The Ethereum community split into two camps: one (led by Vitalik Buterin) chose to hard fork the chain and reverse the stolen funds, creating what is now called Ethereum (ETH); the other maintained that blockchain immutability must be preserved regardless of circumstances, continuing the original unaltered chain as Ethereum Classic (ETC). Ethereum Classic upholds the principle of “Code is Law” and has permanently committed to proof-of-work consensus using the ETChash algorithm, explicitly rejecting any transition to proof-of-stake. ETC remains EVM-compatible, supporting Solidity smart contracts and allowing developers to deploy applications interchangeable with the Ethereum ecosystem."

ETC tokenomics

"Ethereum Classic follows a fixed monetary policy defined in ECIP-1017, with a predictable emission reduction schedule modeled after Bitcoin's scarcity-driven approach.
Supply ceiling — total supply converges toward roughly 200 million ETC under ECIP-1017; CoinGecko lists a maximum supply of 210.7 million ETC
Circulating supply — approximately 158.7 million ETC as of October 2026, according to CoinGecko
Emission schedule — block rewards fall by 20% every 5 million blocks (roughly every 2 to 2.5 years), known as “Fifthing” or “Fifthening” events; this is analogous to Bitcoin's halvings but with 20% cuts instead of 50%
Current block reward — 1.6384 ETC per block after the fifth reduction at block 25,000,000 around July 2026, according to the Ethereum Classic emission schedule
Block time — approximately 13 seconds on average (about the same as pre-Merge Ethereum)
Consensus — proof of work using ETChash (modified Ethash); Ethereum Classic has stated it will not transition to proof of stake, citing concerns that PoS concentrates wealth among early and large holders
EVM compatibility — Ethereum Classic supports Solidity and Vyper smart contracts; applications built for Ethereum can be deployed on ETC with minimal modification
Olympia upgrade — targeted for the end of 2026, it would add EIP-1559-style fee burning and an on-chain treasury governed by a DAO"

What determines ETC's value

"ETC's primary value proposition is its position as a long-running proof-of-work smart contract platform. After Ethereum's transition to proof-of-stake in September 2022 (the Merge), Ethereum Classic became a destination for GPU miners who previously secured Ethereum, increasing ETC's hash rate and network security. The capped emission schedule and the Fifthing reductions create a progressively scarcer asset, with each 20% reward cut reducing the rate of new ETC entering circulation.

Ethereum Classic's history includes multiple 51% attacks (2019 and 2020) when the chain's hash rate was a small fraction of Ethereum's. The post-Merge hash rate migration from Ethereum improved ETC's security margin, though the chain remains smaller than Bitcoin by orders of magnitude in hash power. Development activity comes from the ETC Cooperative and historically from IOHK (Input Output, the company behind Cardano), which contributed to ETC protocol improvements. The Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG) provides investors with ETC exposure through a publicly traded trust."