A Provocative Proposal: Redistributing Satoshi-Linked Coins in the Bitcoin Ecosystem

Paul Sztorc, CEO of LayerTwo Labs, has clarified that he is not attempting to move Satoshi Nakamoto's bitcoin, but rather proposes a new Bitcoin fork called eCash, which would reallocate a portion of the copied coins to investors. The eCash fork, scheduled for August, would copy Bitcoin's history up to block height 964,000, giving BTC holders an equivalent balance on the new network. However, the proposal has raised concerns among critics, who argue that rewriting forked-chain balances at addresses a user does not control sets a bad precedent. The roughly 1.1 million BTC attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto would be allocated differently, with 600,000 eCash going to the original addresses and 500,000 eCash being redirected to investors who fund the project before launch. This has sparked a property-rights debate, with some arguing that selling claims on a forked-chain version of Satoshi's holdings to fund a new project is a form of theft, even if no actual theft occurs. The dispute has turned into a fight over the fundamental principles of Bitcoin, including the preservation of inviolable property rights and the protection of dormant balances. Bitcoiners have already been debating proposals to freeze or restrict old quantum-vulnerable coins, including addresses believed to belong to Satoshi, making the eCash fight even more contentious. The timing of the proposal has also raised concerns, as it comes at a time when the Bitcoin community is already primed to treat any intervention around Satoshi-linked coins as highly sensitive. The eCash proposal has been compared to a precedent that could irreparably damage Bitcoin's monetary properties, making it essential to consider the long-term implications of such a move.