Longtime Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc has been trying to overhaul Bitcoin’s architecture since 2015, but the broader community has not budged.
So now it has proposed a dramatic step, called an eCash hardfork, that involves copying Bitcoin’s code to release a separate version in August, while giving bitcoin holders equivalent tokens on the new network for free.
The community, however, criticizes the financing part, which involves the reallocation of coins linked to the late founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
What is a hard fork?
Think of a hard fork as a railroad line that splits in two. The trains depart from the same station, but at some point the line splits, which helps the trains reach completely different destinations.
When a group of developers cannot reach a consensus on a proposed change to the Bitcoin code, they copy the existing blockchain and launch it as a separate chain, which shares the entire history of Bitcoin up to the point of the split, but diverges after the split, moving forward with its own rules, features, token, and address.
That’s precisely what happened in 2017, when the Bitcoin block size debate reached a tipping point, culminating in a chain split and the creation of the Bitcoin Cash blockchain with its native token, BCH.
The technical dispute centered on Bitcoin’s 1MB block size limit, which limits the number of transactions that can be processed every 10 minutes when new blocks are added to the blockchain. Therefore, some favored increasing the block size, but the community remained divided, ultimately leading to a chain split.
Sztorc’s eCash hard fork
The proposed hard fork will create a new chain called eCash with native eCash tokens. “Hold 4.19 BTC at the time of the fork and get 4.19 eCash. You can sell it, hold it, or ignore it completely,” he said on X.
The fork is scheduled for a Bitcoin block height of 964,000 in August 2026. A coin splitting tool will be released to help holders cleanly separate their BTC from their new eCash.
The new chain will be almost a copy of the existing Bitcoin blockchain, with a critical addition called Drivechains, a scaling architecture that Sztorc first proposed in 2015 and formally presented to Bitcoin developers as BIP300 and BIP301 in 2017 and 2019, respectively.
Streamchains are sidechains connected to the Bitcoin blockchain, allowing for seamless movement of BTC between the mainchain and sidechains without changing the base layer of Bitcoin. Each sidechain can operate under its own rules and characteristics, essentially allowing developers to build new capabilities on top of Bitcoin without needing the entire network to adopt those changes.
Think of Drivechains as service roads attached to the main road. When the freeway is congested, drivers can exit the freeway and travel on the service road at different speed limits, and then reenter the freeway when it is clear. This way, the highway never changes, but traffic is handled more efficiently and the journey becomes more flexible for everyone.
Seven Drivechains are already in development, Sztorc said on
The controversial part linked to Satoshi coins
Sztorc wants to use coins that would have gone to Satoshi Nakamoto’s equivalent addresses on the new eCash chain to attract investors before the fork goes live, a decision he considers necessary but which has irritated the community, with some calling it outright theft.
A possible fork would bring all of Bitcoin’s transaction history to the new chain. Therefore, each bitcoin balance, including Satoshi’s 1.1 million bitcoins, that lie intact in wallets that have not moved these coins, will appear as an equivalent eCash balance on the new chain.
According to the plan, less than half of the eCash coins equivalent to Satoshi will be allocated to investors today. The precise mechanism of how this is done is still unclear. But since eCash doesn’t exist yet, the pre-fork allocation appears to be a promised credit after a successful fork.
He maintains that the plan will ensure that collaborators have a tangible incentive to engage early, build momentum and complete work before launch. Without this mechanism, the project can become a “zombie project” that is delivered unfinished. Worse yet, it could become a centralized project, where a small group of developers gain enormous control over the direction of the chain.
The industry response, however, has been negative.
“Taking Satoshi coins is theft and disrespectful, and eCash is already used for Lightning payments with Cashu and Fedi. Those are bad decisions,” said Bitcoin advocate Peter McCormack.
Josh Ellithorpe, CTO of Pixelated Ink, expressed concern about the precedent it sets and how it could eventually be a risk to everyone’s BTC holdings.
“eCash, sets the precedent that they can and will steal coins. It’s Satoshi now, but it could be anyone later. It also misrepresents the BCH fork, steals another project’s name, and has no replay protection,” Ellithorpe said.
