
You might be thinking ‘Of course Ethereum is worth buying, what a crazy question!
But read the title again: is Ethereum Classic actually worth buying? Ethereum Classic is another name for the original Ethereum blockchain that existed before a major DAO hack in 2016.
Whether or not ETC is actually worth buying is up to your investing goals. If we compare it to the Ethereum token, then the answer is probably no. In the long run, you are much better off buying ETH rather than the less popular ETC.
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That doesn’t necessarily mean there isn’t any interest in Ethereum Classic. There are still some supporters of the original iteration of Ethereum that was envisioned by Vitalk Buterin. After the hack, Ethereum split off into Ethereum Classic and the blue-chip Ethereum network we know today.
Is ETC Worth Buying?
While most crypto analysts still believe Ethereum Classic can continue to see its price rise, there are concerns about the long-term utility and scalability. The price will also likely not rise as much as the Ethereum mainnet token as this blockchain is used for projects like NFTs, DeFi, and layer-2 networks.
One only has to look at the vast price difference between the two tokens to understand the difference in popularity. Ethereum Classic is currently trading at around $27.00 USD per token with a market cap of $3.7 billion. Ethereum is currently trading at just over $2,800 USD per token with a market cap of $338 billion. (As of June, 2022)
Is Ethereum Classic worth buying? That’s definitely up to your own investing style. It seems very unlikely that Ethereum Classic will ever reach the level of Ethereum or any of the other layer-1 blockchain protocols.
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How is ETC Different from ETH?

Ethereum Classic and Ethereum share a lot of similarities. This makes sense since they were both born from the same original technology. Both blockchains are capable of running smart contracts which help run decentralized applications on the networks.
A major difference between the two networks is how many transactions per second they can handle. Ethereum Classic can only manage about 20 transactions per second. Once Ethereum 2.0 comes, ETH will be able to handle upwards of 100,000 transactions per second.
Another complaint about the Ethereum network are its high gas fees.
Gas is the fee for each transaction on the network. So the more transactions there are, the more that Ethereum miners need to work and use energy to validate the network. Ethereum Classic on the other hand has lower gas fees since the network isn’t used nearly as much as the Ethereum Mainnet.
Does ETC have a Future?
The future of Ethereum Classic is unknown right now. Will I buy it? No.
One thing we can probably bet on is that it will never be as prominent as the Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum Classic may continue to rise in price, but it is difficult to get excited about the utility of this blockchain, especially with the upcoming integration of Ethereum 2.0.
One issue that has plagued the Ethereum Classic network is poor security. The infamous DAO hack which led to the fork of the two Ethereum projects was one of the worst in crypto history at the time. Since then, the Ethereum Classic network has been hit multiple times by the dreaded 51% attack, including three separate times in the month of August 2020.
While Ethereum has dominance over the NFT and DeFi markets, there are barely any developers who are building on the Ethereum Classic network. At this point it’s unlikely the token will disappear completely or go to zero, but the prospects of major gains from Ethereum Classic also seem slim.
Platforms You Can Buy ETC On

Luckily for those investors who are interested in buying Ethereum Classic, the token is readily available on most of the larger centralized exchanges. All of the bigger names like Coinbase, Binance, and Crypto.com support Ethereum Classic trading.
You won’t find Ethereum Classic on smaller exchanges like Wealthsimple Crypto though. The token is likely too obscure and not popular enough amongst Canadian crypto traders for it to be included on the platform. You can buy the bigger crypto tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana on Wealthsimple Crypto though!
To be fair there are only 130 million Ethereum Classic tokens in circulation. This is a relatively small amount compared to other projects, although it is more than the 120 million ETH in circulation.
Conclusion: Is ETC Actually Worth Buying?
It’s difficult to really recommend Ethereum Classic as a great crypto investment for the future. The network still runs in older technology from before the Ethereum Mainnet was even created, and suffers from extremely low transactions per second. There isn’t much development on the network in terms of decentralized applications or DeFi.
If you are looking to buy some Ethereum Classic, you are probably better off investing in Ethereum itself – but hey that’s just my opinion and certainly not financial advice.
At this point, it is difficult to see a direct path to major gains from investing in Ethereum Classic. Of course, anything can happen in the wild world of cryptos, but I would definitely be surprised if Ethereum Classic turned out to be a better investment than Ethereum a decade from now!
Geek, out.