Want to buy Ethereum Classic (ETC)? You will have heard of ‘normal’ Ethereum (ETH), the second-biggest crypto behind Bitcoin. But did you know that Ethereum Classic is the original Ethereum? Champions of Ethereum Classic (ETC) say it will prove safer than Ethereum (ETH) in the long-run because of its insistence on ‘unstoppable’ smart contracts.
With our reviews of three crypto exchanges, we focus on how to buy ETC safely and simply with a regulated provider. You don’t need to understand how crypto works to reap rewards from investing in it. But here, however you choose to buy ETC, you will be going in with your eyes open.
How to Buy Ethereum Classic – Quick Steps
Want to buy cryptocurrency in 2022 with low fees and no hassle? Here’s how to buy Ethereum Classic (ETC) in less than five minutes:
- Step 1: Open an account – Sign in with Facebook or Google and get verified.
- Step 2: Deposit – You can buy Ethereum Classic with bank transfer, credit/debit card and a range of e-wallets.
- Step 3: Search for Ethereum Classic – Select from a collection of 60+ major cryptos including, of course, Ethereum Classic.
- Step 4: Buy – Buy Ethereum Classic and transfer it to your other wallets as you wish.
Where to Buy Ethereum Classic
Below we tackle the question of where to buy Ethereum Classic with a review of three top crypto exchanges:
1. Crypto.com – Reputable Crypto Exchange with Beginner-Friendly Mobile App
Crypto.com is a cryptocurrency exchange. Based in Singapore, an average of $1.7bn crypto business gets done every day with Crypto.com — so be assured that this is no small-time outfit.
With Crypto.com, you can buy over 250 different crypto. Want to buy Ethereum Classic with credit card? No problem. If you want to trade on the exchange, though, you will need to invest in some stablecoins (Tether/USD Coin), Bitcoin, or the exchanges’ native crypto CRO to get started. Crypto.com charges a 2.99% fee on credit card purchases.
When it comes to security, Crypto.com offers the reassurance of ‘cold’ storage in partnership with big name Ledger. ‘Cold’ storage means that funds and crypto are mostly held offline so they cannot be hacked. The exchange also boasts a $750m insurance fund as back up.
Where Crypto.com stands out is in its range of crypto trading and financing options (illustrated below). These might be a little daunting to the newcomer, but are simply ways of making the best of your crypto.
You can trade on margin with Crypto.com as well as explore futures contracts. And when it comes to financing, you can earn up to 14% APY on staking crypto with no lock-in period.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product.
2. Coinbase – Popular Cryptocurrency Exchange with Great Newbie Options
You may have heard of Coinbase because it was the first crypto exchange to go public on the stock markets with a 2021 IPO on the NASDAQ. With over 73m users, a daily trading volume of over $2bn, and 167+ crypto to choose from, California-based Coinbase is an exchange to be reckoned with.
Coinbase has an excellent reputation as being a friendly place for newcomers. With Coinbase you can earn crypto as you learn, by simply completing online learning modules. Further, you can increase your knowledge of the crypto sector by browsing Coinbase’s legendary database of crypto.
As with Crypto.com, Coinbase allows you to buy Ethereum Classic with credit card as well as receive an in-house credit card with which to spend your crypto in the real world as if it were cash. Security-wise, Coinbase was among the first exchanges to keep client funds in cold storage.
Where Coinbase comes in for criticism is in its dual fee structure which mixes flat fees with commission charges. This can be confusing, as well as expensive; Coinbases charges a 3.99% fee for credit card purchases. The exchange said last year that a new fee structure would be coming soon.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product.
3. Binance – Leading Exchange to Buy Ethereum Classic with Credit Card
Finally we look at the biggest crypto exchange of all: Binance, which boasts a daily trading volume of $11bn and a stellar range of 400+ crypto including Ethereum Classic. Because of its size, Binance can offer really low commissions on trades (0.1%). And, if you buy Binance Coin (the in-house crypto) you can get reductions on some trading fees.
Binance offers numerous ways to buy cryptocurrency including instant buy with credit card, deposit of fiat currency, crypto exchange and direct trade with other investors using P2P trading. Like Crypto.com, Binance’s finance options are impressive, with yield farming and crypto savings accounts allowing you to earn money from your existing crypto.
The major downsides with Binance are its lack of sovereign regulation and the complexity of its offering. To make things simple, choose the ‘Classic’ interface if you are trading via your desktop or the ‘Binance Lite’ option on the smartphone app.
Pros
Cons
Cryptoassets are a highly volatile unregulated investment product.
What is Ethereum Classic?
Ethereum Classic is often described as Ethereum’s little brother. But this is misleading. ETC was created out of a hard fork out of ETH back in 2016, but Ethereum Classic is actually the original blockchain. Like Ethereum, Ethereum Classic is a decentralised blockchain in its own right with the capacity to handle smart contracts and support DApps (decentralised applications). The focus for both Ethereums is on providing a backbone for DApps, although Ethereum Classic has come to be used as a ‘store of value’ like Bitcoin.
With a market capitalisation of just under $3.5bn, Ethereum Classic is the 30th-biggest cryptocurrency (according to crypto data specialists Coinmarketcap.com). An average of $375m in Ethereum Classic is traded every day.
Is Ethereum Classic a Good Investment?
Ethereum Classic vs. Ethereum
One way of summarising the difference between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic is to say that Ethereum Classic is the purist’s version of Ethereum.
Champions of Ethereum Classic say that it has a brighter future than Ethereum because of its insistence that ‘Code is Law’. This means that smart contracts must be run in such a way that they are ‘unstoppable’ once initiated, regardless of what happens. It is alleged that ‘normal’ Ethereum has lost this principle, and allowed other interests to rule how the blockchain is run, whereas Ethereum Classic has stuck to its guns and can therefore deal with future crises better.
The Ethereum Classic team comments that, ‘eventually all blockchains will face existential challenges that can only be overcome through an unwavering commitment to unstoppability.’
Ethereum Classic’s Proof-of-Work Protocol Safer
Both ETH and ETC have used Proof-of-Work protocols until now to validate transactions; this is ‘mining’, as with Bitcoin. Ethereum is currently undergoing an upgrade to more eco-friendly Proof-of-Stake protocols. But champions of Ethereum Classic say that big corporations will continue to favour Ethereum Classic because Proof-of-Work is safer than Proof-of-Stake (even though it is not as fast or as scalable).
Good Tokenomics
The supply of Ethereum is unlimited. The supply of Ethereum Classic, on the other hand, is limited to 210 million tokens. Under 60% are in circulation, with the remaining 40%+ yet to be mined. This means that the price of Ethereum Classic will always be positively supported by a situation of limited supply.
Get in on the DApp Phenomenon
Decentralised Applications (DApps) are a massive growth industry. DApps are essentially computer programs that work with blockchains, and use them to offer transactions and contracts which are unbreakable and impossible to cheat; this is really useful for big business in the real world. The DApp sector is projected to be worth over $360bn by 2027. The Ethereum Classic blockchain was built specifically to support DApps. Consider buying Ethereum Classic if you want to invest in the future of the DApp sector.
Buy the Dip
The crypto markets have taken quite a hit since 2021, as it has done many times in the past. It is not clear whether it will continue its downward price direction. But it is far better to make a crypto purchase now than during a boom period. Critically, at $28, Ethereum Classic has not been this cheap since April 2021.
Ethereum Classic Price
In the last 72 hours, Ethereum Classic’s price dropped 6.70 percent. Within the previous 24 hours, the price has risen 2.30 percent. The value has fallen by 0.11 percent in the last hour. The price of an ETC is now $26.26. The all-time high of $176.16 has been reached by Ethereum Classic.
Ethereum Classic Price Prediction
Ethereum Classic: buy or sell? From its present level under $30, some analysts see the price of Ethereum Classic hitting the $50 mark by 2024 (two years time). But long-term price forecasts are notoriously unreliable in the crypto sector.
In the short-term, a more reliable prognosis is that ETC will continue to follow the general direction of the crypto sector as a whole, which itself is increasingly following the direction of tech stocks rather than offering an inverse correlation to the stock market as it has done in the past.
Bear in mind that Ethereum Classic is not some newcomer which has borrowed the Ethereum name, or — worse — a meme coin with no functionality. Ethereum Classic is vintage Ethereum. This crypto has plenty of growth potential because it is set up to offer real value by managing smart contracts for developers, which allows them to build reliable DApps.
Ways of Buying Ethereum Classic
Buy Ethereum Classic with PayPal
US customers can buy Ethereum Classic with PayPal via Coinbase. With Binance, you can use PayPal for P2P trading. With Crypto.com, you can use PayPal to top up your Crypto.com Visa card. Instead of PayPal. With all your payment options in one place, this makes for more streamlined crypto transactions.
Buy Ethereum Classic with credit card or debit card
You can use either a credit or debit card to charge your account and then buy Ethereum Classic; it takes seconds and, unlike its competitors, no card commission fee is charged. With Crypto.com, Coinbase and Binance you can buy Ethereum Classic with credit card with an ‘instant buy’, but commission is charged.
Conclusion
If you are considering how to buy ETC, you have plenty of options. More advanced crypto traders might find the sheer size of exchanges like Crypto.com, Coinbase and Binance a breath of fresh air.