Although Bitcoin was the very first cryptocurrency to be created, since then several cryptocurrencies have emerged that offer additional features, benefits and use cases, Ripple and Litecoin for example are even faster and have lower fees. At the same time, the Ethereum network is a smart contract-focused blockchain platform that can be used to launch various decentralized applications, also known as dapps.
But did you know that Ethereum first started out as Ethereum Classic? Eventually, the two blockchains split due to a disagreement in the crypto community over how to handle a hack, and the Ethereum fork resulted in Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).
The two very similar but distinctly different types of Ethereum were born from the same code but are not equal today in terms of community support and developer ecosystem. One of the two is at the center of the recent DeFi trend, while the other is regularly attacked at 51%. All of these reasons and more make one a much better investment than the other.
Read this guide comparing the two cryptocurrencies to find out whether it is worth investing in Ethereum or Ethereum Classic and which of the two is the best investment for you.
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is essentially a giant decentralized supercomputer that developers can use to code smart contracts designed to run dapps or decentralized applications. These dapps can be coded to behave in any way and this has given rise to a huge industry called Decentralized Finance or DeFi.
Other tokens can be launched via the Ethereum blockchain platform. During the crypto hype bubble of 2017, Ethereum was the platform of choice to launch Initial Coin Offerings – also known as ICOs – or new crowdfunded ERC-20 tokens that investors bought in hopes of becoming the next Bitcoin or Ethereum to be found before anyone else. It helped Ethereum explode and grow to its all-time high price of $4,811 at the peak of the 2021 bull market.
Today, Ethereum’s recent high is $4,400, followed by the ultra-hot DeFi industry and the still-growing NFT market. DeFi has the potential to replace traditional finance with permissionless lending and borrowing, while NFTs have lured entertainers, athletes, and celebs of all stripes into the space. These influencers are attracting tons of users to the crypto space and most of what they use these days runs on Ethereum. Anything built on Ethereum requires ETH for gas fees, which helps push Ethereum’s price up.
Seeing Ethereum in action on a large scale has finally caught the attention of all of Wall Street.