The Canonical WETC Initiative on Ethereum Classic
We are thrilled to announce the launch of Wrapped Ether ($WETC) on the Ethereum Classic (ETC) blockchain network through The Canonical WETC Initiative. This new ERC20 asset is a public good that brings a crucial token primitive to the Ethereum Classic development ecosystem. The creation of $WETC introduces a wrapped version of Ethereum Classic’s native asset, allowing Ethereum Classic users to leverage DeFi protocols, liquidity pools, and applications that require an ERC-20 representation of Ether (ETC).
What is WETC?
If you have ever used a decentralized exchange (DEX), there’s a good chance you’ve seen ‘WETH’ as one of the popular cryptocurrencies you can swap. WETH stands for Wrapped Ether. Ether (ETH) is the native cryptocurrency to the 2016 Ethereum Foundation blockchain, which is a fork of Ethereum Classic and the most popular blockchain with general purpose smart contracts. Wrapped Ether (WETC)is based on the contracts of the well-known Wrapped Ether (WETH) asset. However, WETC is more up-to-date with Solidity practices and syntax, making it more compatible with newer tools and developments in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ecosystem. In this article we go into more detail about what exactly WETC is, and why there is a need for it.
What is Wrapped Ether (WETC)?
WETC is an ERC-20 token on Ethereum Classic that represents 1 Ether (ETC). ETC is used to pay for transactions on the Ethereum Classic blockchain. For example, swapping between crypto assets on an Ethereum Classic-based DEX, like ETCswap, will cost some small amount of ETC. The two main differences between WETC and ETC is that WETC cannot be used to pay for transactions and ETC is not an ERC-20 token. The next section will cover why there is a need to make an ERC-20 compatible version of ETC.
What is the need for Wrapped Ether (WETC)?
All of decentralized finance (DeFi) is built upon smart contracts, which can be thought of as decentralized programs. Those smart contracts are designed to handle ERC-20 tokens. ERC-20 is a token standard, a kind of blueprint that is universally recognized on the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which is comprised of many compatible blockchains such as; Ethereum Classic (2015), Ethereum Foundation (2016), Avalanche (2020), BNB Smart Chain (2022). The ERC-20 standard allows the efficient building of software, for example getting rid of custom code that would be needed to handle each new token. Since ETC is the Ethereum Classic native currency, and because it preceded the development of the ERC-20 standard, it isn’t ERC-20 compatible. This means custom software would have to be written on every DeFi decentralized application (DApp) in order to accept ETC. Instead, a smart contract was written that envelopes ETC in an ERC-20 wrapper so that any DApp with ERC-20 support can effectively support ETC.
How is WETC created?
The technical details of how WETC is created are quite simple. Anyone can deposit ETC into the WETC smart contract, the smart contract then creates and returns the same amount of WETC. This process also works in reverse. Deposit WETC into the contract, and it will destroy the WETC and return an equal amount of ETC. No one controls the smart contract, and the smart contract ensures any WETC created backed by an equivalent amount of ETC. This makes WETC almost indistinguishable from ETC in terms of market price.
The Canonical WETC Initiative
The Canonical WETC Initiative’s primary goal is for the Ethereum Classic developers to build on the same $WETC contract to provide users a seamless experience within the Ethereum Classic (ETC) application ecosystem. Visit wrappedether.org to learn more!
WETC Contract Addresses
Ethereum Classic: 0x1953cab0E5bFa6D4a9BaD6E05fD46C1CC6527a5a
Mordor Testnet: 0x1953cab0E5bFa6D4a9BaD6E05fD46C1CC6527a5a
Built by EthereumClassic.com
The launch of Wrapped Ether ($WETC) on Ethereum Classic was made possible through the efforts of the development team at EthereumClassic.com. We are committed to advancing the Ethereum Classic ecosystem by introducing innovative solutions that enable a more accessible, decentralized, and efficient DeFi experience for users.
WETC — The Future of Decentralized Finance on Ethereum Classic.
