Ethereum Classic (ETC) is a native token on the eponymous network, which came into existence in 2016 as a result of a hard fork on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain network. Ethereum Classic’s use case is therefore the same as ETH — to serve as a smart contract platform, and the ETC token’s purpose is powering this network.The circumstances of the Ethereum Classic’s birth are quite controversial. The idea of Ethereum’s hard fork is rooted in the Ethereum DAO hack which occurred in 2016. This event resulted in a loss of more than 11 million ETH ($50 million at the time) by DAO investors. The stolen tokens were eventually found, and this prompted a bitter fight within the Ethereum community about the best way to deal with the consequences.One group thought that the funds should be returned to the original holders, while another argued that this would be against the blockchain philosophy, which dictates absolute immutability. So, in this second group’s opinion, since the transfer was committed to the chain, it has to stay that way, even if it was fraudulent. The first group won the vote, and Ethereum was hard forked, with the original chain becoming Ethereum Classic.Ethereum network has remained the bigger of the two, but Ethereum Classic has enjoyed some success too — for example, ETC fees are lower than ETH, which is a plus for many. ETC went through a rough patch in 2020, when the network was hit by several 51% attacks, but it managed to recover in 2021. Ethereum Classic forecasts mostly predict this recovery lasting for a while.In the first half of 2021, Ethereum Classic joined the rally that most of the cryptocurrency market went through. Its price grew quickly from ~$5 just before the 2020’s end to ~$15 in February. By March, the…