‘We won’t take Satoshi’s BTC’- eCash founder defends Bitcoin hard fork plans

Peter Sztorc, a long-time developer, has defended his Bitcoin hardfork plans via eCash, dismissing recent claims of plans to steal Satoshi’s 1.1 million BTC. 

In a statement on the 28th of April, Sztorc clarified, 

A hard fork happens when a blockchain splits into two separate entities, each operating independently. Sztorc’s eCash Bitcoin hard fork proposal was floated last week, and it’s scheduled to go live in August at block height 964,000.  

Per his plan, the split allows BTC holders to have eCash on a 1:1 basis. That means, after the hard fork, users holding 2 BTC will also receive 2 eCash. The new chain will feature Ethereum‑style Layer 2 ‘drivechains,’ making it programmable for smart contracts. 

According to Sztorc, the drivechains will enable various applications, including privacy, quantum resistance, prediction markets, and more. But some community members strongly slammed the hard fork plans. 

Bitcoin hard fork plan elicits criticism

According to Peter McCormack, a BTC investor and chairman of Real Bedford FC, Sztorc’s plans were ‘poor choices.’ He claimed that the hard fork’s planned 1:1 redemption for Satoshi Bitcoin for eCash was ‘theft and disrespectful.’ 

Besides, the Lightning Network already uses a privacy feature called ecash, which could likely confuse the community. 

In response, however, Sztorc claimed that Satoshi Nakamoto’s BTC coins will remain intact. However, about 600K of his 1.1 million ‘gifted’ eCash tokens will be sold to fund the project. 

Will eCash escape past Bitcoin hard fork failures?

But this is not the first attempt to improve the Bitcoin network via hard forks. In 2017, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Gold (BTG) were proposed to ensure cheap transfers and decentralized mining, respectively. 

BCH succeeded in enabling faster, cheaper transactions. However, it didn’t build enough trust, leading to a decline in price and hash rate relative to the original Bitcoin network. On the other hand, Bitcoin Gold has become irrelevant after suffering multiple 51% security attacks amid low hashrate. 

In 2018, another hard fork, Bitcoin SV (BSV), also failed to gain traction to achieve its larger blocks (up to 2 GB) to enable massive data and millions of transactions. Top exchanges like Coinbase delisted the token. 

In fact, other proposals, like Mt. Gox’s hard fork, didn’t even see the light of day. It remains to be seen whether eCash will escape pitfalls suffered by past hard forks. 

Final Summary

• Peter Sztorc clarified that the eCash Bitcoin hard fork is a 1:1 ‘gift’ of tokens and not a theft of Satoshi’s BTC. 
• However, the community has raised ethics and viability concerns ahead of the August implementation.