eCash Fork Aims to Reassign $40 Billion in Dormant Bitcoin Coins

Paul Sztorc's eCash hard fork is set to launch in August 2026, with a plan to reassign roughly 500,000 dormant Bitcoin (BTC) coins linked to Satoshi Nakamoto.

The fork will activate at Bitcoin block 964,000. Every Bitcoin holder will receive eCash tokens on a 1:1 basis at the snapshot. Holders may sell, keep, or ignore the new coins.

The funding model is what's split the community. Sztorc plans to manually reassign fewer than half of the 1.1 million coins tied to the so-called Patoshi pattern, leaving 600,000 untouched on the forked chain.

The reassigned coins, worth nearly $40 billion at current prices, would go to early investors before the fork goes live.