An eCash Hard Fork at Block 964,000
Paul Sztorc proposes a new chain that replicates Bitcoin's history then diverges with Drivechains built in
WHAT'S BEING PROPOSED
Paul Sztorc is proposing a hard fork at block height 964,000 (estimated August 2026). The new chain would replicate Bitcoin's entire history up to the fork point — every BTC holder receives equivalent eCash on the new chain — and then diverge with new rules, including Drivechains (BIP-300/301) active by default.
└─ Bitcoin chain ────────────────────────┐
BTC [height < 964,000] ┐
├─ BTC continues (no change)
[height = 964,000] FORK ┤
└─ eCash + Drivechains
BTC [height < 964,000] ┐
├─ BTC continues (no change)
[height = 964,000] FORK ┤
└─ eCash + Drivechains
BACKGROUND
Sztorc has been developing this architecture since 2015, formalised as BIP-300 / BIP-301 in 2017–2019. The new-chain approach is the path he proposes for deploying Drivechains, given BIP-300 has not activated on mainnet Bitcoin. Seven Drivechains are reportedly already in development — privacy chains, prediction markets, DEXes, quantum-resistant infrastructure.
Drivechains Refresher
WHAT THEY ARE
Drivechains are sidechains anchored to a parent chain via miner-controlled two-way pegs. The parent chain's miners also mine the sidechain blocks, and BTC is moved between chains via on-chain "withdrawal bundles" that miners ratify over a long voting window (BIP-300).
UPSIDE
Permissionless feature experimentation. Privacy chains, smart-contract chains, prediction markets — all anchored to the BTC supply, none requiring main-chain consensus changes after the initial peg.
CRITIQUE
Withdrawal security depends entirely on miners. The long-running BIP-300 debate: does miner-secured peg become a feature or a hostage in adversarial conditions? Mainnet activation has not happened.
WHY A HARD FORK NOW
Rather than wait indefinitely for a Drivechain soft fork on Bitcoin, the proposal ships a sibling chain where Drivechains are active from day one. Holders get copied-chain coins; participation is opt-in.
The Satoshi-Coin Allocation
THE ALLOCATION
The proposal allocates approximately 1.1 million BTC sitting in Satoshi Nakamoto's dormant addresses on the new eCash chain to attract investors before launch. Less than half of that allocation would be offered to pre-fork backers; the rest is reserved for the project's own use.
964,000
FORK HEIGHT
~1.1M
"SATOSHI" BTC ALLOCATED
7
DRIVECHAINS QUEUED
CONTEXT
Satoshi's coins are untouched on Bitcoin itself. A new chain that re-runs history can rewrite the rules — and the proposal uses Satoshi-linked coins as part of its launch economics.
Steelman & Critique
STEELMAN
If BIP-300 isn't going to activate on mainnet, a sibling chain ships the architecture and lets users opt in. BTC holders get copied-chain coins on a chain they can ignore.
CRITIQUE
"eCash" is a loaded name (Chaum, BCH-eCash). Pre-launch coin allocation to backers looks closer to an ICO than a Bitcoin upgrade. And using Satoshi's coins to bootstrap value is the part most BTC holders object to.