A while back, Ethereum was hacked and a huge portion of the coins were stolen. The community chose to fork the Blockchain creating a clone of the Ethereum network, the only difference being that the developers and community all moved to the new version. Vitalik could have closed the old Blockchain but for an unknown reason, it was allowed to survive and is now called Ethereum Classic. The new Ethereum has a core team with stakeholders and new features but it is still centralized. The centralization of Ethereum improves the speed of decision making and the speed in the advancement of the technology.
But what about Ethereum Classic? They are decentralized. This means slower decision making due to the difficulties of getting large communities to agree. This also means ETC has no board that can make terrible decisions or that is beholden to large corporations. ETC is going to start getting developers very soon if they haven't already. I think ETC might end up being the early Androids that just couldn't compete with Apple, so they were cheaper. If that comparison is at all justified, then the significantly lower price on ETC would make it a smarter investment long term. It seems most of the crypto community is unsure about the future potential of ETC. I imagine a ghost town full of state of the art future tech waiting to be used.
I don't want to come off the wrong way, but you have an extremely novice understanding of Ethereum and Ethereum Classic..
Firstly, Ethereum was not hacked. A decentralized organization known as the DAO was hacked. They held a significant amount of Ether, and the community voted to hard fork the blockchain in a way that erased this theft. Of course, Vitalik and the other core development moved to the fork with community approval to continue working.
Second, nobody has control over the Ethereum or Ethereum Classic blockchain. As long as people mine it, it will continue to exist. Vitalik could not have closed down the ETC fork even if he wanted to.
Third, Ethereum is not centralized. It has a dedicated development team that are working towards the future of Ethereum, but the code is open-source. That means anybody can simply copy the code and make it into whatever they want, but again, it only exists if people mine it. If there is ever a point where ETH development is highly controversial, there may be another fork in which the original chain lives on, similar to how ETC does. When Ethereum moves to a Proof of Stake rather than Proof of Work paradigm, this is a possibility. But again, Ethereum is in no way centralized. The community chooses to let Vitalik and his team lead development since they are the original creators and have proven themselves time and time again.
Fourth, Ethereum Classic exists today because people don't like the fact that the community chose to change what is supposed to be unchangeable. Blockchains are supposed to be immutable, set in stone for good, and when the team provided a way to alter that and the majority chose to do so, it rattled this fundamental concept. Personally, I can see both sides of the argument. Since the DAO hack happened very early in the relative life of Ethereum, and the impact was so great, I understand why the fork happened. It definitely benefited many people who lost their money, but the notion that the community could simply vote to undo something like the blockchain is quite a big deal. Still, I stand with the developers and creators on this one.
Fifth, Ethereum Classic is no more decentralized than Ethereum technically. Yes, Ethereum has a core team that we let take the reins, but that is only due to miner's consensus that it is the right decision. I highly recommend looking at the development that has yet to come to Ethereum, since it is only about halfway done in terms of major releases. There are significant changes in the pipeline, and it WILL effect your investment.
Sixth, the idea that Ethereum Classic will somehow get developers is not entirely wrong, but as of now, ETC is widely supported by bitcoin maximalists who are more concerned with their bottom line than the future of cryptocurrencies. The current Bitcoin scaling problems, issues with massive whales, transaction fees, and difficulty to solve these issues are likely what's in store for Ethereum Classic. It had a recent price boost due to some news that happened at a large conference, but since then there has been serious doubt about the authenticity and motives behind that news. In my opinion, it is only being traded for it's market, not for its fundamentals. Ethereum is rapidly outpacing the state it was in when the Ethereum Classic fork was made, so calling ETC "state of the art" isn't wrong in the grand scheme, but couldn't be more wrong in the cryptocurrency space.
Lastly, cryptocurrencies are inherently a technology. Treating them as a "dumb" asset like gold and silver is very unwise. Changes are rapid and generally unforgiving. Never invest more than you are willing to lose.
Hopefully this has been helpful and not just a wall of FUD to you. Keep up your content creation and learning, and feel free to check my steemit for some Ethereum and altcoin related topics. I'm trying to focus on more beginner-friendly guides and tutorials for things while still covering topics comprehensively.
I follow you now. Thanks for the education. I expressed my current understanding and now that understanding is clearer. appreciate it.
Or Windows and Linux? ;) I wrote something similar a month or so ago..
Cool, I tried to find it to read but I couldn't. Are you also thinking of getting more etc like me? Seems like the math is pointing me that way.
Yeah it's probably buried down in my blog, but I might, I'm not sure yet, It's surely a good investment.
It seems shady as hell to be honest. You should hear the shit talking going on about ETC. But, it's freaking Ethereum still. Maybe a crappier version but it's gotta be worth something to someone.
Shady? How come? You do know the story behind the fork and DAO? It wasn't Vitalik's "decision" to keep the other fork, it was up to the community to do what they see fit. The fundemental difference between the forks are that ETC believes in the immutability of the chain, but ETH decided to "wipe the history" and undo the hack that happened. Ideological differences... So both continued on their own way.
That's why I like it. But that doesn't make the pump and dump rumors go away. I have no clue whats going on there but, the conversations online have created an image in my mind that needs to be replaced with amazing stuff from ETC.