A new Bitcoin fork called eCash is planning an August launch to revisit long-running limits around speed and functionality of the network.
A long-time Bitcoin researcher is pitching a fresh fork of the network, with a launch window set for August and a structure that could hand existing holders a parallel asset overnight.
Paul Sztorc, known in crypto circles for pushing sidechain-based scaling, said he’s helping build a new fork called eCash, describing it as a “near-copy of Bitcoin Core” with minimal base-layer changes.
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Bitcoin Fork Details
Under the plan, anyone holding BTC▼$61,534.00 at the time of the split would automatically receive the same amount in the new token. As Sztorc explained, coins will split, adding that holders can “sell your eCash — or keep it. Or ignore it!”
That setup is similar to earlier forks like the Bitcoin Cash hard fork, where users suddenly ended up holding two coins.
Sztorc framed the rollout as unusually open, saying users are getting “advanced warning (4 months)” and that the software will be “frozen 30 days prior to the fork.”
New Chain Leans on Drivechains
At the center of the pitch is a system of drivechains, or parallel networks connected to Bitcoin. Sztorc said “we have 7 in developement right now,” ranging from decentralized exchanges to identity systems and a “zCash-like L2, with strong privacy.”
He describes the model as a way to let different scaling ideas compete without changing Bitcoin itself.
The sidechains will be merged-mined, implying that Bitcoin miners will be able to get more income without putting in more effort. In addition, Sztorc made a huge claim about capacity, stating that it’s “already capable of planetary scale, and onboarding 8 billion users,” even though this claim is still theoretical.
Early Investment Angle
One of the most contentious aspects is that coins will be pre-mined before the official launch. According to Sztorc, an amount of dormant BTC associated with a phenomenon known as the “Patoshi” pattern can be used by early contributors:
“Satoshi has 1.1M coins in the so called ‘patoshi’ pattern. We will be manually reassigning some of these coins (fewer than half) to investors today. This will no doubt be a controversial decision.”
He framed it as a workaround to a known issue with forks, saying that “the pure fork, is a problem, because it leaves collaborators with no way to ‘get involved’ ahead of time,” and adding that without early participation, projects risk becoming “a ‘zombie project’ — until it launches.”
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