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Olympia

Active protocol development for Ethereum Classic: EVM modernization, maintained clients, and funded development through sustainable basefee revenue.

  • Glamsterdam-era EVM alignment: parity with every Ethereum tool, library, and framework
  • EIP-1559 fee market: predictable gas pricing, basefee revenue redirected to protocol treasury
  • Protocol treasury: sustainable funding without new token issuance or miner reward changes
  • Institutional infrastructure: the Proof-of-Work foundation for regulated stablecoin issuance (Classic USD, MiCA and GENIUS Act-compliant), digital commodity classification under the CLARITY Act, and the broadest cross-jurisdictional institutional access profile of any Proof-of-Work smart contract network
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Olympia Activation Countdown

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Activation Block: TBD

Countdown to March 31, 2027 — Olympia targets mainnet activation in 2027. Block number announced after successful Mordor testnet run.

What Olympia Changes

Four client-facing ECIPs that modernize the protocol in a single coordinated upgrade.

ECIP-1111

EIP-1559 Fee Market

The most widely adopted transaction format in the EVM ecosystem, now on Ethereum Classic. Dynamic gas pricing delivers predictable fees. Unlike Ethereum where basefee is burned, ETC redirects it to the protocol treasury. Miner block rewards and tips remain completely untouched.

ECIP-1112

Protocol Treasury

A protocol-controlled vault funded by basefee revenue and voluntary contributions. Institutions, developers, and stakeholders can fund Ethereum Classic core development without fielding their own team. No admin keys, no multisig. Only on-chain governance can release funds.

ECIP-1121

Glamsterdam EVM Alignment

Building on Mystique and Spiral, Olympia delivers the remaining EVM execution-layer improvements from Dencun, Pectra, and Fusaka — every improvement independent of Proof-of-Stake and blob data availability — and carries that work into Glamsterdam. Exchanges and wallets gain modern RPC compatibility. Developers gain full access to every current Ethereum tool, library, and framework. One codebase, every EVM chain.

ECIP-1122

Network Security Client Configuration

Chain configuration rather than consensus rules: a MIN_MINER_TIP of 1 gwei, which with the ECIP-1111 basefee floor of 1 gwei sets a 2 gwei minimum gas price so miner revenue cannot reach zero once the basefee is redirected; a network-authoritative gas target that overrides operator --miner.gaslimit; and MESS re-enabled at the Olympia block. A client omitting these gives weaker guarantees but does not fork.

EVM Compatibility in Detail

Four Ethereum upgrade cycles reach ETC in a single fork. Dencun, Pectra and Fusaka arrive complete — everything in them that is independent of Proof-of-Stake and blob data availability — and Glamsterdam opens with eth/70 and the deterministic CREATE2 factory.

01

Dencun

Cancun-Deneb · 2024

EIP-1153EIP-2935EIP-5656
02

Pectra

Prague-Electra · 2025

EIP-2537EIP-6780EIP-7702
03

Fusaka

Fulu-Osaka · 2025

EIP-7623EIP-7642EIP-7823EIP-7825EIP-7939EIP-7951
04

Glamsterdam

Gloas-Amsterdam · 2026

EIP-7975EIP-7997
Ethereum Classic implemented partial London EIPs in Mystique (2022) and partial Shanghai EIPs in Spiral (2024), deliberately deferring the EIP-1559 fee market for independent governance design.ECIP-1111 now delivers those deferred London EIPs. ECIP-1121 advances the execution layer through Dencun, Pectra, and Fusaka: every EVM improvement that is independent of Proof-of-Stake and blob data availability. It opens Glamsterdam with eth/70 and the deterministic CREATE2 factory, so contracts deploy to the same address on ETC as on every other EVM chain.

Gas & State Access

EIP-7623EIP-7702EIP-7823EIP-7825EIP-7883EIP-7935

Account delegation for EOAs, higher calldata cost, a per-transaction gas cap, MODEXP input bounds and repricing, and a 60M network-authoritative gas target. Prices data and computation closer to their real cost, and enables smart account patterns without protocol changes.

EVM Safety

EIP-6780EIP-7910EIP-7934EIP-7997

SELFDESTRUCT restricted to deployment context, an RLP block size limit, the eth_config RPC method, and the deterministic CREATE2 factory predeploy at the same address as every other EVM chain. Makes contract behavior more predictable and reduces attack surface.

Cryptographic Precompiles

EIP-2537EIP-7951

BLS12-381 pairing operations for ZK-friendly proof verification, P256VERIFY for WebAuthn and passkey authentication. Native cryptographic primitives for privacy and identity.

Execution Context

EIP-1153EIP-2935EIP-5656EIP-7939

MCOPY for efficient memory operations, CLZ opcode for leading-zero counting, historical block hashes in state, and transient storage TSTORE/TLOAD. Unlocks reentrancy guards, flash loans, and cross-contract patterns without persistent storage.

Networking

EIP-7642EIP-7975

eth/69 retains total difficulty for Proof-of-Work chain selection and drops receipt bloom filters; eth/70 adds paginated receipts for blocks above the p2p size limit. Both activate through devp2p capability negotiation rather than a hard fork.

Explicitly excluded: all blob-dependent EIPs (EIP-4844, EIP-7516, EIP-7691). Ethereum Classic is a pure Layer 1 execution chain with no data availability requirement. Blobs are L2 scaffolding ETC does not need.

Developer Tooling — Works Without Modification

Solidity 0.8.x+

All recent compiler versions produce compatible bytecode for ETC without modification.

Foundry / Hardhat

Standard EVM testing and deployment toolchains work on ETC without ETC-specific forks or patches.

wagmi / viem / ethers.js

Standard wallet libraries and RPC types work on ETC without patching or overrides. One codebase, every EVM chain.

Regulatory Positioning

Global Regulatory Recognition

Ethereum Classic has received formal regulatory classification across four major jurisdictions.

CLARITY Act

Digital Commodity

CFTC · United States

Classified as a digital commodity under CFTC jurisdiction. Proof-of-Work consensus is the defining characteristic for commodity status under US digital asset legislation.

GENIUS Act

Stablecoin Platform

United States

The only Proof-of-Work EVM platform for regulated stablecoin deployment under the GENIUS Act. Positions ETC as the immutable settlement layer for compliant digital dollar infrastructure.

MiCA

Decentralized Asset

European Union

Classified as a decentralized crypto-asset under MiCA, exempt from issuer obligations as a fully decentralized protocol with no central issuer or controlling party.

FSA Green List

Recognized Asset

Japan

Recognized crypto-asset on the FSA Green List via JVCEA. Enables fast-track listing across all Japanese regulated exchanges without additional review requirements.

The Olympia Upgrade

Olympia is Ethereum Classic’s most significant protocol upgrade. Three changes arrive in a single activation: Glamsterdam-era EVM alignment, EIP-1559 fee market, and a protocol-managed treasury.

The headline change is Glamsterdam-era EVM parity — closing years of execution-layer divergence from Ethereum in a single fork. Every Solidity compiler version, every deployment tool (Foundry, Hardhat), and every major library (wagmi, viem, ethers.js) works on ETC without modification, patching, or ETC-specific overrides. One codebase deploys to every EVM chain. ETC could not credibly claim this before Olympia. After Olympia, it can.

The EIP-1559 fee market redirects the basefee — value that would otherwise be destroyed — to a protocol-managed treasury. Block rewards and tips remain completely untouched and go entirely to miners. Anyone can submit proposals on-chain. Members vote on resource allocation and execute decisions. Every step is transparent and verifiable on-chain.

How It Works

Funded by basefee revenue, not inflation. Block rewards and tips remain untouched.

Basefee Revenue

Every transaction pays a basefee via EIP-1559. The basefee is directed to the Treasury. Block rewards and tips remain completely untouched. Miners are unaffected.

Protocol Treasury

Protocol-managed vault. The basefee arrives automatically at block finalization; holders and miners can add to it voluntarily, by sending ETC or by pointing a coinbase at the address. Real-time monitoring via public dashboard.

On-Chain Governance

On-chain governance via the OpenZeppelin Governor 5.x contract suite. The Olympia DAO makes the binding decisions (security maintenance, EVM parity, client funding, and treasury allocation) using non-transferable membership NFTs. Futarchy prediction markets are an open signal layer on top, informing those decisions without determining or executing them. All on-chain and auditable.

From Proposal to Execution

Five stages from idea to execution. Every step is on-chain, transparent, and auditable.

Propose

Anyone can submit a governance proposal on-chain. Proposals define the action to execute and the supporting rationale.

Vote

Members cast on-chain votes during a defined voting period via the OpenZeppelin Governor 5.x contract suite. Voting is transparent and immutable.

Queue

Approved proposals enter a security timelock. This delay provides the community time to review before execution.

Execute

After the timelock expires, the proposal executes automatically. Treasury transfers happen on-chain with full auditability.

Disclose

All outcomes are publicly reported and independently verifiable. Proposal records form a permanent on-chain record.

Olympia Roadmap

Five stages from consensus upgrades to permanent protocol integration.

Consensus Upgrades

Active

EIP-1559 fee market, protocol treasury funded by basefee revenue, and Glamsterdam-era EVM parity in a single upgrade. Every Ethereum tool and framework works on ETC without modification.

  • EIP-1559 fee market (ECIP-1111)
  • Protocol treasury funded by basefee (ECIP-1112)
  • Glamsterdam-era EVM parity: Dencun, Pectra, Fusaka, and Glamsterdam EIPs (ECIP-1121)
  • Network security client configuration required of every client (ECIP-1122)

Core Governance

Active

On-chain governance with membership-based voting and a full proposal lifecycle: submit, vote, queue, execute. Core development funding moves to an open, transparent, on-chain process.

  • Governance and treasury contracts with timelock execution (ECIP-1113)
  • Open proposal process with competitive bidding (ECIP-1114)
  • Membership-based voting with sanctions compliance (ECIP-1119)
  • Contract deployment on settled consensus rules — not a hard fork

Prediction Markets

Research

An open signal layer. Futarchy prediction markets (ECIP-1117/1118) let anyone stake on proposal outcomes without DAO membership, producing financially-backed public signals alongside member votes. They are a Child-DAO under ECIP-1113 §6, funded by executed funding proposals rather than a direct basefee share, and they inform decisions rather than making them: binding allocation stays with the Olympia DAO.

  • Conditional outcome tokens (ECIP-1117)
  • Funding and streaming disbursements (ECIP-1118)
  • Sanctions compliance applies here too, because funds move (ECIP-1119)
  • Seeded by a funding proposal from the governance layer — not a hard fork

Treasury Distribution

Future

A smoothing curve supplements miner security budgets as fixed-emission block subsidies decline. ECIP-1115 runs it at the contract layer, where the allocation fraction, window, and curve shape are adjustable through governance without a hard fork — so the network can find the right curve empirically while ECIP-1017 block rewards are still securing it. This is a governance activation on Treasury-held revenue, not a deployment and not a fork. Hardening a proven curve into consensus is the separate stage that follows.

  • Treasury smoothing algorithm at the contract layer (ECIP-1115)
  • Parameters adjustable through governance without a hard fork
  • Runs as a configured experiment on Treasury-held revenue
  • Complements ECIP-1017's 5M20 emission schedule — the treasury responds as subsidies decline

Protocol Integration

Future

The curve proven in the previous stage is embedded into block finalization and leaves governance control. ECIP-1116 is the second and final hard fork of the Olympia roadmap: the distribution is paid by the protocol rather than disbursed from the treasury, making it immutable at the consensus layer.

  • Consensus-layer L-curve hardening for base fee miner distribution (ECIP-1116)
  • Paid by the protocol, not disbursed from the treasury
  • Second hard fork — sequenced after ECIP-1115 has demonstrated the curve

Coordinating Organizations

Coordinating organizations working together to govern and advance the Ethereum Classic network.

Ethereum Classic

Network Protocol

The largest Proof-of-Work smart contract platform. Coordinating network upgrades to maintain EVM parity and modern tooling.

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Olympia Treasury

Protocol-Funded Treasury

Basefee revenue creates sustainable protocol funding. Real-time treasury monitoring via public dashboard.

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Olympia DAO

On-Chain Governance

Olympia DAO membership NFTs for critical protocol decisions, futarchy prediction markets for public participation. All on-chain on Ethereum Classic.

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Ethereum Classic DAO LLC

Legal Entity

The legal wrapper for the Olympia DAO under Wyoming's DAO LLC framework. Ensures regulatory compliance, proper reporting, and alignment with digital asset legislation.

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ETC Cooperative

Protocol Steward

US 501(c)(3) non-profit that has funded Ethereum Classic's core client development since 2017, backing every hard fork, every client release, and every cross-client coordination effort across a decade of ETC network upgrades.

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Grayscale ETCG

Institutional Access

The Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust launched in 2018, years before Bitcoin ETFs existed as a product category, providing regulated institutional access to ETC and indirectly funding ETC Cooperative core development work.

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Olympia Upgrade

Frequently Asked Questions

Olympia is coordinated by the same developers, organizations, and community stewards who have delivered every Ethereum Classic network upgrade since 2016: Gotham, Die Hard, Defuse Difficulty Bomb, Thanos, and the full EVM compatibility series spanning Gas Reprice, Atlantis, Agharta, Phoenix, Magneto, Mystique, and Spiral. The ETC Cooperative, a US 501(c)(3) non-profit, funds Ethereum Classic's client development teams and has managed the hard fork coordination process throughout that history. Stakeholder outreach, client release sequencing, and cross-client testing are all established practice. Olympia is a significant upgrade carried forward by a team with a clean delivery record across a decade of ETC network upgrades.
The ETC Cooperative is a US 501(c)(3) non-profit that has funded Ethereum Classic's core client development for years, contributing millions of dollars to the network's client teams and infrastructure through every upgrade cycle. Every hard fork, every client release, and every cross-client coordination effort has been backed by their balance sheet. Olympia is what they were building toward: a protocol-native funding model that does not depend on any single organization's continued generosity. The Olympia Treasury, governed on-chain by the Olympia DAO and executed by the Wyoming DAO LLC, extends beyond institutional dependency with a durable financial foundation that scales with network usage. The model changes, not the commitment. The ETC Cooperative continues as an active steward, and any developer, mining operation, hardware manufacturer, or individual worldwide can now contribute directly on-chain without fielding a team or managing a non-profit to do it.
Grayscale launched the Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG) in 2018, years before Bitcoin ETFs existed as a product category, and became a major institutional donor to the ETC Cooperative, indirectly funding the network's core client development at a time when no other investment product issuer was doing anything comparable. What Grayscale was practicing on Ethereum Classic in 2018 is now a recognized trend: ETF issuers funding protocol development, corporate treasury strategies reinvesting in network ecosystems. Taking that model on-chain is only possible on Ethereum Classic because ETC is the only Proof-of-Work blockchain with native smart contracts. Olympia DAO makes it permissionless, opening a direct on-chain contribution path to every holder, whether through ETCG, a direct wallet, or any future investment product.
ECIP-1121 closes years of EVM divergence in a single upgrade, delivering the execution-layer improvements from Dencun, Pectra, and Fusaka that are independent of Proof-of-Stake and blob data availability, and carrying that work into Glamsterdam with eth/70 and the deterministic CREATE2 factory. Before Olympia, ETC lagged behind on these EIPs, creating real friction for developers deploying across EVM chains. After Olympia, Solidity 0.8.x, Foundry, Hardhat, wagmi, viem, and ethers.js all work on ETC without modification, patching, or ETC-specific overrides. One codebase deploys to every EVM chain. ETC could not credibly claim full tooling compatibility before Olympia. After Olympia, it can.
The Olympia Treasury is funded by EIP-1559 basefee revenue, credited to it at block finalization. Contributions beyond that are voluntary and take two forms: sending ETC to the address, or mining to it — a miner naming the Treasury as their coinbase recipient is donating hashpower rather than currency. The protocol directs the basefee and nothing else; miner block rewards are never touched. The vault sits at the treasury address. Block rewards and tips remain completely untouched and go entirely to miners. The basefee is a value that would otherwise be destroyed and has never been part of miner compensation. This creates sustainable, transparent funding without inflation or any impact on miner income.
No. Block rewards and tips remain completely untouched. Olympia redirects the EIP-1559 basefee to the protocol treasury. The basefee is a value that would otherwise be destroyed and has never been part of miner compensation. Miner revenue is unchanged.
Olympia activates on the Mordor testnet first. Mordor is Ethereum Classic's Proof-of-Work testnet and mirrors mainnet conditions closely. Multiple independent client implementations run the Mordor fork before any mainnet activation is scheduled. Cross-client validation using the Hive integration testing framework confirms consensus compatibility across implementations. The mainnet activation block is not set until Mordor has run cleanly and major network stakeholders, including exchanges, custodians, and mining pools, have confirmed readiness.
Olympia is targeted for mainnet activation in 2027. Olympia activates on Mordor testnet first. The mainnet activation block is announced after a successful Mordor run and a coordinated stakeholder readiness check with exchanges, mining pools, node operators, and infrastructure providers. All client implementations publish Olympia-compatible releases well before activation.
Governance operates on two layers, and only one of them is binding. The Olympia DAO makes the binding decisions — security maintenance, EVM parity, client funding, and treasury allocation — using non-transferable membership NFTs, with members casting on-chain votes during a defined voting period via the OpenZeppelin Governor 5.x contract suite. Futarchy prediction markets (ECIP-1117/1118) are an open signal layer on top: anyone can stake on proposal outcomes without membership, producing a financially-backed public signal that informs the vote rather than determining it or executing anything. They run as a Child-DAO under ECIP-1113 §6, funded by executed funding proposals rather than a direct basefee share.
Nodes that are not upgraded before the activation block will stop following the canonical chain. You will need to upgrade your client and resync from the fork point. Exchanges, wallets, RPC providers, and services running outdated clients will be unable to process transactions on the post-Olympia chain. Client release announcements are published well in advance to give operators time to upgrade.
In the unlikely event of a critical issue after activation, the same client teams that have managed every ETC emergency response since 2016 would coordinate a patch release promptly. The established stakeholder communication channels, including the ETC Cooperative, client maintainers, and major exchange contacts, are the same ones used for every previous upgrade. Olympia has broader test coverage across more independent client implementations than any previous ETC hard fork, and the Mordor testnet run provides a real network validation environment before mainnet activation.

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Fukuii is the recommended client. Core-Geth is maintained through the transition.

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