PANews reported on April 25th that Bitcoin developer Paul Sztorc announced on April 24th plans to implement a hard fork of the Bitcoin network in August, launching a new chain, eCash. This fork will use a replica of the BTC Core client and the SHA-256 algorithm, reducing initial mining difficulty. Bitcoin holders can exchange their Bitcoin for eCash at a 1:1 ratio. It will also add seven Layer 2 scaling networks, known as "drivechains," to increase transaction throughput and support optional on-chain privacy features.

Sztorc emphasized that eCash differs from Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in 2017 by "manually" redistributing approximately 1.1 million BTC from Satoshi Nakamoto to early investors, calling it a "permanent solution to the Bitcoin problem." This proposal sparked strong opposition from the community, with Bitcoin advocates criticizing it as "stealing Satoshi's tokens" and questioning the limited existing applications of eCash, predicting the project's complete failure within two to three years. Currently, the Bitcoin community is engaged in heated discussions surrounding protocol upgrades, privacy protection, and post-quantum resistance.