eCash explained: Paul Sztorc's Bitcoin fork and what holders can do with it

[Firewall Hollow]

A new Bitcoin fork has handed coins to anyone who held their own keys. Cointelegraph's magazine explains that Paul Sztorc, founder of LayerTwo Labs and author of the Drivechain proposals, launched eCash on 29 October as a hard fork of Bitcoin

Anyone holding their own keys at block 973,728 received an equal balance of ECX. Five sidechains launched with the main network: BitNames, BitAssets, Thunder, Truthcoin and zSide, with a quantum resistant chain called Photon and an exchange called CoinShift planned

LayerTwo warns holders never to move their bitcoin first, because an ordinary unprotected bitcoin transaction can easily be replayed on the eCash network. Trading is thin so far, with one listing showing about $355,000 of daily volume on 5 November

Sztorc said anything that is not maximising network usage is simply a distraction. Critics question the security of the Drivechain model, warning that miners could collude to take funds from sidechains. The feature was published early on Saturday, just before the latest news window

eCash lets Sztorc test his Drivechain ideas for real after years of debate within Bitcoin. Holders should be very careful about replay risks before touching their coins. Whether it attracts real users will decide if it becomes more than an experiment

Will you claim your eCash? And should Bitcoin itself adopt Drivechain sidechains?

Bitcoin Holders Have Received eCash - What Can You Do With It?cointelegraph.com