https://ecashblog.com Essays on Ecash, drivechains, and Bitcoin sidechain economics. en-us Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:15:56 +0000 https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-10-30-from-ecash-beta-to-the-october-29th-ecx-main-net-launch-drivechains-become-a-reality.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-10-30-from-ecash-beta-to-the-october-29th-ecx-main-net-launch-drivechains-become-a-reality.html Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:15:56 +0000 On October 29th 2026, eCash became a live Bitcoin fork with real if transient hashrate, five activated sidechains, one native market, one wrapped market, a list of broken websites and a founder who says he expected worse. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-10-10-the-ecash-beta-days-1-to-22-eight-sidechains-in-five-hours-a-difficulty-tug-of-war-the-builders-who-kept-the-lights-on.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-10-10-the-ecash-beta-days-1-to-22-eight-sidechains-in-five-hours-a-difficulty-tug-of-war-the-builders-who-kept-the-lights-on.html Sat, 10 Oct 2026 21:33:11 +0000 Three weeks later the beta has become something more useful than a launch party: a long, sometimes grumpy, often brilliant rehearsal in which most of the heavy lifting was done by people LayerTwo Labs does not pay. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-20-he-ecash-alpha-days-16-to-28-drivechains-come-alive-150k-pecx-gets-burned-before-beta-net.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-20-he-ecash-alpha-days-16-to-28-drivechains-come-alive-150k-pecx-gets-burned-before-beta-net.html Sun, 20 Sep 2026 04:44:30 +0000 The last fortnight of the eCash alpha: the Lukecoin price circus, Liquid's cautionary tale echoing, six sidechains racing for slots, the great pECX burn, the community pooling its small change, and a betanet that went from proposal to retarget in a day. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-12-liquid-trusted-a-federation-drivechains-trust-hashrate-and-time.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-12-liquid-trusted-a-federation-drivechains-trust-hashrate-and-time.html Sat, 12 Sep 2026 22:21:38 +0000 On September 6, 2026, roughly 4,000 BTC, worth about $319 million, moved out of the Liquid Network's peg wallet in a transaction the federation never meant to sign. ErgoBTC flagged the pegout(https… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-07-two-bitcoin-forks-two-philosophies-blake2b-chain-bip110-vs-ecash-bip300.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-07-two-bitcoin-forks-two-philosophies-blake2b-chain-bip110-vs-ecash-bip300.html Mon, 07 Sep 2026 17:18:32 +0000 In August and September 2026, two veteran Bitcoin developers left the main chain within weeks of each other. Luke Dashjr's BIP-110 fork restricts data and shrinks Bitcoin down to money only. Paul Sztorc's eCash fork adds drivechains and opens Bitcoin up to everything. An honest comparison of the two most consequential Bitcoin forks in years. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-07-the-ecash-alpha-days-4-to-15-doldrums-orphan-blocks-and-the-week-the-old-world-cracked.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-07-the-ecash-alpha-days-4-to-15-doldrums-orphan-blocks-and-the-week-the-old-world-cracked.html Mon, 07 Sep 2026 16:50:00 +0000 The second stretch of the eCash alpha: a hashrate hangover, the first production incident, the first community drivechains activated under proof of work, the first withdrawal bundle, pECX price discovery, and a $320 million lesson from Liquid about why federations are not the answer. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-01-coinshift-the-fork-that-ships-with-its-own-exchange.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-01-coinshift-the-fork-that-ships-with-its-own-exchange.html Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:55:14 +0000 This is the seventh and final piece in our series covering the seven BIP-300 sidechains shipping with the eCash hard fork, and it's focused on CoinShift. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-01-truthcoin-prediction-markets-resolved-by-nobody-on-the-chain-drivechains-were-built-for.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-09-01-truthcoin-prediction-markets-resolved-by-nobody-on-the-chain-drivechains-were-built-for.html Tue, 01 Sep 2026 10:06:56 +0000 This is the sixth piece in our series covering the seven BIP-300 sidechains shipping with the eCash hard fork. Previous entries covered Thunder(https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-22-thunder-drivec… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-26-august-23-26-how-the-ecash-alpha-went-from-zero-to-a-living-ecosystem.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-26-august-23-26-how-the-ecash-alpha-went-from-zero-to-a-living-ecosystem.html Wed, 26 Aug 2026 16:33:29 +0000 The first days of the eCash alpha: a difficulty that started at 1, 26,000 blocks in 15 hours, pools being blacklisted by hash rental platforms, a 93 dollar pECX, and a Telegram chat that never slept. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-19-photon-quantum-resistant-vaults-on-ecash-built-for-q-day-before-it-arrives.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-19-photon-quantum-resistant-vaults-on-ecash-built-for-q-day-before-it-arrives.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 09:45:55 +0000 This is the fifth piece in our series covering the seven BIP-300 sidechains shipping with the eCash hard fork. Previous entries covered Thunder(https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-22-thunder-drivec… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-15-ecash-ecx-hard-fork-101-what-to-expect-this-halloween.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-15-ecash-ecx-hard-fork-101-what-to-expect-this-halloween.html Sat, 15 Aug 2026 00:20:45 +0000 On October 31st, 2026, exactly eighteen years after Satoshi Nakamoto published the Bitcoin whitepaper, a new chain called eCash will split off from Bitcoin, copy its entire ledger, credit every BTC… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-13-the-prediction-markets-pioneer-paul-sztorc-reunites-with-robin-hanson-before-the-ecash-alpha.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-13-the-prediction-markets-pioneer-paul-sztorc-reunites-with-robin-hanson-before-the-ecash-alpha.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:56:36 +0000 On August 4th, 2026, with the first phase of the eCash (ECX) hard fork less than three weeks away, Paul Sztorc sat down for a one-hour conversation with the economist who arguably set his entire ca… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-13-fork-spork-and-fog-of-war-paul-sztorc-fields-two-hours-of-questions-in-a-special-edition-ecash-spaces.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-13-fork-spork-and-fog-of-war-paul-sztorc-fields-two-hours-of-questions-in-a-special-edition-ecash-spaces.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:01:58 +0000 On the evening of August 10th, 2026, what began as a paranoid war-gaming session about the Coldcard exploit turned into one of the most substantive public Q&As on the eCash (ECX) hard fork to date.… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-07-ecash-ecx-will-release-on-the-bitcoin-whitepapers-18th-birthday-october-31st-2026.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-07-ecash-ecx-will-release-on-the-bitcoin-whitepapers-18th-birthday-october-31st-2026.html Fri, 07 Aug 2026 21:27:45 +0000 Layer Two Labs founder Paul Sztorc has confirmed that the eCash (ECX) hard fork will still begin on August 23rd, 2026, but it will no longer arrive as a single event. Instead, the BIP-300 fork will… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-05-paul-sztorc-on-incrypted-ukrainian-audiences-get-the-ecash-pitch-three-weeks-before-launch.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-08-05-paul-sztorc-on-incrypted-ukrainian-audiences-get-the-ecash-pitch-three-weeks-before-launch.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 16:47:25 +0000 This is a summary and analysis of Paul Sztorc's August 3, 2026 appearance on Incrypted, a Ukrainian cryptocurrency media outlet, streamed live on YouTube and X. The wide-ranging ninety-minute conve… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-30-paul-sztorcs-vision-for-ecash-ecx-at-mara-foundations-what-to-expect-when-expecting-forks.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-30-paul-sztorcs-vision-for-ecash-ecx-at-mara-foundations-what-to-expect-when-expecting-forks.html Thu, 30 Jul 2026 22:22:32 +0000 This essay reflects upon Paul Sztorc's appearance on "What to Expect When Expecting Forks," hosted by the MARA Foundation and Isabel Foxen Duke on July 30, 2026, roughly nine days before BIP-110's … https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-23-paul-sztorc-walks-into-the-lions-den-the-bitcoin-chill-debate-on-ecash-lightning-and-firing-core.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-23-paul-sztorc-walks-into-the-lions-den-the-bitcoin-chill-debate-on-ecash-lightning-and-firing-core.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 20:14:39 +0000 This is a summary of Paul Sztorc's appearance on the X show "Bitcoin & Chill," hosted by Wicked (@wsbitcoin) on July 22, 2026, and archived on YouTube by Rexpaces. Unlike the friendly eCash Space… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-20-ecash-spaces-july-15-fee-models-the-smart-contract-dilemma-and-why-paul-sztorc-will-hard-reject-deviating-from-bitcoin.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-20-ecash-spaces-july-15-fee-models-the-smart-contract-dilemma-and-why-paul-sztorc-will-hard-reject-deviating-from-bitcoin.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 15:23:36 +0000 The July 15 Ecash ECX Space approached issues such as the fee model, specialized vs general smart contracts, and Ecash's governance philosophy in relation to Bitcoin. Paul Sztorc patiently answered to all questions. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-20-paul-sztorc-ama-on-stacker-news-what-we-learned.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-20-paul-sztorc-ama-on-stacker-news-what-we-learned.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 01:38:52 +0000 On July 18, 2026, at the request of the Stacker News moderator Scoresby, Paul Sztorc sat down for an AMA on one of the most Lightning-friendly forums in Bitcoin. The result was surprisingly positive. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-19-bitassets-erc-20-style-tokens-on-ecash-without-the-casino-chain-underneath.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-19-bitassets-erc-20-style-tokens-on-ecash-without-the-casino-chain-underneath.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 10:29:13 +0000 The pitch is not that BitAssets invents something Ethereum cannot do. It is that BitAssets does the useful parts without requiring users to buy and hold a separate volatile gas token, and without dragging the entire apparatus of a casino chain along for the ride. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-18-bitnames-on-ecash-one-name-everywhere-owned-by-you-and-not-by-icann.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-18-bitnames-on-ecash-one-name-everywhere-owned-by-you-and-not-by-icann.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 22:17:00 +0000 BitNames is an attempt to build what Namecoin tried and failed to build fifteen years ago, and to succeed this time by fixing the specific economic and structural mistakes that killed the original. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-17-zside-zcash-grade-privacy-pegged-to-ecash-instead-of-its-own-coin.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-17-zside-zcash-grade-privacy-pegged-to-ecash-instead-of-its-own-coin.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 01:18:39 +0000 Of the seven sidechains launching at block height 964000, zSide is the one most likely to make privacy advocates and Bitcoin maximalists uncomfortable at the same time. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-09-the-bitcoin-brain-drain.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-09-the-bitcoin-brain-drain.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 For a decade, Bitcoin has been quietly losing its most thoughtful researchers and engineers to projects with friendlier development cultures. Here is who left, why, and what changes when the doors reopen. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-09-paul-sztorcs-july-8th-ecash-space-free-samourai-fake-bip110ers.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-09-paul-sztorcs-july-8th-ecash-space-free-samourai-fake-bip110ers.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:39:48 +0000 The July 8 Space was the most chaotic of the entire run-up, and it was chaotic on purpose. What started as a calm housekeeping session from Paul Sztorc turned into a two-hour free-for-all featuring… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-06-op-return-distraction-industrial-complex.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-06-op-return-distraction-industrial-complex.html Mon, 06 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 In 2014, a single developer began a campaign of gatekeeping that drove a generation of builders to Ethereum. In 2025, that same developer weaponized the precedent into a full-scale anti-development faction. Here is the story Paul Sztorc warned about for over a decade. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-02-paul-sztorcs-june-30th-ecash-space-comparative-advantage-surviving-the-launch.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-02-paul-sztorcs-june-30th-ecash-space-comparative-advantage-surviving-the-launch.html Thu, 02 Jul 2026 14:46:33 +0000 The final X Space of June ran a full two hours, and it followed the now-familiar rhythm: a slow, almost meandering solo open from Paul Sztorc, then a steady build into some of the sharpest technical exchanges of the entire launch run-up. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-02-the-custodial-endgame-ftx.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-02-the-custodial-endgame-ftx.html Thu, 02 Jul 2026 12:00:00 +0000 In 2022, Terra Luna, Celsius, BlockFi, and FTX all collapsed. Throughout it all, the loudest voices in cryptocurrency were promoting these platforms with affiliate links. Paul Sztorc warned against the entire category. This is the story of who was right. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-29-8-fee-streams-1-asic-why-sha256-pools-should-mine-ecash-from-block-one.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-29-8-fee-streams-1-asic-why-sha256-pools-should-mine-ecash-from-block-one.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 23:21:08 +0000 A technical and economic briefing for hashrate allocators ahead of the August 21, 2026 fork (block 964,000). https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-29-what-happened-at-tabconf.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-29-what-happened-at-tabconf.html Mon, 29 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 In October 2025, Paul Sztorc stood on a TABConf stage and told Lightning developers that their decade of work had been a waste of time. Then he opened the floor. What happened next reshaped the debate forever. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-25-the-hivemind-master-plan.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-25-the-hivemind-master-plan.html Fri, 26 Jun 2026 06:55:36 +0000 When Ecash forks in August 2026, drivechains will not arrive empty. Seven sidechains are ready to activate: Thunder, BitNames, BitAssets, Hivemind, ZSide, CoinShift, and Photon. Here is the complete tour. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-26-paul-sztorcs-june-24-twitter-space-the-mobile-app-saylors-unraveling-a-builders-challenge.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-26-paul-sztorcs-june-24-twitter-space-the-mobile-app-saylors-unraveling-a-builders-challenge.html Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:38:27 +0000 The conversation ran over two hours and covered a wide spread of territory, from a new mobile wallet to the cultural meltdown around Michael Saylor to a genuinely pointed disagreement about whether the Ecash drivechains will be complete on launch day. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-22-thunder-drivechain-blocksize-war.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-22-thunder-drivechain-blocksize-war.html Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Paul Sztorc designed Thunder, a high-volume payments sidechain that gives both big blockers and small blockers what they actually wanted. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-21-paul-sztorcs-june-19th-twitter-space-silent-payments-bitnames-and-a-deep-debate-with-justin-bons.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-21-paul-sztorcs-june-19th-twitter-space-silent-payments-bitnames-and-a-deep-debate-with-justin-bons.html Sun, 21 Jun 2026 13:47:00 +0000 This week, we witnessed Paul Sztorc in his element: explaining the design choices behind BIP 300, defending blind merge mining against intelligent pushback, sketching ambitious applications like BitNames and paid VPN networks, and engaging seriously with a sophisticated critic who disagrees with him about almost everything except the goal of building useful systems. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-18-the-sztorc-vindications.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-18-the-sztorc-vindications.html Thu, 18 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 From the FTX collapse to the OP_RETURN moral panic, from Lightning https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-15-the-polymarket-vindication.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-15-the-polymarket-vindication.html Mon, 15 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 In 2013, Paul Sztorc designed prediction markets on Bitcoin. He was told they couldn https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-11-Paul-sztorc-june-10-2026-space-x-ecash-zcash-block-size.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-11-Paul-sztorc-june-10-2026-space-x-ecash-zcash-block-size.html Thu, 11 Jun 2026 17:32:47 +0000 Two months out from the August 2026 hard fork, Paul Sztorc hosted another two-hour Twitter Space on June 10. The call was lighter on hard announcements than recent weeks but heavier on philosophy, … https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-11-how-ecash-inherits-your-bitcoin.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-11-how-ecash-inherits-your-bitcoin.html Thu, 11 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 If you hold BTC at the moment Ecash forks, you will own coins on both chains. Here https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-08-the-final-10x.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-08-the-final-10x.html Mon, 08 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Bitcoin https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-04-drivechains-game-theory-robin-hanson-ecash.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-04-drivechains-game-theory-robin-hanson-ecash.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 15:56:14 +0000 Bitcoin's breakthrough was game-theoretic: a system in which thousands of mutually distrustful, self-interested actors would, by following their own incentives, produce an outcome that benefited the whole network. Ecash takes this philosophy forward. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-04-a-brief-history-of-ecash.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-04-a-brief-history-of-ecash.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 12:00:00 +0000 The word "ecash" is older than Bitcoin. Older than the cypherpunk mailing list. Older than the World Wide Web, in fact. It belongs to a forty-year intellectual tradition of trying to build electronic money that respects human dignity. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-04-Paul-sztorc-june-3-2026-space-x-ecash-fair-launch-5-million-rusty-russel-quits.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-04-Paul-sztorc-june-3-2026-space-x-ecash-fair-launch-5-million-rusty-russel-quits.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 07:16:47 +0000 The bulk of the call was spent doing two things the project has rarely done as openly before: defending the airdrop mechanic to a substantive critic for over thirty minutes, and walking through the technical and economic case for BIP 300's miner-voting design without retreating to slogans. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-28-drivechain-timeline-2015-to-2026.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-28-drivechain-timeline-2015-to-2026.html Thu, 28 May 2026 13:38:49 +0000 Paul Sztorc proposed the first drivechain design in November 2015. Eleven years later, on August 21, 2026, it finally activates on Ecash. Here is the complete year-by-year record of how we got here. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-28-paul-sztorcs-may-27-twitter-space-bug-bounties-pool-software-and-the-cultural-death-spiral-of-btc.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-28-paul-sztorcs-may-27-twitter-space-bug-bounties-pool-software-and-the-cultural-death-spiral-of-btc.html Thu, 28 May 2026 13:23:28 +0000 For roughly 90 minutes on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, Paul Sztorc once again opened the floor on Twitter Spaces, walking through a checklist of announcements before fielding questions on Lightning, go… https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-28-federations-are-not-decentralization.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-28-federations-are-not-decentralization.html Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 The federated sidechain model is custodianship with a costume. Why Liquid, Fedimint, and every multisig federation fail the decentralization test. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-26-peter-todd-paid-critique-rebuttal.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-26-peter-todd-paid-critique-rebuttal.html Tue, 26 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 In 2023, LayerTwo Labs paid Peter Todd $2,500 to write the definitive technical critique of drivechains. The resulting essay was incomplete by Todd https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-25-why-lightning-was-always-the-wrong-l2.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-25-why-lightning-was-always-the-wrong-l2.html Mon, 25 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Lightning https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-24-kratter-security-budget-rebuttal.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-24-kratter-security-budget-rebuttal.html Sun, 24 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000 Matthew Kratter recently declared Bitcoin https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-01-what-a-drivechain-actually-is.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-06-01-what-a-drivechain-actually-is.html Sat, 23 May 2026 12:44:10 +0000 Drivechains let Bitcoin host any experiment on a dedicated sidechain — without launching a new coin, without trusting a federation, and without weakening the main chain. Here https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-11-why-every-altcoin-is-a-failed-sidechain.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-05-11-why-every-altcoin-is-a-failed-sidechain.html Sat, 23 May 2026 12:35:54 +0000 Every altcoin since 2011 is an experiment that should have been a Bitcoin sidechain. Drivechains finally make that possible. https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-13-soft-fork-that-became-hard.html https://ecashblog.com/posts/2026-07-13-soft-fork-that-became-hard.html Sat, 23 May 2026 11:50:13 +0000 Drivechains were first presented in 2015. Became a formalized BIP in 2017. Have been promoted as a soft fork for Bitcoin for almost a decade. This could have been an easy activation, which makes everything possible on Bitcoin. But they chose the hard way.