Ethereum Classic

Ethereum Classic is a Layer 1 blockchain launched on 30 July 2015 that supports programmable smart contracts and decentralized applications. It emerged from a philosophical disagreement about whether a blockchain's transaction history should ever be altered, with Ethereum Classic preserving the original, unmodified chain after a controversial hard fork. It is aimed at developers and users who prioritize the principle that code and its recorded outcomes should remain immutable.

Ethereum Classic uses Proof of Work consensus under the Ethash algorithm, meaning miners compete to solve computational puzzles in order to add blocks and secure the network. The native token, ETC, is used to pay transaction fees and compensate miners for that work. The chain is a standalone network with its own validator set and history, independent of the Ethereum network it diverged from.

Fees are paid by users who submit transactions or execute smart contracts on the network; miners receive those fees as compensation alongside block rewards. Over the trailing 30 days the network collected 540.01 USD in fees, which annualizes to approximately 6,570 USD; over the trailing 12 months total fees came to 10,568.83 USD. Fee growth over the last 30 days was 4.55 percent. Against a market capitalization of roughly 1.24 billion USD, the ratio of market cap to annualized fees stands at 188,754, and annualized fees represent approximately 0.00053 percent of market capitalization, reflecting a very modest fee base relative to network size.