Let me preface this by saying I know that Ethereum Classic won’t die. Unlike a fiat currency which is held together by law, a digital currency is held together by distributed code. By definition, distributed code will long outlast law. As long as the Internet exists, ETC will exist.
But ETC should die, and here’s why:
Speculators play an important role in a blockchain ecosystem. Without them, Bitcoin and Ethereum would not be where they are today. But they play a secondary role in any strong ecosystem. The leaders must be the people creating something new in the world: the developers.
The group of people that created the detailed product roadmap that gets Ethereum from beta to v1 of production (led by Vitalik) and have executed on that roadmap are leading the ETH blockchain. The applications being built on Ethereum, like Augur, Gnosis, Digix and Maker, are built on the ETH blockchain. All of the innovation to date in Ethereum has been led by the people on the ETH blockchain.
Speculators are leading ETC. They gave it value and their vocal nature and willingness to speculate on price drove the price up, which attracted the miners. Developers were actually last to join the ETC party. One of the most alarming tweets I saw from a speculator was:
Digital currencies are not about speculators, they are about innovators and ETH has virtually the entire concentration of creative minds focused on fulfilling the vision set forth in the Yellow paper. Barry is right that the market should select the winner. And the winner will be not the blockchain that's supported by the people who are loudest on Twitter. It will be the blockchain where all of the creation is happening.
Critics of this argument will suggest there are developers planning to built the ETC protocol and build on top of ETC. They will argue that choice for users is good and that immutability rules over all else.
These people are not thinking practically. The reality is that Ethereum is in the early infancy of its growth. It’s still a beta product that hasn’t even reached live production stage. And as stated, all of the people best equipped to get the project to v1 of production are on ETH. While it's possible, it's a stretch to think that a new group of developers might be able to bring the vision of Ethereum to the world.
At this point in development, choice for users of a distributed virtual machine hurts more than it helps. It confuses the whole concept of Ethereum to many prospective new users and would be better served dying than existing.
