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.

Nimiq is a censorship-resistant cryptocurrency that is designed to run in the user's browser. Nimiq's focus is on usability and the browser first approach allows coin holders to participate in their payment network more easily. Nimiq uses a Merkle-based accumulator to store accounts and balances, and has a Non-Interactive Proofs of Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism.

WhiteCoin is a cryptocurrency protocol with a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. WhiteCoin's (XWC) marketing materials place an emphasis on security and stability, but do not present details regarding their specific technical advantages or project goals.
WhiteCoin's payment network provides a high degree of anonymity and its PoS consensus model allows XWC coin holders to earn revenue by staking their holdings.