Ethereum Hard Fork Gives Birth to a New 'Classic' Coin

The Ethereum community had a hard fork this past week, and many celebrated a successful implementation. However, not everyone was enthusiastic about the fork as it only received 85% of the network’s hashing power. The Ethereum blockchain split into two, and the minority has been mining and now trading via Poloniex a “new” token supply called Ethereum Classic.

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Ethereum Classic Emerges

In the wee hours of July 23, the cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex introduced a new token its markets dubbed Ethereum Classic. This has caused a heated debate throughout the Ethereum community just days after celebration among the Ethereum Foundation members and members of the Slock.it development team of the implemented hard fork.

#Ethereum fork: exchanges are starting to reopen ETH withdrawals and deposits. Looks like @Poloniex is leading the charge #blockchain — Stephan Tual (@stephantual) July 20, 2016

Ethereum Classic, otherwise known as ETC, has a lot of volume at Poloniex. Currently, the exchange is reporting over 18 thousand BTC in ETC trading with the troll-box going wild.

People initially thought ETC was just an exercise in trolling as well, but the project has gained significant traction over the past couple of days. Miners have joined the Classic pools, social media pages have been created, and somehow it managed to find its way into the trading markets. Currently, ETC value has been volatile but is the sixth most valued coin so far according to coinmarketcap.com. One ETC’s fiat value is close to $1 dollar at the time of writing.

Spotty Support

Of course, this event has caused quite a stir within the Ethereum community as celebrations have ceased and the value per Ether fell 11% on July 24. The Chinese miner, Chandler Guo, has shown his dislike for the ETC chain and tried to initiate a miner movement to 51% attack the network’s hashrate. His threats have not received much support yet while some have even said that he’s helping attract more attention to ETC. Additionally, some have also questioned Guo’s claim of “98G” of the network’s hashrate.

I am Chandler Guo, a 51% attack on Ethereum Classic (ETC) is coming with my 98G hashrate https://t.co/9VM6vPa8CS — Chandler Guo (@ChandlerGuo) July 24, 2016

Despite the ETC haters, others seem to be supportive of its emergence. Ethereum developer Gavin Wood announced via Twitter that a Parity client is being developed for ETC holders. Wood has been vocal about the DAO situation, which has caused this mess, and which may create more support for the minority chain. Of course, both Wood and Guo’s tweets may be meaningless and possibly meant just to stir the pot, but it seems to be working as many Ethereum supporters are quite upset.

Meanwhile, ETC supporters or anti-hard fork proponents congratulated Wood for making the Parity client. Some have said let the “free market decide” and former co-founder of Ethereum Charles Hoskinson says, “thanks, Gavin.”

Fork Drama Continues

It’s going to take some significant effort for the Ethereum Classic chain to keep up its pace as many believe it will lack certain features. For instance, it doesn’t have a development team with programmers like Vitalik Buterin behind it. Though, considering the surprising tweet coming from Gavin Wood, this could change.

Poloniex has received criticism for causing a ruckus within the community so it will be interesting to see if other exchanges follow suit. In any case, Ethereum Classic is a token that has birthed out of the madness of the DAO situation and it appears many are cheering for its existence.

What do you think of the Ethereum Classic movement? Let us know in the comments below.

Images via the Ethereum Classic website, Poloniex