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.

Sphere is a smart contract platform and peer-to-peer payment network. The network has a hybrid PoW and PoS consensus mechanism and is powered by the native SPHR token, which can be swapped for an ERC20 token over the Ubiq smart contract platform.

Primecoin is a cryptocurrency based on finding prime numbers. Identifying prime numbers plays a central role in cryptography. Primecoin's unique Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus mechanism is able to increase transaction speeds and improve energy efficiency.
The network searches for special prime number chains known as Cunningham chains and bi-twin chains, which are of interest in mathematical research.