There's a fascinating phenomenon in the crypto world that I've noticed for many years. There's a particular coin that’s especially interesting: whenever it rises, the market crashes. It’s not a coincidence; it’s a pattern that has persisted for years. This guy has earned the nickname "Doomsday Chariot," famously known as ETC.

I consider myself an old hand with ETC. I’ve battled against the whales for years, yet I’ve never managed to make money off it. Whenever I go long, ETC immediately drops. Whenever I go short, it skyrockets. Those times really tortured me, and eventually I gave up, admitting I couldn’t outplay it.

Where did ETC come from? It all started in 2016. At that time, the THE DAO project raised funds using Ethereum, but over $60 million worth of ETH was stolen. The Ethereum team decided to hard fork to recover the funds. The new chain became what we now call ETH, while the old chain was abandoned. Theoretically, all miners should have switched to the new chain, and the old chain should have died out automatically.

But this time was different. Some miners, due to ideological differences, decided to continue supporting the old chain. They believed that code is law and that it shouldn’t be tampered with. They preferred to sacrifice profits rather than compromise their principles. It was this persistence that kept the old chain alive.

The real turning point came when the world’s largest Ethereum trading platform, Poloniex, announced it would support trading the old version of ETH, called ETC—Ethereum Classic. Once exchanges supported it, the coin gained liquidity, and miners’ livelihoods were secured. That’s how the Doomsday Chariot was born.

Interestingly, ETC’s emergence sparked another debate in the community. One faction believed ETC was more pure, representing true decentralization, and would ultimately prevail. The other side argued that ETH has the support of the majority, with core developers like Vitalik backing it, making ETH the future.

Why is the price difference so huge? ETC is basically a survival coin, with a very low price when listed on exchanges. People holding ETH also hold an equal amount of ETC, but supporters of ETH (including the Ethereum Foundation) keep selling ETC to maintain ETH’s dominance. Meanwhile, a group of believers insists ETC is the real decentralized product and keeps buying. This has led to the current situation.

Since Vitalik strongly supports ETH, and the ETH team has powerful partners, while ETC, despite sharing the same code, lacks a strong marketing team and backing organizations, the price gap continues to widen.

What’s the difference now? ETH has fully transitioned to a POS mechanism, while ETC insists on remaining POW—mining with hardware forever. From this perspective, ETC is more fair, as it doesn’t exacerbate wealth gaps. The founders also need to mine to earn coins. Coins generated through GPU and CPU mining better embody the idea that everyone participates in accounting and witnessing.

I believe this is the true core of the Doomsday Chariot. If the founders disappear and exchanges stop trading, these coins will still have value because they are produced by everyone witnessing. In every miner’s heart, they are priceless. This might be why some people continue to believe in ETC, even though it looks like a Doomsday Chariot.