Ethereum Classic is the original protocol of Ethereum. As a result of the massive hack on the Ethereum-based DAO, in which around 14% of all ETH in circulation were stolen, a hard fork was proposed to return the stolen funds to their owners. This caused an ideological split revolving around the question of changing previous transactions in the blockchain. Some Ethereum holders rejected the hard fork, and decided to keep using the original protocol, based on the principle that the blockchain is immutable, and cannot be changed.

Apollo is developing an all-in-one cryptocurrency platform, based on the APL coin. Apollo was created as a fork of NXT, and has a very ambitious plan to integrate a variety of services under one platform, with a strong focus on privacy. Apollo's blockchain is called Hermes and has a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism. Some of the features that Apollo's marketing materials claim they are working on are: private transactions with IP masking, smart contracts, encrypted messaging, file sharing, a decentralized marketplace, voting system for governance, decentralized data storage, and a wallet with a built in exchange. John McAfee, a notable blockchain enthusiast and antivirus pioneer, joined the project in October 2018.

Peercoin is the first Proof-of-Stake (PoS) cryptocurrency. It was created in 2012 and is one of the oldest and most reliable cryptocurrency networks in the crypto sector. The protocol was developed by Sunny King and Scott Nadel, both of whom are anonymous. Sunny King also created Primecoin and VEE.
Peercoin’s PoS consensus mechanism is now widely used in the blockchain space, and allows every network participant to be both a miner or an owner. The project is focused on creating a cryptocurrency platform that will be stable, secure, energy efficient, and distributed fairly.