eCash Fork Aims to Redirect $40B in Dormant Bitcoin
A new Bitcoin fork called eCash is set to launch in August 2026, targeting around 500,000 dormant BTC coins linked to Satoshi Nakamoto. Paul Sztorc's project will create a new chain that copies Bitcoin Core and runs on SHA-256d mining.
The fork will activate at Bitcoin block 964,000, and every Bitcoin holder will receive eCash tokens on a 1:1 basis at the snapshot. Holders may sell, keep, or ignore the new coins.
Sztorc plans to manually reassign fewer than half of the 1.1 million coins tied to the 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.
Critics have called the plan 'theft and disrespectful,' with Peter McCormack saying it's a precedent that could expand to any dormant wallet later. Sztorc maintains that no actual Bitcoin is touched, since holders need BTC software and private keys to move BTC.