Ethereum Classic (ETC): halving and other events in 2024
Halving the Ethereum Classic network
On May 31, 2024, Ethereum Classic experienced its fourth halving. After another halving, the rewards to miners dropped to 2 048 ETC. The event took place at a block height of 20 000 001.
Unlike the Ethereum fork, which has moved to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm, the original blockchain runs on Proof-of-Work (PoW) and uses mining to mine cryptocurrency.
In Ethereum Classic, halving is slightly different from that inherent in the Bitcoin protocol:
- First, it occurs roughly every two years rather than four years;
- Second, the reward is not halved, but only by 20% until the issuance (total number of coins) reaches 210.7 million.
Two days before the halving, the hash rate of the Ethereum Classic network dropped by 7%, from 185.4 to 172.8 TH/s. However, at the end of September, this figure reached a new all-time high (ATH) of 193.3 TH/s, followed by a correction to 172.6 TH/s.
The Ethereum Classic network's next halving is expected on October 1, 2026. At that time, the miners' reward will drop to 1.6384 ETC.
Stablecoin on the Ethereum Classic network
In May 2024, U.S.-regulated issuer Brale launched the dollar-pegged Classic USD (USC) stablecoin on the Ethereum Classic network. USC was the first stablecoin on the Ethereum Classic network, as it previously did not support Tether (USDT), USDC, or any other stablecoins.
The appearance of USC in the Ethereum Classic blockchain allowed users to exchange (swap) digital assets for more stable ones within their ecosystem, for example, to lock in a profit (or loss) or to protect themselves from high cryptocurrency volatility. Before the USC stablecoin, users had to transfer cryptocurrencies to other networks such as Ethereum or BNB Smart Chain (BSC).
This is especially useful for miners, who can now quickly exchange mined ETC coins for USC stablecoin via decentralized exchanges on the Ethereum Classic network, such as:
- HebeSwap,
- ETCswap,
- ETCMC DEX.
Ethereum Classic updates
The Ethereum Classic team doesn't often release updates to improve the network or the entire ecosystem. The last significant update, called Spiral (ECIP-1109), was released in January 2024.
Spiral includes all the significant updates to the Shanghai hard fork released on the Ethereum network. The Spiral update is designed to ensure compatibility between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic and essentially includes all items except EIP-4895 (withdrawal of staked ETH by validators) and EIP-4399:
- EIP-3855 — improving transaction speed;
- EIP-3860 — optimizing network commissions;
- EIP-3651 — improving interaction with the crypto exchange and Coinbase wallet;
It should be noted that the Ethereum Classic project itself does not have a roadmap. The developers of Ethereum Classic believe that truly decentralized projects cannot have a roadmap and that the need for one is a bad idea.
In fact, many of the key updates are related to Ethereum — the Ethereum Classic hard fork. This is necessary to bring the Ethereum Classic network in line with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) standard. Proposals to improve the Ethereum Classic network are made through ECIP (analogous to EIP for Ethereum), but they will only be implemented if they are supported by the majority of miners.
