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.

Bitcoin Gold (BTG) is a cryptocurrency that began in 2017 as a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain. BTG was created to reduce the monopolizing power of dedicated ASIC mining operations within the original Bitcoin network. Bitcoin Gold mining can be done by anyone with a standard computer and provides greater decentralization to the system. The hard fork that created BTG was meant to combat the disproportionate influence and competitive advantage of professional miners.