Realm of Ethereum Splits into Two Coins; Volume & Hashrate of ETC Surges

The controversial debate over the justification of the Ethereum network’s hard fork immediately led to the creation of Ethereum Classic, an alternative project developed to maintain the original non-forked chain of Ethereum.

Ethereum hard fork outcome

July 20, Ethereum completed its first hard fork to recover approximately 12 million ETH drained from the DAO by an unknown hacker, due to the underlying vulnerabilities and bugs of the DAO protocol.

The successful completion of the hard fork was celebrated and praised by the majority of the Ethereum community, but was heavily criticized by Bitcoin developers and experts, including Greg Maxwell, who believed that the hard fork had set a negative precedent by harming the reputation of cryptocurrencies in general.

Poloniex supports ETC

While most of the community and Ethereum developers failed to acknowledge the significance of Ethereum Classic, the original Ethereum chain begun to receive support from various exchanges and miners, one of which was Poloniex.

Growing support from Poloniex and the community prompted a substantial number of miners to remain on the non-forked chain, allowing Ethereum Classic to double its hashrate in a matter of hours.

The rapid surge in Ethereum Classic’s hashrate meant that previously threatening statement from Chandler Guo, to launch a 51% attack on Ethereum Classic, lost its significance.

On the day of the announcement of Poloniex, Guo announced, “I am Chandler Guo, a 51% attack on Ethereum Classic (ETC) is coming with my 98G hashrate. This is roughly 3 times of current ETC nework hashrate. This is an action to against Poloniex’s decision to support ETC.”

However, hours after Guo’s statement was released, the hashrate of Ethereum Classic spiked, eliminating the possibility of a 51% of Guo’s 98G hashrate.

Throughout the controversial arguments between developers, miners, and organizations, Ethereum Classic remained unflustered, stating, “let the community decide which blockchain has integrity, let this be proof for future cryptos not to mess with the chain.”