Ethereum Classic (ETC) is an effort to preserve the integrity of the original Ethereum blockchain after a DAO hack led to the theft of 3.6 million ETH in 2016. Long story short; the ETH community was split (literally) on what to do about the hack. One side wanted to keep the chain as is (with the stolen coins still stolen) and the other wanted to “rollback the chain” and negate the thieves’ stolen coins from being usable.
The rolled back chain became what we know today as Ethereum. The chain that did not rollback and still has the 3.6 Million stolen ETH is known as Ethereum classic. They are not the same coin despite the name, and certainly don’t have the same value. ETH is currently above $3K while ETC is below $50 bucks.
Since its launch, Ethereum Classic has sought to differentiate itself from Ethereum, with the two networks’ technical roadmap diverging further and further from each other with time.
Unlike Ethereum, Ethereum Classic has no plans to convert to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mining algorithm, while multiple developers continue to work on future improvements such as scaling solutions.