Most of what you can build on Ethereum or another EVM chain. ETC runs the Ethereum Virtual Machine up to Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade, with Solidity and Vyper smart contracts: DeFi protocols, NFT platforms, DAOs, token systems, on-chain games and other smart contract applications. The standard EVM toolchain (Hardhat, Foundry, Remix, OpenZeppelin) works on ETC.
Minimal. Both use the same EVM, same smart contract languages, same development tools, and same ABI encoding. Key differences: ETC uses Chain ID 61 (vs ETH's 1), the RPC endpoint is different (etc.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc), ETC does not include Proof-of-Stake EIPs, and its EVM matches Ethereum's up to the Shanghai upgrade. Compile for that EVM version (Solidity 0.8.25 and later target newer upgrades by default), and use legacy transactions where a tool assumes EIP-1559.
Configure your development framework (Hardhat, Foundry, or Remix) with Chain ID 61 and RPC URL https://etc.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc. Deploy using the same workflow as any EVM chain. For testing, use the Mordor testnet (Chain ID 63, RPC: https://etc-mordor.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc). Get Mordor ETC from the community or by mining on a Mordor node. Verify your contract on etc.blockscout.com after deployment.
The primary public endpoint is https://etc.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc (mainnet). For Mordor testnet: https://etc-mordor.blockscout.com/api/eth-rpc. For a comprehensive, performance-monitored list of RPC endpoints, visit chainlist.org/chain/61 (mainnet) or chainlist.org/chain/63 (Mordor). These endpoints support the standard Ethereum JSON-RPC API.
The grants page at /build/grants lists the funding sources open to builders today. Ethereum Classic DAO maintains and funds the public goods kept in the ethereumclassic GitHub organization as their funder of last resort. The Olympia proposal would add a treasury funded by the EIP-1559 base fee, spent only by funding proposals Olympia DAO's members vote on; its ECIPs are drafts and its activation block is TBD.
The Ethereum Classic Improvement Proposal (ECIP) process is how protocol changes are proposed, discussed, and adopted. Anyone can author an ECIP. Proposals go through stages: Draft → Last Call → Accepted → Final. ECIPs are reviewed in Core Developer Calls. The process is documented at the ECIPs repository and mirrors Ethereum's EIP process with ETC-specific adaptations.
The standard EVM tools: Hardhat and Foundry for development/testing, Remix for browser-based development, OpenZeppelin for audited contract libraries, Blockscout for contract verification and blockchain exploration, MetaMask for wallet interaction, and ethers.js/viem/wagmi for frontend integration. Most work once pointed at an Ethereum Classic RPC endpoint. Tooling that assumes EIP-1559 needs a path of its own here today: Foundry, for one, sends a type-2 transaction unless told otherwise, so pass --legacy when deploying to ETC.
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