A Statement, Not a Heist: Unpacking the Bitcoin Proposal to Reassign Satoshi-Linked Coins

Paul Sztorc has clarified that he is not attempting to move Satoshi Nakamoto's bitcoin. However, his proposal for the eCash fork has ignited a heated debate. The eCash fork, scheduled for August, aims to copy Bitcoin's history and provide equivalent balances on the new network. But what's different this time is the plan to reassign Satoshi's copied coins. The roughly 1.1 million BTC attributed to Satoshi would normally be copied to the new network, but Sztorc's plan allocates 600,000 eCash to those addresses and redirects the remaining 500,000 eCash to investors who fund the project. This move has been met with criticism, with many arguing that it undermines the principles of property rights and the integrity of the Bitcoin network. The debate has sparked a discussion about the implications of rewriting forked-chain balances and the potential consequences for Bitcoin's monetary properties. As Vijay Selvam, author of Principles of Bitcoin, noted, 'Freezing Satoshi's coins under any circumstances sets a precedent that irreparably damages Bitcoin's monetary properties.' The eCash proposal has also been seen as a pressure tactic to push for the adoption of Drivechains, a proposal that would allow developers to add sidechains to Bitcoin. With the launch of eCash, the Bitcoin community is forced to confront the question of whether a fork can claim Bitcoin's moral inheritance while rewriting the most famous untouched balance on the copied chain.