Ethereum Classic is an open source distributed computing platform based on blockchain that offers a smart contract (scripting) functionality.
It supports a modified version of the Nakamoto consensus through stateful transactions based on transitions executed on an Ethereum virtual public machine (EVM).
Ethereum Classic maintains the original, unchanged history of the Ethereum network. 2 The Ethereum project's main Ethereum network was initially launched through Frontier on 30 July 2015. However, due to a hack of a third-party project, the Ethereum Foundation created a new version of the Ethereum mainnet on 20 July 2016 with an irregular state change implemented that erased the DAO theft from the history of the Ethereum blockchain. The Ethereum Foundation applied its trademark to the new altered version of the Ethereum blockchain; Ethereum (ticker: ETH). The previous, unaltered version of Ethereum was renamed and continued as Ethereum Classic (ticker: ETC).
Ethereum Classic's native Ether token is a cryptocurrency traded on digital currency exchanges under the ticker symbol ETC.
Ether is created as a reward to network nodes for a process known as "mining", which validates calculations performed in the Ethereum Classic EVM.
Implemented on 11 December 2017, the current ETC monetary policy pursues the same goals as bitcoin of being mechanical, algorithmic and limited. ETC can be exchanged for network transaction fees or other assets, commodities, currencies, products and services.
Ethereum Classic provides a decentralised Turing-complete virtual machine, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which can execute scripts using an international network of public nodes. The instruction set of the virtual machine is Turing complete in contrast to others such as the bitcoin script. Gas, an internal transaction pricing mechanism, is used to mitigate spam and allocate resources in the network.
