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.

Telcoin is an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency that will be distributed by mobile network operators. Telcoin (TEL) plans on working with national telecom operators to distribute their currency. They hope that this distribution model will provide greater financial inclusion to un-banked communities, and will encourage cryptocurrency adoption. This is a similar strategy as MPesa, the mobile payment network created by SafariCom, that uses the telecom's provider's existing infrastructure to allow users to easily make payments with their mobile phones. Telecoin sees their platform as a complement to existing mobile money systems that will help drive cryptocurrency adoption.

Bitcoin Interest is a fork of the Bitcoin protocol that pays coin holders interest. Bitcoin Interest (BCI) allows users to securely earn interest payments without ever moving coins from their wallets. Bitcoin Interest's developers believe that paying interest, weekly or monthly, on inactive crypto-funds can benefit the entire cryptocurrency market by reducing volatility.
Bitcoin Interest (BCI) is the first cryptocurrency protocol to use the ProgPoW consensus algorithm. ProgPoW is a Proof-of-Work algorithm designed to reduce the centralizing tendencies of ASIC mining by making it easier for standard GPU devices to participate in the mining process.