Paul Sztorc, a Bitcoin developer and co-founder of LayerTwo Labs, has proposed a hard fork that would transfer some of the earliest coins on the original cryptocurrency network—believed to be linked to the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto—to new investors. The project, named eCash, was announced by Sztorc last Friday. He plans to “manually reassign” approximately 500,000 out of around 1.1 million Bitcoin associated with the “Patoshi pattern,” a mining behavior some researchers attribute to Nakamoto.
Sztorc stated on X: ‘This will no doubt be a controversial decision. But I think it is necessary, and in fact, ideal.’ He clarified that moving Satoshi-linked coins within the existing Bitcoin network is impossible. Instead, eCash aims to create a separate blockchain replicating Bitcoin’s history while altering the ledger to reassign most of those coins to new owners, aside from 600K retained. Current holders on-chain will receive equivalent eCash holdings at the time of the fork.
Sztorc has devised an investment mechanism for this hard fork that allows participation before its August launch: ‘Satoshi has 1.1M coins in the so called “patoshi” pattern. We will be manually reassigning some of these coins (fewer than half) to investors today,’ he tweeted on April 24, 2026.
‘The division is straightforward. If you hold 4.19 BTC, you will obtain 4.19 eCash,’ Sztorc explained on X. ‘You may sell your eCash—or keep it. Or ignore it.’
The new fork draws inspiration from David Chaum’s original eCash project—an early digital money concept employing cryptographic “blind signatures” for private electronic payments—but DigiCash, the developing company, went bankrupt in 1998 due to lack of adoption.
Jameson Lopp, a Bitcoin developer and Casa Chief Security Officer, told Decrypt: ‘It’s not Satoshi’s Bitcoin; it’s merely [unspent transaction outputs] presumed to belong to Satoshi that are being cloned and modified onto an entirely different network.’ Lopp dismissed the move as ‘clever outrage marketing,’ suggesting it serves more for publicity than actual utility.
Lopp noted that such a reassignment could only occur on Bitcoin itself if all developers agreed to adopt the fork: ‘If the entire Bitcoin ecosystem decided to migrate to a hard fork redistributing Satoshi’s coins, then theoretically, yes, it’s possible.’
Sztorc has argued that this reassignment is crucial for garnering early support and investment before eCash’s August launch. He asserts it will prevent the chain from stagnating as a ‘zombie’ project lacking capital or contributors.
Bitcoin has experienced splits previously; Bitcoin Cash emerged in 2017 following a scaling dispute, forming a new network, while Ethereum forked in 2016 after the DAO hack. Most supported reversing stolen transactions, whereas Ethereum Classic maintained the original chain. Both Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC) have been less successful than their originals.
The eCash website indicates the chain will launch in about 119 days with “Drivechain” scaling network support, developing seven sidechains. Sztorc emphasizes: ‘The upside is enormous: global scalability, privacy, competition, rapid improvement, and adoption. In fact, it may be a matter of life or death for Bitcoin.’ He notes minor downsides include some drama and every Bitcoiner receiving free money.
Sztorc did not respond to Decrypt’s request for comment.