*obligatory not financial advice*
What is Ethereum Classic?
As the name suggests, Ethereum Classic is the original version of Ethereum. The ETH that we know today is actually a fork of ETC, they used to be the same blockchain until a disagreement in the community caused a split. The reason for the split was the infamous DAO hack, where an Ethereum user managed to exploit a smart contract to steal several millions of dollars’ worth of ETH. The hacker insisted that he didn't "hack" anything and simply used a loophole in the code for his advantage and that people should just be more careful when coding a smart contract. Many people wanted to reverse the hack and decided to create a new version of Ethereum where the hack didn't happen effectively undoing the hack. However, some people where ideologically opposed to this because they believed that what happens on a blockchain should stay on the blockchain and people just start undoing transactions when that would make all actions on the chain unsecure. Both sides had enough members to continue the now two blockchains separately, the version where the hack was reversed became more popular and got the name and the ticker of the original blockchain and the original version with the hack was renamed to Ethereum Classic and got the ticker ETC.
Is Ethereum Classic any good?
Obviously ETC has many similarities with ETH. They are both smart contract platforms and use a proof of work consensus and can be mined. But since the split most developers and miners switched to the more popular new version and so most new upgrades happened on ETH and most dApps were built there as well. Despite ETC being technically the older blockchain, I can't even think of any DeFi protocol running there. ETC has also been the victim of multiple 51% attacks where somebody takes control over most of the networks mining power to change the blockchain in his favor. Even though do somewhat understand the initial reasoning that led to the continuation of ETC, it really is far behind the newer ETH because the later one simply is more popular.
ETC did explode in value recently, but this is likely because it one of just 5 different cryptocurrencies you can buy on Robinhood and many new crypto investors probably thought that it’s just a cheaper version of Ethereum. It is worth mentioning that Ethereum co-founder and Cardano founder, Charles Hoskinson, seems to really like the blockchain because it is the original version of his former brainchild and he is apparently still working on it, although his main focus is Cardano. Another thing that could be good for the network and the price of the cryptocurrency is that ETH is switching to proof of stake while ETC has currently no intention of doing that. This means the ETH will soon no longer be able to mine and all the ETH miners will want to switch to a different cryptocurrency and mining ETC is similar to mining ETH. This could make ETC mining more competitive and cause its price to go higher, this would also make future 51% attacks less likely. However, ETH is switching to proof of stake because it would make it more scalable, if ETC keeps proof of work then that could make future development and usage harder.
Ethereum Classic has barely any use as a smart contract platform and its future development isn't really promising. It’s very likely a bad long-term bet but with Ethereum’s switch to proof of stake it could be a good to buy some ETC now and sell it when all the ETH miners are looking for a new coin to mine.
