On March 1, 2017, the Ethereum Classic community formally adopted ECIP-1017, establishing a fixed monetary policy with a hard supply cap — differentiating ETC from Ethereum's uncapped supply model.
ECIP-1017: The Monetary Policy
The proposal, authored by Matthew Spoke, introduced a predictable emission schedule:
- Era 1 (blocks 0–5,000,000): 5 ETC per block
- Era 2 (blocks 5,000,001–10,000,000): 4 ETC per block (20% reduction)
- Era 3 (blocks 10,000,001–15,000,000): 3.2 ETC per block
- Each subsequent era: 20% reduction from the previous era
This creates a geometric series that converges to a maximum supply of approximately 210,700,000 ETC.
Why It Matters
Sound Money
A fixed, predictable supply schedule makes ETC a deflationary asset. Unlike fiat currencies or uncapped cryptocurrencies, no authority can increase ETC's supply beyond the protocol-defined limit.
Predictability
Miners, investors, and users can calculate exactly how many ETC will exist at any future point. There are no surprises and no discretionary monetary decisions.
Bitcoin Parallel
The 20% reduction per era is ETC's equivalent of Bitcoin's halving events, though with a gentler reduction curve. The community calls these reductions "fifthenings" (keeping four-fifths of the previous reward).
Uncle/Nephew Rewards
ECIP-1017 also reduces uncle and nephew block rewards proportionally in each era, ensuring that all emission — including stale block rewards — follows the same schedule.
Activation
The monetary policy was activated at block 5,000,000 (Era 2) via the Gotham hard fork on December 11, 2017.