FAQs

This page contains a collection of frequently asked questions, answered along with video explainers to help you get up to speed with Ethereum Classic.

Basics

What is Ethereum Classic?

Ethereum Classic is a secure, censorship resistant, reliable, public, trustless and decentralized platform for running applications. Ethereum Classic is the continuation of the original Ethereum technology stack launched in 2015.

• What is Ethereum Technology? A Beginner's Explanation in Plain English
• Decentralizing Everything with Ethereum's Vitalik Buterin | Disrupt SF 2017

How is Ethereum Classic (ETC) related to Ethereum (ETH)?

To understand the relationship it is important to know the history. It is especially important to be familiar with the DAO attack and how the Ethereum Foundation responded to it.

Also, it is important to be familiar with the strong objections described in the Ethereum Classic Declaration Of Independence.

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• The History & Future Of Ethereum Classic - By Charles Hoskinson
• Gavin Wood presentation hack of the DAO smart contract and options Ethereum community
• Gavin Wood on how $60M hack of DAO happened and what to do next
• Understanding smart contracts & The DAO hack in detail

How is Ethereum Classic related to Bitcoin?

Bitcoin was the first blockchain application. Ethereum Classic is a general blockchain platform to run many more types of applications than Bitcoin can.

• Ethereum vs Bitcoin | Explained (For Beginners)
• Ethereum Vs. Bitcoin: What Sets Them Apart?
• Ethereum vs Bitcoin Technical Differences | Which Blockchain Technology is Better?

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain is a special type of distributed database. The most significant attribute of blockchains is that no one controls them! There is no one everybody needs to trust to manage it. That is why they are referred to as being trustless. Users submit tasks in transactions that are grouped into blocks that are linked together to form chains.

• How does a blockchain work - Simply Explained
• Blockchain In 7 Minutes
• Blockchain Technology for Dummies - Blockchain Explained Simply
• Blockchain Explained

What is a smart contract?

Smart contracts are computer systems that manage assets such as automatic teller machines and the Bitcoin system. Ethereum Classic is able to run many types of smart contracts. If Ethereum Classic smart contracts are not mainly financial, it makes more sense to emphasize their autonomy by referring to them as agents.

• A Beginner's Guide to Smart Contracts
• Smart contracts - Simply Explained
• Smart Contracts - What Are They? (Plus Examples)

What is ether?

Ether and ETC denote the native cryptocurrency used to pay for tasks such as installing new smart contracts. What is Ether and Ethereum?

What is gas?

Gas is a made up unit used to denote the amount of resources required to do tasks such as installing new smart contracts.

• Ethereum Gas Explained
• Ether vs Gas difference | Programmer explains

Software

What is a dapp?

A dapp is a decentralized application. They are also referred to as smart contracts on the Ethereum Classic system. The term is used to distinguish applications that run on blockchains from centralized applications.

• What is a Dapp?
• What is a dApp? Decentralized Application on the Blockchain

How do I create a dapp?

To create a dapp for Ethereum Classic you must program one in a smart contract programming language. Then, you must compile that dapp and install it on the blockchain from a funded account.

• Build Your First Blockchain App Using Ethereum Smart Contracts and Solidity
• Build 5 Dapps on the Ethereum Blockchain - Beginner Tutorial

How do I purchase ether for an account?

You can purchase ether on several exchanges. You can also mine for ether.

What smart contract programming languages are there?

Solidity is similar to Javascript and the most popular. Serpent is similar to Python and also available. LLL is yet another choice that is similar to Lisp. There are other smart contract languages being developed as well.

• Solidity Tutorial - A Full Course on Ethereum, Blockchain Development, Smart Contracts, and the EVM
• Understanding Vyper: The slick New Ethereum language

Mining

What is mining?

There are computational tasks involved in adding blocks of transactions to the blockchain. Computers on the Ethereum Classic network that voluntarily perform these tasks get a reward of ether. For security reasons, miners compete to complete these tasks first and win these rewards. This effort is referred to as mining.

• What is Proof of Work?
• Bitcoin and cryptocurrency mining explained
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What is proof of work information?

Mining involves doing computational tasks whose sole purpose is to intentionally make mining difficult! This difficulty is required to secure the network against certain attacks. These tasks involve finding certain numbers related to each block. These numbers are referred to as proof of work information.

• Proof of Work vs Proof of Stake - Clearly Explained

What is a coinbase?

A coinbase is a special transaction, in every block, that creates new ether added to an account selected by the miner of that block. It can also refer to the primary account of a user.

What is an uncle?

Several miners compete to submit blocks to the blockchain. Inevitably some miners will lose the competition. The blockchain references the losing blocks to make the blockchain more secure. These losing blocks that contribute to the security of the blockchain are referred to as uncles. The term comes from the fact that blocks have preceding parent blocks. The losing blocks are not parents but are still related to the parents. Hence they are like uncles.

• All About Ethereum - Uncles