Overview
- Paul Sztorc plans an August 2026 hard fork at Bitcoin block 964,000 that would copy Bitcoin’s ledger and issue one eCash token for every BTC held at the split.
- Sztorc says a coin‑splitter will let holders separate BTC from new eCash, while the forked chain cannot move coins on Bitcoin’s network itself.
- The proposal would reassign roughly 500,000 coins tied to the Patoshi pattern on the new chain to early investors, a move critics call theft and a dangerous precedent.
- eCash would add Drivechains, a system for sidechains first proposed in BIP300/301, with Sztorc touting privacy, exchange, prediction, and quantum‑resistant sidechains in development.
- Tax observers warn U.S. holders could face income taxes on received eCash under IRS Revenue Ruling 2019‑24 even without selling, echoing issues seen after past forks like Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic.