Ethereum Classic, the dream of anti-fork activists, faces many obstacles, but will eventually break through

Poloniex recently announced the launch of Etc (Ethereum Classic token) trading. Don't be confused by the name, it is different from classic cars or classic movies, and it has not been baptized by time. Etc is a dream of anti-fork people and the only bargaining chip they have. In other words, the reason why Etc can exist is that some people still believe in a truly tamper-proof and Turing-complete blockchain.

Since the DAO attack, the Ethereum community has been in a frenzy of hard fork debates. It was not until the miners voted to pass the hard fork code that Ethereum Classic emerged, expressing dissatisfaction with the voting results and firmly defending the initial version of Ethereum. The Ethereum Foundation performed a hard fork to recover the losses of DAO investors, while Ethereum Classic strongly opposed it because the DAO attack was caused by a contract vulnerability and had nothing to do with the Ethereum protocol. It is as unreasonable to easily modify the Ethereum protocol for a flawed smart contract as to modify the Internet protocol for a security vulnerability in Gmail. In the eyes of anti-forkists, the funds lost by investors should be regarded as a sacrifice, a sacrifice that must be made for the long-term prosperity of Ethereum.

It’s too early to laugh at Poloniex. For Poloniex, this is just a business decision. With all the news about Etc and Ethereum on social platforms, it’s no surprise that they think trading between BTC/ETC and ETH/ETC is feasible. Poloniex became the first major cryptocurrency exchange in the world to list Etc trading, providing a trading platform for those who love the initial version of Ethereum, and even earning trading fees. Although Poloniex’s behavior caused an uproar, it worked. Since Etc went online, its trading volume has reached about 18000 Bitcoins, worth US$ 1160万.

Etc achieved such success on the first day of its launch, thanks to the unique properties of Ethereum Classic. It is a product of the fork of the Ethereum blockchain. Any user who held Ether before the fork can also hold the same amount of Etc after the fork. For example, if you had 10 Ether before the fork, then after the fork you will not only have these 10 Ether, but also 10 Etc. If someone is willing to buy your Etc, you can earn income from selling Etc while holding Ether. This part of Etc is equivalent to giving it away for free, so a large number of transactions were generated, which eventually caused the price of Etc to drop sharply to $0.9. It is said that there is no free lunch in the world, but this $0.9 is really given away for free.

If you are interested in Etc, then I must tell you that investing in Etc is risky. One of the most serious problems is the replay attack, which was proposed by the Ethereum Foundation. Since Etc and Ethereum are essentially the same chain, it is difficult to distinguish valid transactions. If someone makes a transaction before the hard fork, the transaction will be recorded on both the Ethereum blockchain and the Ethereum Classic blockchain. In this way, the other party is likely to obtain your Etc information when you sell Ether, and vice versa. The only way to solve this problem is to write smart contracts on both blockchains to clearly indicate that the two exist independently.

In addition, it is difficult for Ethereum Classic to operate without the support of the Ethereum Foundation. There are also few miners on the Ethereum Classic blockchain, which will not only slow down transaction processing, but also lead to more security issues. However, there are reports that the Ethereum Core team (which existed before the fork) will become the manager of Ethereum Classic, with functions similar to those of the Ethereum Foundation. After all, the code of Ethereum and Ethereum Classic is exactly the same, and in theory, changes to the Ethereum code will also occur on Ethereum Classic. As for the miner issue, as long as mining is profitable (currently Ethereum Classic mining has a low computing power difficulty), there will be no problem with miners. In this case, the survival of cryptocurrencies is not a problem, and they may even grow and develop.

Don't forget the DAO attacker. What role did he play in this? He used the DAO contract loophole to obtain some ether, which means that he now holds an equal amount of Etc. What if he sells Etc crazily and makes it worthless? But why would he do this? If Etc is worthless, he won't make a penny. Moreover, his public address can be easily tracked, and the market can completely invalidate his transactions. Therefore, the "DAO attacker threat theory" has been exaggerated by the outside world.

Ethereum Classic still has a long way to go. It is said that more and more large exchanges, such as Bitfinex, will list Etc. In addition, some miners have expressed their intention to launch a 51% attack on the Etc mining pool. In the next few days, whether the price of Etc will rise or fall depends on how loud the voices of anti-fork supporters are and how much investors trust Etc. At the same time, since Poloniex launched Etc trading, the price of Ethereum has fallen by 10%. I can only say, who doesn't like a free lunch?