The ability to fork away with a different set of rules to preserve the integrity and security of the system is a basic principle of blockchains in particular and open source projects in general.
Systems like Bitcoin (BTC) have experienced several splits in the past giving origin to networks such as Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Gold, and, even previous to these, Litecoin, amongst many others.
Ethereum Classic (ETC) itself is one of two blockchains which originally were a single one.
In 2016, the original Ethereum ecosystem decided to bail out a significant sector of the community who had invested in TheDAO so they split from the mainnet. The legacy chain was called “classic” from then on because it represented the original vision of code is law and immutable state.
Ethereum Classic was going fine until in 2018 the original core developer team was suddenly disrupted.
However, after several squabbles within the ecosystem and a 51% attack in 2019, things seemed to be stabilizing. The ETC ecosystem went on to perform the Atlantis, Aztlán, Agharta, and Phoenix upgrades in the next couple of years, and achieved parity with Ethereum, which was one of the higher goals for the system.
Nevertheless, a new very traumatic period occurred when a slew of persistent reorganization attacks happened again in August of 2020.
The additional problem these attacks created was that they opened a divide in the ecosystem again.
One side decided to implement a solution called MESS to prevent more attacks, and led a new hard fork, codenamed Thanos, to change the mining algorithm, while systematically ignoring the other side’s legitimate and important proposals going through the ECIP process.
Such proposals were the definitive change of the mining algorithm to SHA 3, the activation of the Proto Treasury, the implementation of interoperability technologies such as Flyclient and NiPoPoWs, and the additional deployment of a checkpointing solution to reinforce the defense mechanisms of the blockchain while the hash rate remained low.
This divide in the ETC ecosystem has created an irreconcilable situation.
One side has systematically ignored the rest of the community and ecosystem participants, has dismissed long standing proposals and critical changes needed to preserve the Ethereum Classic blockchain safety, and seems to have leveraged its dominant position in node client and mining software share to only introduce their desired hot fixes and short term solutions.
The other side has justifiably grown less patient and keen to keep the ecosystem unified as their proposals have been repeatedly passed over and their concerns and demands have not been met.
Due to all of the above, it is the opinion of this author that a split in the network is inexorable.
For this matter, it is advised that all Ethereum Classic network participants and constituents stay alert, monitor the situation, and be ready and prepared for such event.
Etherplan will support the chain that implements SHA 3, Proto Treasury, Flyclient, NiPoPoWs, and checkpointing as these are regarded as the most optimal changes to power the network while it achieves its long term vision and positioning in the blockchain industry.
For more information about the progress of the SHA 3 proposal in ETC and current ecosystem relations, please watch this video:
The Ethereum Classic SHA 3 Coalition and Upgrade With Alex Tsankov. Recorded on Feb 20, 2021
Code Is Law
