Le principal développeur de Bitcoin lance un nouveau fork BTC offrant aux détenteurs de nouveaux eCash, mais affirmant que cela pourrait constituer un risque réel

Paul Sztorc, LayerTwo Labs CEO and longtime Bitcoin developer, is planning an August 2026 Bitcoin hard fork called eCash, targeted around Bitcoin block 964,000 . His April 24 announcement described a new chain that would copy Bitcoin history , give holders 1 eCash for every 1 BTC at the split, and launch with a Bitcoin-Core-like base layer mined with SHA-256d alongside Drivechain-style sidechains. For ordinary Bitcoin holders, the practical question is more specific than the backlash. The fork can create a new asset, new confusion, and new operational decisions, while BTC balances remain governed by Bitcoin software, Bitcoin consensus, and Bitcoin private keys. In a later clarification , Sztorc said the current eCash plan would give Satoshi Nakamoto 600,000 eCash rather than 1.1 million eCash. He also repeated that BTC balances are untouched by eCash and that moving BTC always requires Bitcoin software plus the relevant Bitcoin private key. That distinction sets the holder map. A Bitcoin holder can ignore a fork and still keep the same BTC. The unresolved issue is whether eCash becomes a supported asset that exchanges, wallets, custodians, miners, and tax records have to process. Until that happens, the controversy is mostly about legitimacy, incentives, and precedent on a new ledger. What eCash would copy from Bitcoin The proposed chain starts from a familiar hard-fork mechanic. At the fork height, Bitcoin history would be copied into a new network. A wallet holding 4.19 BTC at the split would have 4.19 eCash on the new chain, according to Sztorc's announcement. Holders could keep, sell, or ignore those coins if the new chain launches and if they can safely access them. The base-chain pitch is intentionally close to Bitcoin. Sztorc described the eCash layer 1 as a near-copy of Bitcoin Core, mined with the same SHA-256d algorithm, with a one-time difficulty reset to its minimum value at launch. He also said the chain would activate BIP300 and BIP301 through CUSF, a