ECX Fork Surpasses 25k Blocks in 13 Hours Amid Strong Mining Support

Paul Sztorc's Bitcoin fork ECX has made rapid progress in its Alpha stage, surpassing 25,000 blocks in just 13 hours. The network went live at block height 963648 and has seen a blistering pace of new blocks due to its initial difficulty starting at 1.

The difficulty on the ECX chain has skyrocketed from 1 to 16.78 million after multiple adjustments every 2,016 blocks. Currently, miners are throwing 3.53 petahash per second (PH/s) at the ECX chain. If all miners were running the original Bitmain Antminer S19, that would equal nearly 36 units working on Sztorc's fork.

What sets this fork apart from the failed BIP-110 event earlier this month is the significant mining support it has received. The 3.53 PH/s of hashrate is spread across several pools, with Ecashpool-alpha commanding the lead. However, the crypto asset ecash (ECX) still lacks an established market value and is not yet listed on any exchanges.

While the early burst may indicate genuine support exists for ECX, its long-term viability remains uncertain. The network's third and final phase will take place on October 31, 2026, but until then, it faces significant challenges in maintaining momentum without a tradable price.