S17 E21: Paul Sztorc Hard Forks Bitcoin to Launch Ecash with Drivechains!

Paul announces eCash, a Bitcoin hard fork to enable drivechains, smaller blocks, and a developer-friendly L2 ecosystem—practical details on claiming, risks, and incentives.

Key Takeaways

Paul unveiled eCash: a hard fork keeping Bitcoin Core compatibility but with ~400KB blocks and drivechains to enable fee-driven L2s and varied sidechains.
To claim eCash, self-custody before the fork; exchanges may or may not credit claims. Don’t paste private keys into unknown software—use Bitcoin Core or Electrum workflows.
eCash uses SHA-256A6 merge-mining; shared hashing could shift miners if fee revenue rises. Activation design and pre-launch markets affect miner-behavior risk and security.
Contributor friction in Bitcoin Core (PR politics, frequent rebases) pushed builders toward forks; eCash aims to reduce gatekeeping and let teams experiment freely.
Successful forks need pre-launch funding, visible trading/liquidity, and developer teams. Pure one-to-one airdrops often fail without product readiness and market interest.
eCash emphasizes modular drivechains (privacy, high throughput), protocol compatibility, and tooling for developers while avoiding full EVM rollups at launch.

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