Bubble
Ethereum Classic ETC
Ethereum Classic (ETC) was trading at $7.01, ranked #65 by market cap at $1.07B, with 24h volume of $89.44M.
Data snapshot: 2026-08-03 09:00 UTC.
ETC is the original Ethereum chain, kept alive by a minority of the community that rejected the 2016 hard fork which reversed the DAO hack and became today's Ethereum. It has stayed true to "code is law" and proof-of-work mining ever since, never adopting proof-of-stake, and today functions largely as a smart-contract chain for those who specifically want Ethereum's original, unaltered transaction history. Ethereum Classic is the chain that kept the original ledger after the 2016 split, when the majority of the community reversed a large contract exploit and ETC's supporters refused to. It remains proof-of-work and has a capped emission schedule, which gives it a very different economic model from Ethereum's proof-of-stake design. Development activity is modest and the ecosystem is small. On a market map ETC is worth watching for a specific reason: after Ethereum moved to proof of stake, ETC became one of the few remaining large proof-of-work chains, so it sometimes trades with mining-linked assets rather than with smart-contract platforms.
How is Ethereum Classic different from Ethereum?
ETC is the continuation of the original chain after the 2016 fork and still uses proof-of-work mining with a capped supply schedule. Ethereum took the other path and now uses proof of stake.
Why did the split happen?
After a large exploit of an early contract, most of the community adopted a change that reversed it. Those who considered the ledger immutable regardless of outcome continued the unmodified chain, which became Ethereum Classic.
Does ETC track ETH's price?
Loosely, and less than its name suggests. Its economics, security budget and ecosystem differ enough that the two have diverged substantially over time.
Is ETC still mined?
Yes, it remains a proof-of-work chain, which is one reason it drew attention from miners after Ethereum stopped issuing block rewards to them.
Market cap decides how big a bubble is drawn, so rank is what places ETC on the map relative to the rest of its sector.
| Rank | Coin | Market cap |
|---|---|---|
| #32 | NEAR Protocol (NEAR) | $2.48B |
| #57 | Internet Computer (ICP) | $1.14B |
| #65 | Ethereum Classic (ETC) | $1.07B |
| #76 | Pi Network (PI) | $909.33M |
| #78 | Kaspa (KAS) | $744.92M |