Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a blockchain platform that runs decentralized smart contracts, uniquely preserving the original, unaltered history of the Ethereum network. It was born on July 20, 2016, when a controversial hard fork split the chain in response to a hack that stole $50 million worth of Ether from The DAO project, with Ethereum Classic continuing the ledger where the theft was not erased. The split followed a short, "carbon vote" in which only 5.5% of the total ETH supply participated, yet the majority approval pushed the fork forward four days later. Today, it stands as the largest smart contract platform secured by a proof-of-work consensus, a status achieved after Ethereum shifted to proof-of-stake in 2022. Its native token, ETC, is mined by nodes that validate computations on its Ethereum Virtual Machine, making it a code-is-law alternative to its more popular counterpart.