Ethereum Classic was created on July 20 2016. It came into existence due to the massive DAO bug, which resulted the Ethereum Foundation implementing a soft fix that ultimately failed.
The Ethereum Foundation then pushed for a Hard Fork on the Ethereum Blockchain Block 1920000. To the surprise of the Foundation; especially since it had been predicted that within hours the original chain would disappear, many miners continued to mine the non-forked chain. On block 1920001 Ethereum Classic was born. If you do not know what Ethereum or Ethereum Classic are they are an open-source, public, Blockchain-based distributed computing platform featuring smart contract (scripting) functionality. Ethereum/Ethereum Classic provides a new decentralized virtual computer (machine). This newly created virtual machine can execute Turing-complete scripts using an international network of public nodes and a token (coin) called ether (ETH). Gas is used to help prevent spam transactions on the global network and helps to allocate resources proportionally to the incentive offered by the request. Brief History of Ethereum ClassicВ A few short days after the creation of Ethereum Classic, a large cryptocoin exchange Poloniex lists ETC on its’ exchange. Shortly after being listed on poloniex other exchanges took suite and listed ETC on their exchanges. ETC then rapidly gained value and reached one third of the Ethereum price. After a virtual war between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic supporters, Ethereum Classic creates its own community. Some unfortunate news came to ETC when the Robin Hood group attempted to sell the etc they recovered from the DAO bug. The exchange which the funds were sent to, Poloniex, froze the funds and prevented trade and withdrawal of the funds. On Thu Aug 11 2016, Ethereum Classic publishes a Declaration of Independence, the document states that Ethereum Classic no longer wishes to be a part of the Ethereum Foundation. The document also listed several values that are supported by the community mainly; Code is Law. Ethereum Classic continued to move quickly and as of the 15th of Aug 2016 Classic starts to rebuild from the ground up. Streaks of bad news came to Ethereum Classic at the end of August as the DAO ETC is unlocked; Millions of previously locked ETC were now available to be dumped on the market, and in the face of huge dumps Ethereum classic held up decently. As the selloff of Ethereum classic continued through October, Ethereum and Ethereum Classic networks were attacked with non-stop attacks. Ethereum implemented many forks to secure their network, while Classic only had to perform a couple. В On the early morning of Nov 1st 2016 Ethereum Classic Publishes a Monetary Policy В states long term goals including removing mining bomb and limiting the total supply of Ethereum classic to 210 million coins. This is good news to some as Ethereum does not have a hard cap, but will switch to proof of stake. Just before Christmas Ethereum Classic received 2 early gifts. On December 15th Ethereum Classic brought on the The Grothendieck Team to help further develop ETC. On December 17th 2016, Ethereum Classic saw a huge rise in hashrate which peaked just over 1Ths. This was a substantial rise from 296 Ghs network hashrate low in November. The Network Hashrate has sustained approximately 1Ths over 3 months from December 2016 to February 2017. Early in January on the 13th Ethereum Classic Forked in the Die Hard Forkв, this delayed the mining difficulty bomb for 1 year. On Monday January 30th 20:03:54 UTC 2017, Transaction 0xed645d27b9 added 60 days to the white hat withdrawal contract. This extended the final withdrawal date of over 2 million Ethereum classic coins to April 15th 2017. В Ethereum Classic has now (February 2017) proposed a new Treasury Systemв which is a community controlled and decentralized process for funding Ethereum Classic Development. The new Treasury System is based on the following fundamentals:Supported and boosted stability and future prospects of the Ethereum Classic platform. Crypto currency miners as well as regular users should have no negative influence but benefits from a more stable and predictable system. Acceptable computation and Blockchain space load for the system, with no significant impact on performance. Possibility for anyone to submit proposals for funding (with the system protected from DoS), and selection of the best ones. Community members have incentives to select proposals for funding. Voters are interested in stability and further development of the crypto currency, so take part in the process. An immediate economic incentive to become a voter and to be involved in the decision making. The ETCS should support a self-balanced set of voters to ensure a good participation level (if the number of participants drops, then the reward per participant increases that would attract new members). Decisions made are transparent and traceable. Everyone accessing ETC Blockchain can completely and independently verify correctness of the treasury operations. Regular decision making on funding with ample time for analysis and limiting of the treasury losses from inappropriate proposals. Voting procedure should minimize complexity of voting strategies. No voter should win or lose from voting earlier or sooner than others. A delegation procedure allowing voters to follow trusted qualified participants as to decisions that need time- and skill-intensive analysis. Adequate security properties to protect the system from malicious participants. An attacker must involve significant resources for small potential gains. Ability for honest participants to interfere and prevent further attacks. Charles Hoskinson lays out a roadmap for the next 6 months in the video below*Update* IOHK Team Grothendieck Meeting, February 21, 2017In less than a year Ethereum Classic has gone from a community of miners who didn’t support ethereum’s fork, to electing a foundation, to developing a roadmap, developing a team, protecting classic from attacks, to developing a future for Ethereum Classic. Many argue that no progress has been made with apps or dapps; others still believe Ethereum Classic is Doomed. With a strong community and leadership, Ethereum Classic has proven itself with all that it has accomplished in a little over 7 months.