Ethereum Classic (ETC)

What is Ethereum Classic?

Ethereum Classic (ETC) is the original, unforked version of Ethereum. In 2016, a smart contract called "The DAO" was hacked, resulting in the theft of approximately $60 million worth of ETH. The Ethereum community controversially decided to fork the blockchain to reverse the hack and return funds to investors. Those who disagreed with this intervention - believing that "code is law" and that blockchain immutability should never be violated - continued on the original chain, which became Ethereum Classic.

ETC maintains all of Ethereum's original smart contract functionality but uses Proof of Work (the Etchash algorithm) rather than Proof of Stake. This makes ETC mineable with consumer GPUs, giving it a different security model than ETH.

ETC for Indian Investors

Ethereum Classic is available on Binance, Bybit, Bitget, and CoinDCX. Indian investors who hold ETC typically do so for its fixed supply (210 million cap - unlike ETH's uncapped model), its Bitcoin-like PoW security model, and its position as a "store of value" smart contract platform. ETC has a loyal community that values immutability above governance intervention.

Mining ETC in India

ETC can be mined using GPU rigs, making it accessible to Indian miners with gaming or professional GPU hardware. Mining profitability depends on electricity costs, hardware efficiency, and ETC price. India's electricity costs vary significantly by state, which affects mining economics. Use mining profitability calculators with your local electricity rate in INR before investing in mining hardware.

Key Risks

ETC has suffered multiple 51% attacks in its history (2019-2020), where miners with majority hash power reorganised blocks. The network has since implemented measures to deter such attacks, but the risk is higher for PoW chains with lower hash rate than Bitcoin.