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How to Buy Ethereum Classic (ETC) – A Beginner’s Guide

By: Ofir Beigel | Last updated: 1/5/24

This short guide will explain the difference between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic and how you can buy Ethereum Classic online.

How to Buy Ethereum Classic Summary

Ethereum Classic is actually the “original” Ethereum that never forked when the 2016 ‘The DAO’ hack occurred. Here’s how to buy ETC online:

  1. Get an Ethereum Classic wallet (Ledger, TREZOR, Coinomi)
  2. Locate your ETC address
  3. Find an ETC exchange (Coinbase)
  4. Buy ETC
  5. Withdraw your ETC

If Coinbase doesn’t work out for you, here are some additional buying options:

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That’s how to buy Ethereum Classic in a nutshell. If you want a more detailed explanation about Ethereum Classic and the buying process keep on reading. here’s what I’ll cover:

  1. Ethereum Classic vs. Ethereum
  2. How to buy Ethereum Classics
  3. Conclusion

1. Ethereum vs. Ethereum Classic

The story of Ethereum Classic goes back to the first half of 2016 when a project called The DAO (short for Decentralized Autonomous Organization) was trying to build a decentralized corporation on top of the Ethereum network.

Through an ICO, The DAO crowdfunded over $140 million in Ether (Ethereum’s currency). This was the biggest crowdfund in history at the time, and the funds were locked inside a smart contract.

A short while after the crowdfunding ended, a hacker exploited a critical bug in the contract’s code, allowing him to drain the funds from The DAO into another contract under his control. The Ethereum development team, many of which were involved in The DAO project, were shocked.

Since Ethereum was much smaller back then and The DAO held about %14 of all of the ether in existence, Ether’s price began dropping. Due to a technical limitation, there were 30 days until the hacker could start draining the funds from his controlled contract.

The proposed solution was to roll back the entire Ethereum blockchain to the point before the attack took place and change the code so that The DAO investors would be able to undo their investment and get their Ether back.

Basically, the Ethereum developers rewrote history, something that shouldn’t be possible in a true decentralized immutable ledger.

Some people didn’t like the rollback idea at all – that’s when Ethereum Classic was born. A group of people decided they would not follow the proposed fork to undo the attack and would stick with the original code.

Their argument went as follows:

The unique proposition of Ethereum is being an unstoppable code, a system where code is law. Arguably such a system does not take into account if the code is solid, or behaves as intended, it just runs it.

The very fact that the Ethereum development team were able to undo The DAO conundrum was a warning sign to many. If a few phone calls between some key parties and some code can change the Ethereum blockchain, how unstoppable is it really?

The way Ethereum Classic proponents see it, they are the original Ethereum. They are using the original code without the rollback and with a significant following. After all, having hundreds of millions of dollars worth of market cap means a lot of people are buying into the Ethereum Classic paradigm.


2. How to buy Ethereum Classic

Step 1 – Get an ETC wallet

Ledger
Type:
Hardware wallet
Overall rating:
Trezor
Type:
Hardware wallet
Overall rating:
Coinomi
Type:
Mobile wallet
Overall rating:
Exodus
Type:
Web wallet
Overall rating:

Ethereum Classic Hardware Wallets

The safest solution for storing ETC is a Hardware wallet. The Ledger Nano S and Nano X both have native support for ETC and can easily be used to keep your ETC on cold storage. You can read my Ledger Nano X review here.

TREZOR wallets (One, Model T) can also hold ETC through TREZOR’s web interface. You can read my TREZOR T review here.

Ethereum Classic Software Wallets

For a mobile solution you can use the multi-currency wallet Coinomi, which allows multiple types of assets, ETC being one of them. Coinomi Works on android and iOS. You can read my review of it here.

For desktops, the best solution would be Exodus. A super simple to use and beautifully designed desktop wallet that supports ETC and a wide variety of altcoins. You can read my complete Exodus review here.

There’s also a full fledged Ethereum wallet called Emerald Wallet, which is the native software that runs Ethereum, adjusted to work with Ethereum Classic. You can get it on github and become a part of the network by running an ETC node.

Locate your ETC Address

Once you have your wallet you will need to locate your ETC address. ETC addresses are similar to ETH addresses. They are a long string of letters and numbers starting with “0x”. Here’s an example:

0x353c13b940aa5eed75aa97d477954289e7880bb8

Step 2 – Find an Ethereum Classic Exchange

Buy Ethereum Classic Through eToro

eToro allows you to invest in ETC with a variety of payment methods but is aimed for speculation purposes only (not available to US users). This means that using eToro for actual access to your coins e.g. to send coins from eToro to other people is less recommended.

eToro makes it easy for you to buy or sell Ethereum Classic for fiat currency (i.e. Dollars, Euros, etc.).  You can read my eToro review here.

Important!

Cryptocurrencies can widely fluctuate in prices and are not appropriate for all investors. Trading cryptocurrencies is not supervised by any EU regulatory framework. So keep in mind that your capital is at risk. US users – CFDs are not available for US users. US users can only trade (long) real assets without leverage.

Buy Ethereum Classic Through Coinbase

Coinbase supplies an easy brokerage solution for buying ETC with your local currency IF you’re located in one of the 103 supported countries. The main downside is the horrific customer support, so as long as you don’t encounter any issues along the way this will probably be the cheapest way to get actual coins.

Coinbase also has a trading platform called Coinbase Advanced suited for more advanced traders. If you feel comfortable with this platform you can buy ETC through it at a much cheaper price since it has lower fees. Here’s my Coinbase review.

Buy Ethereum Classic Through Binance

Binance is a crypto only exchange that allows you to trade a variety of cryptocurrencies for ETC. Binance supplies only the option to exchange ETC for BTC, ETH and BNB.

The exchange recently added the option to buy certain coins with a credit card. However, ETC is not supported through that option. You can read my complete Binance review here.

Buy Ethereum Classic Through Bitfinex

Bitfinex, founded in 2012, has been around for a while and also had its share of controversies. The platform allows you to buy and sell ETC for fiat currencies (USD, EUR, GPB and more). Fees are considered relatively low but the platform is more suited for experienced traders. Here’s my Bitfinex review.

Buy Ethereum Classic Through Kraken

Kraken is perhaps the oldest operating exchange around (aside from Bitstamp). Kraken allows you to buy and sell ETC for USD and EUR. The platform has suffered from numerous technical issues in the past but has always seemed to maintain its popularity. You can read my complete Kraken review here.

Step 3 – Withdraw your Ethereum Classic into your wallet

When you’re done buying ETC, don’t forget to get your coins out of the exchange, as this is vital to keeping control of your money and minimizing the trust you put in third parties.

Depending on where you bought your ETC from, there may be some fees related to withdrawing the coins but in my opinion it’s worth the peace of mind.


3. Conclusion

Ethereum Classic (ETC) has been around for a long time and has kept a relatively high place in the cryptocurrency charts. While it doesn’t differ that much from ETH in design, its adoption rate isn’t even close to that of what is considered today to be the original Ethereum.

I’m not really sure there’s a place for these two currencies to co-exist when the dust settles from the early days of crypto, but for now, it seems that enough people are interested in it in order for it to have a market.

I hope you now have a better understanding of what Ethereum Classic is and why it exists. If you have any more comments or questions, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.

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9 comments on “Buy Ethereum Classic (ETC)”

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    1. He Oluwatobi,

      I don’t know of a way to purchase Ethereum Classic (ETC) directly for Naira (NGN). However, what you can do is purchase Bitcoin (BTC) or Ethereum (ETH) from an exchange – such as Luno, which I recommended to Valentine in the comment below – and then use a crypto-only exchange to swap the BTC or ETH for ETC.

      This extra step will cost you a little more in trading fees and times but I think that will be the easiest way to get ETC if there isn’t a Nigerian exchange which directly supports it. As a crypto-only exchange, I believe Binance to be a reliable and popular choice. As a bonus, they don’t require verification so you’ll be able to get trading right away (once you have your BTC or ETH).

    1. Hi Valentine,

      OK, so there are various exchanges which you can use to buy Ethereum (ETH) with Naira (NGN).

      I’m going to recommend the Luno exchange as I often use them myself and I’ve never had any serious problems with them. They have a presence in numerous emerging market countries and I’ve only heard good things about Luno from people I’ve spoken to in those places.

      The website is Luno.com – just go through their account creation and verification process, you’ll need to provide them with your details and send along some scanned documents as proof. You should then be able to send NGN to their bank account and purchase Ethereum, which you can then withdraw to your Ethereum wallet.

      Please let me know if you need any more specific advice. I would think that Luno’s support would cover most of your further questions however.

  1. AG, Wanting to add to my bitcoin holdings. how do you see price action thought-out the rest of 2017? you do a very good job with your research and I value your opinion. thx and keep up the good work 〽️💵

    1. Thanks for the feedback!
      I personally can’t say what will happen with Ethereum (or Bitcoin for that matter), I don’t think no one can. There are too many variables. The way I see it, I try to do my best to understand what a currency is all about, and if it makes sense to me I invest in it for the long term.
      I basically avoid day trading or price speculation.

    1. Zsofia - 99Bitcoins support

      Hi Julia, I suggest you read more about cryptocurrencies to be fully on board before spending any money. Also, if you are in doubt if a site is legit or scam, you can use our Bitcoin Scam Test tool and draw your own conclusion with the help of it. You can find it here: https://99bitcoins.com/bitcoin-scam-test/

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