On August 14th Coinpedia had the opportunity to interview Terry Culver, CEO of Ethereum classic Labs. Our journalist asked a few questions related to ETC LABS and its role in crypto industry.

Below is an excerpt from our conversation where she spoke about her contribution to ETC Labs, the pilot program, future growth plans, and her thoughts on the ETC blockchain.

How did you come up with the idea of ETC LABs?

The team believes in the core values of why Ethereum Classic emerged. Since the DAO hack in 2016, the ETC community became fragmented and didn’t have galvanized leadership to move the protocol and tools forward. The team thought that the strong community and benefits of a proven PoW protocol was undervalued, and there was an opportunity to quickly contribute to moving the technology, adoption and usability forward.

How quickly the team managed to translate those ideas into reality?

The group was formed in the second half of 2018, and they were able to quickly make an impact. With the strength of the Ethereum Classic community, ETC Labs was able to quickly form an all-star development team, community leaders, and mentorship to drive adoption, utilization and growth of Ethereum Classic core protocol, development tools, and a configuration suite.

Why do you think ETC is a promising ecosystem?

The core value of the community is strong. Ethereum Classic is proven technology with the original blockchain protocol that was bifurcated into a sibling blockchain when the DAO hack occurred in 2016. With Ethereum moving to PoS, we think there is a huge opportunity for PoW blockchain that provides stability, high-levels of security, low transaction fees, and a strong, committed global community.

What factors are important in creating an ecosystem for ETC?

Strong belief systems, technology advancements and education.

Are there any other incubators focusing on Ethereum Classic?

There aren’t other groups that combine core development resources, funding, mentorship and leadership for the Ethereum Classic community. ETC Labs distinctly stands apart in delivering this comprehensive level of ongoing support.

Could you tell us a little bit about how ETC intends to make use of Accelerate Program and Studio Program ?

These new programs complement the core development of the Ethereum Classic protocol and tools. ETC Labs Accelerate and ETC Labs Studio provide technical, marketing, leadership, mentorship and funding resources. Basically they do so for companies to quickly build new projects on Ethereum Classic’s public blockchain.

Will ETC have some new technologies for protecting user information?

The Atlantis hard fork that is currently in Testnet and will move to Mainnet in September provides enhancements to protecting data processing, validation and storage. With 10 ECIPs as part of the Atlantis release, it focuses on providing more security, stability and data integrity.

How many people are there in ETC’s technical team now? And what’s the future plan for team expansion?

We currently have more than 15 dedicated global developers and continue to grow our developer ecosystem through partnerships and education.

Can you tell us about ETC Labs’ future plans — how many startups do you plan to support, why and how?

We don’t have a specific number of partners or startups that we will support. However, every year our goal is to have approximately 25 startups as part of the Accelerate program. Further, we continue to build interest by supporting companies with technical and marketing resources through our Studio program. They are complementary and flexible to the level of support companies that need to develop, launch and build products and services on Ethereum Classic.

What is the main objective ETC Labs has set for 2020?

ETC Labs will continue to advance the features and functionality of Ethereum Classic core protocol and suite of configuration tools as well as enabling the development of dapps (decentralized apps) faster and easier. Our overall goal is to support the utilization, advancement and growth of the Ethereum Classic community, dapps and usage.

Anything else you would like to share with us about the incubator program or ETC Labs in general?

ETC Labs just launched our second Cohort this week, and we will plan to have two new Cohorts next year.

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