Key Takeaways:
- Paul Sztorc introduced eCash, a brand new Bitcoin onerous fork dropping in August 2026, with a 1:1 BTC coin cut up for holders.
- The fork prompts BIP300/301 Drivechains, focusing on 8 billion customers throughout 7 Layer 2 chains in improvement.
- Sztorc plans to freeze the shopper 30 days earlier than the fork and run bug bounty contests by summer season 2025.
Sztorc Broadcasts eCash Onerous Fork 4 Months Out, Units 30-Day Code Freeze Earlier than August Launch
Sztorc broke the information in a publish on X, writing: “BREAKING: New Bitcoin Fork — I’m serving to create a brand new Bitcoin Hardfork — dropping this August, referred to as ‘eCash.’” He confirmed the cut up will probably be 1:1, noting {that a} holder with 4.19 BTC will obtain 4.19 eCash. Holders can promote, hold, or ignore the brand new cash completely.
The mission attracts a direct line from Sztorc’s years of labor on BIP300 and BIP301, the Drivechain proposals which have lengthy divided the Bitcoin improvement group. On the eCash web site at ecash.com, the mission describes itself as a everlasting repair to Bitcoin’s scalability and governance issues, not a stopgap measure.
The layer one (L1) node is described as a near-copy of Bitcoin Core, utilizing SHA-256d mining. The chain will fork by resetting mining issue to its minimal worth, which Sztorc acknowledged will trigger chaotic situations at launch. The event crew plans to alter seed nodes, the community identify, and the community magic whereas persevering with to merge modifications from Bitcoin Core going ahead.
BIP300 and BIP301 will activate by CUSF, the “core untouched mushy fork” mechanism, which means no traces of code on the L1 will probably be modified. The activation shopper will probably be revealed periodically and frozen 30 days earlier than the scheduled fork date. A number of bug bounty contests are deliberate for the summer season forward of launch.
The fork will replay all transactions on the time of the cut up, and the crew will launch a coin-splitter instrument. Sztorc wrote that customers are receiving 4 months of advance discover, contrasting this instantly with the 2017 Bitcoin Money onerous fork the place warnings had been shorter and the method drew important criticism.
Sztorc’s publish listed seven layer two ( L2) chains presently in improvement, all merged-mined, so miners mechanically earn extra income. These chains embrace Truthcoin for prediction markets, Coinshift as a decentralized trade ( DEX), Bitassets for NFTs and comparable devices, Bitnames for identification options, and Photon, which is designed to be quantum-resistant. A privacy-focused L2 modeled after Zcash can also be included.
In an interview with Vlad Costea, Sztorc defined that the Drivechain mannequin is particularly designed to stop what he calls “dev seize,” the tendency for a single improvement crew or set of monetary backers to achieve outsized management over a protocol’s path. Competing L2 chains operating below the identical merged mining umbrella enable the market to determine which purposes achieve traction with none single group holding veto energy.
The ecash.com web site states the L2 infrastructure is already able to onboarding 8 billion customers at a planetary scale, a declare the crew attributes to the merged mining structure and the power for unbiased builders to deploy their very own Drivechain-based sidechains.
Sztorc drew a direct comparability to Bitcoin Money ( BCH) in his announcement, emphasizing that eCash drops the phrase “ Bitcoin” from the identify completely. He argued {that a} clear model separation, together with an extended advance discover window and a everlasting technical repair, distinguishes this fork from prior makes an attempt.
“Again in 2017, the BTC tech stack was sturdy, and expectations for Lightning had been sturdy,” he wrote. “At present, it’s the reverse.”
Group Opinion and Suggestions
Naturally, the crypto group cut up alongside acquainted traces when Paul Sztorc launched his proposal to fork the community. One level of rivalry revolves round his chosen identify, as “eCash” is already related to an altcoin community that emerged from the Bitcoin Money cut up through Bitcoin ABC. The eCash blockchain group, led by chief developer Amaury Séchet, has expressed clear dissatisfaction with Sztorc’s determination. Sztorc, nevertheless, responded to the criticism in a publish on X and through a dialog with Joel Valenzuela.
On X, Sztorc argued, “The identify ‘eCash’ is generic. I’m conscious it has been used for a number of issues, together with: – Chaumian eCash , a predecessor thought to Bitcoin from the 80s/90s — later realized along with his firm DigiCash. – The ‘XEC’ Altcoin, which is presently ranked #164. – A non-public-but-custodial Bitcoin mission, additionally referred to as ‘cashu.’ We had been in a position to get ecash.com — in addition to a number of different associated domains — so we’re snug with the eCash identify.”
Others took subject with Sztorc’s determination to fork Bitcoin itself. The software program developer often known as Calle contends that BIP300 drivechains, as proposed by Paul Sztorc, are basically flawed, arguing they grant miners extreme authority and will allow a hashpower majority to misappropriate funds. In a publish on X, Calle maintains the idea has been broadly dismissed by the Bitcoin group, but its creator continues to push ahead, criticize the Lightning Community, and repackage the concept in more and more strained methods.
“The one answer left is to create a sh**coin for his sh***y thought,” Calle claimed.
Creator and Bitcoin advocate, Steve Patterson, expressed optimism. “There are solely a pair severe choices for scaling Bitcoin: large blocks (as Satoshi supposed), or actual sidechains,” Patterson wrote on X. “So naturally, Core prevented each from being adopted. Large blockers forked off years in the past, and now [Paul Sztorc] is lastly forking off to implement sidechains.”
A Grok-powered sentiment scan of Sztorc’s publish on X confirmed replies leaning sharply towards the mission. From roughly 50 to 60 top-level responses inside a complete of 347, about 80% to 85% had been unfavorable, Grok reported. Critics pointed to confusion with the present eCash token, a fork of Bitcoin Money, and objected to a proposed partial reallocation of Satoshi-era cash, which some framed as “stealing” dormant funds.
A smaller however vocal phase rejected the trouble outright as a rip-off or developer self-interest. About 10% to fifteen% expressed assist, citing the potential coin distribution for Bitcoin holders, curiosity within the Drivechain idea, or Sztorc’s measured tone. The remainder raised technical questions or responded with sarcasm somewhat than participating instantly.
A Stress Check Is Coming in 118 Days
The announcement alerts a coming stress take a look at for the bitcoin mining group, for the reason that issue reset at fork time will quickly make eCash far simpler to mine than Bitcoin. Miners able to shifting hashrate shortly will seemingly accumulate a big share of early block rewards earlier than issue adjusts.
Sztorc confirmed he’ll attend a Bitcoin convention in Las Vegas the week of the announcement, however stated he wouldn’t focus on the fork onstage, calling it impolite to make that type of announcement in that setting.
The activation shopper hyperlink has been revealed for builders and node operators who wish to start testing forward of the summer season bug bounty program and the 30-day code freeze that can precede the August launch.
