Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc plans to launch a hard fork network eCash in August, supporting 1:1 exchange for BTC, sparking community controversy

Odaily Planet Daily reports that Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc has announced that the Bitcoin hard fork network eCash will be officially launched in August this year. BTC holders will be able to exchange BTC for eCash on a 1:1 basis after the hard fork goes live. It is reported that the network’s Layer1 node software will be an “almost identical copy” of the Bitcoin Core client, will continue to use the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, and will lower the initial mining difficulty to attract more miners to participate. Meanwhile, eCash will also be equipped with 7 Layer2 scaling networks called “drivechains” to increase transaction throughput and support optional on-chain privacy features.

Paul Sztorc said that eCash is different from Bitcoin Cash in 2017. It no longer uses the “Bitcoin” name and is described as a long-term solution to address Bitcoin’s scalability and privacy issues. However, his proposal to manually reallocate a portion of the approximately 1.1 million BTC held by Satoshi Nakamoto to early investors has sparked strong controversy within the community, with some Bitcoin supporters criticizing the move as “theft” and a breach of Bitcoin principles. (Cointelegraph)