Bitcoin Community Outraged Over Proposed eCash Hard Fork and Reassignment of Satoshi Coins

Veteran Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc has unveiled a proposal for a hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, dubbed eCash, which is set to launch in August 2026. The new chain will be a near-identical replica of the existing Bitcoin blockchain, with the addition of Drivechains, a scaling solution that Sztorc first introduced in 2015. However, the proposal has been met with criticism from the community, primarily due to its plan to reassign coins linked to Bitcoin's mysterious founder, Satoshi Nakamoto, to investors prior to the fork. The community has labeled this move as 'theft' and 'disrespectful', with some expressing concerns over the precedent it may set for future coin reassignments. The eCash hard fork aims to provide existing Bitcoin holders with equivalent tokens on the new network, but the funding mechanism has sparked heated debate. Sztorc argues that the reassignment of Satoshi's coins is necessary to incentivize collaborators and prevent the project from becoming a 'zombie project' or falling under centralized control. Nevertheless, the industry response has been overwhelmingly negative, with many calling for an alternative solution that does not involve the reassignment of Satoshi's coins.