Tagged "paul sztorc"

27 posts

From eCash Beta to the ECX Main Net Launch: Drivechains Become a Reality

From eCash Beta to the ECX Main Net Launch: Drivechains Become a Reality

On October 29th 2026, eCash became a live Bitcoin fork with real if transient hashrate, five activated sidechains, one native market, one wrapped market, a list of broken websites and a founder who says he expected worse.

The eCash Alpha, Days 16 to 28: Drivechains Come Alive & 150k pECX Gets Burned Before Beta Net

The eCash Alpha, Days 16 to 28: Drivechains Come Alive & 150k pECX Gets Burned Before Beta Net

The last fortnight of the eCash alpha: the Lukecoin price circus, Liquid's cautionary tale echoing, six sidechains racing for slots, the great pECX burn, the community pooling its small change, and a betanet that went from proposal to retarget in a day.

Two Bitcoin Forks, Two Philosophies: Blake2b Chain (BIP110) vs. eCash (BIP300)

Two Bitcoin Forks, Two Philosophies: Blake2b Chain (BIP110) vs. eCash (BIP300)

In August and September 2026, two veteran Bitcoin developers left the main chain within weeks of each other. Luke Dashjr's BIP-110 fork restricts data and shrinks Bitcoin down to money only. Paul Sztorc's eCash fork adds drivechains and opens Bitcoin up to everything. An honest comparison of the two most consequential Bitcoin forks in years.

The eCash Alpha, Days 4 to 15: Doldrums, Orphan Blocks, and the Week the Old World Cracked

The eCash Alpha, Days 4 to 15: Doldrums, Orphan Blocks, and the Week the Old World Cracked

The second stretch of the eCash alpha: a hashrate hangover, the first production incident, the first community drivechains activated under proof of work, the first withdrawal bundle, pECX price discovery, and a $320 million lesson from Liquid about why federations are not the answer.

August 23-26: How the eCash Alpha Went From Zero to a Living Ecosystem

August 23-26: How the eCash Alpha Went From Zero to a Living Ecosystem

The first days of the eCash alpha: a difficulty that started at 1, 26,000 blocks in 15 hours, pools being blacklisted by hash rental platforms, a 93 dollar pECX, and a Telegram chat that never slept.

The Prediction Market Pioneers: Paul Sztorc Reunites With Robin Hanson Before the eCash Alpha

The Prediction Market Pioneers: Paul Sztorc Reunites With Robin Hanson Before the eCash Alpha

On August 4th, 2026, with the first phase of the eCash (ECX) hard fork less than three weeks away, Paul Sztorc sat down for a one-hour conversation with the economist who arguably set his entire ca…

Fork, Spork, and Fog of War: Paul Sztorc Fields Two Hours of Questions in a Special Edition eCash Spaces

Fork, Spork, and Fog of War: Paul Sztorc Fields Two Hours of Questions in a Special Edition eCash Spaces

On the evening of August 10th, 2026, what began as a paranoid war-gaming session about the Coldcard exploit turned into one of the most substantive public Q&As on the eCash (ECX) hard fork to date.…

eCash (ECX) Will Release on the Bitcoin Whitepaper's 18th Birthday (October 31st 2026)

eCash (ECX) Will Release on the Bitcoin Whitepaper's 18th Birthday (October 31st 2026)

Layer Two Labs founder Paul Sztorc has confirmed that the eCash (ECX) hard fork will still begin on August 23rd, 2026, but it will no longer arrive as a single event. Instead, the BIP-300 fork will…

Paul Sztorc on Incrypted: Ukrainian Audiences Get the eCash Pitch, Three Weeks Before Launch

Paul Sztorc on Incrypted: Ukrainian Audiences Get the eCash Pitch, Three Weeks Before Launch

This is a summary and analysis of Paul Sztorc's August 3, 2026 appearance on Incrypted, a Ukrainian cryptocurrency media outlet, streamed live on YouTube and X. The wide-ranging ninety-minute conve…

Paul Sztorc's Vision for eCash (ECX) at MARA Foundation's "What to Expect When Expecting Forks"

Paul Sztorc's Vision for eCash (ECX) at MARA Foundation's "What to Expect When Expecting Forks"

This essay reflects upon Paul Sztorc's appearance on "What to Expect When Expecting Forks," hosted by the MARA Foundation and Isabel Foxen Duke on July 30, 2026, roughly nine days before BIP-110's …

Paul Sztorc Walks Into the Lion's Den: The "Bitcoin & Chill" Debate on eCash, Lightning, and Firing Core

Paul Sztorc Walks Into the Lion's Den: The "Bitcoin & Chill" Debate on eCash, Lightning, and Firing Core

This is a summary of Paul Sztorc's appearance on the X show "Bitcoin & Chill," hosted by Wicked (@wsbitcoin) on July 22, 2026, and archived on YouTube by Rexpaces. Unlike the friendly eCash Space…

eCash Spaces, July 15: Fee Models, the Smart Contract Dilemma, and Why Paul Sztorc Will "Hard Reject" Deviating From Bitcoin

eCash Spaces, July 15: Fee Models, the Smart Contract Dilemma, and Why Paul Sztorc Will "Hard Reject" Deviating From Bitcoin

The July 15 Ecash ECX Space approached issues such as the fee model, specialized vs general smart contracts, and Ecash's governance philosophy in relation to Bitcoin. Paul Sztorc patiently answered to all questions.

Paul Sztorc AMA on Stacker News: What We Learned

Paul Sztorc AMA on Stacker News: What We Learned

On July 18, 2026, at the request of the Stacker News moderator Scoresby, Paul Sztorc sat down for an AMA on one of the most Lightning-friendly forums in Bitcoin. The result was surprisingly positive.

The Bitcoin Brain Drain: Where the Smart People Went, and Why Ecash Brings Them Home

The Bitcoin Brain Drain: Where the Smart People Went, and Why Ecash Brings Them Home

For a decade, Bitcoin has been quietly losing its most thoughtful researchers and engineers to projects with friendlier development cultures. Here is who left, why, and what changes when the doors reopen.

Paul Sztorc's July 8th Ecash Space: Free Samourai & Fake BIP110ers

Paul Sztorc's July 8th Ecash Space: Free Samourai & Fake BIP110ers

The July 8 Space was the most chaotic of the entire run-up, and it was chaotic on purpose. What started as a calm housekeeping session from Paul Sztorc turned into a two-hour free-for-all featuring…

Paul Sztorc's June 30th Ecash Space: Comparative Advantage & Surviving the Launch

Paul Sztorc's June 30th Ecash Space: Comparative Advantage & Surviving the Launch

The final X Space of June ran a full two hours, and it followed the now-familiar rhythm: a slow, almost meandering solo open from Paul Sztorc, then a steady build into some of the sharpest technical exchanges of the entire launch run-up.

8 Fee Streams, 1 ASIC: Why SHA256 Pools Should Mine Ecash From Block One

8 Fee Streams, 1 ASIC: Why SHA256 Pools Should Mine Ecash From Block One

A technical and economic briefing for hashrate allocators ahead of the August 21, 2026 fork (block 964,000).

What Happened at TABConf 2025: The Day Lightning's Co-Creator Agreed with Paul Sztorc, The Skeptic

What Happened at TABConf 2025: The Day Lightning's Co-Creator Agreed with Paul Sztorc, The Skeptic

In October 2025, Paul Sztorc stood on a TABConf stage and told Lightning developers that their decade of work had been a waste of time. Then he opened the floor. What happened next reshaped the debate forever.

Paul Sztorc's June 24 Twitter Space: The ECX Mobile App, Saylor's Unraveling & a Builder's Challenge

Paul Sztorc's June 24 Twitter Space: The ECX Mobile App, Saylor's Unraveling & a Builder's Challenge

The conversation ran over two hours and covered a wide spread of territory, from a new mobile wallet to the cultural meltdown around Michael Saylor to a genuinely pointed disagreement about whether the Ecash drivechains will be complete on launch day.

Paul Sztorc's June 19th Twitter Space: Silent Payments, BitNames, and a Deep Debate with Justin Bons

Paul Sztorc's June 19th Twitter Space: Silent Payments, BitNames, and a Deep Debate with Justin Bons

This week, we witnessed Paul Sztorc in his element: explaining the design choices behind BIP 300, defending blind merge mining against intelligent pushback, sketching ambitious applications like BitNames and paid VPN networks, and engaging seriously with a sophisticated critic who disagrees with him about almost everything except the goal of building useful systems.

Paul Sztorc's June 10 Twitter Space: Zcash, The Ideal Block Size & the Cultural Battle for Ecash

Paul Sztorc's June 10 Twitter Space: Zcash, The Ideal Block Size & the Cultural Battle for Ecash

Two months out from the August 2026 hard fork, Paul Sztorc hosted another two-hour Twitter Space on June 10. The call was lighter on hard announcements than recent weeks but heavier on philosophy, …

Drivechains, Game Theory, and Robin Hanson's Influence on Ecash

Drivechains, Game Theory, and Robin Hanson's Influence on Ecash

Bitcoin's breakthrough was game-theoretic: a system in which thousands of mutually distrustful, self-interested actors would, by following their own incentives, produce an outcome that benefited the whole network. Ecash takes this philosophy forward.

A Brief History of Ecash: From Chaum to Sztorc

A Brief History of Ecash: From Chaum to Sztorc

The word "ecash" is older than Bitcoin. Older than the cypherpunk mailing list. Older than the World Wide Web, in fact. It belongs to a forty-year intellectual tradition of trying to build electronic money that respects human dignity.

Paul Sztorc's June 3 Twitter Space: Rusty Russell Quits, the $5m Round Closes, and What Is a Fair Launch?

Paul Sztorc's June 3 Twitter Space: Rusty Russell Quits, the $5m Round Closes, and What Is a Fair Launch?

The bulk of the call was spent doing two things the project has rarely done as openly before: defending the airdrop mechanic to a substantive critic for over thirty minutes, and walking through the technical and economic case for BIP 300's miner-voting design without retreating to slogans.

The Drivechain Timeline: From November 2015 to August 2026

The Drivechain Timeline: From November 2015 to August 2026

Paul Sztorc proposed the first drivechain design in November 2015. Eleven years later, on August 21, 2026, it finally activates on Ecash. Here is the complete year-by-year record of how we got here.

Paul Sztorc's May 27 Twitter Space: Bug Bounties, Pool Software, and the Cultural Death Spiral of BTC

Paul Sztorc's May 27 Twitter Space: Bug Bounties, Pool Software, and the Cultural Death Spiral of BTC

For roughly 90 minutes on Wednesday, May 27, 2026, Paul Sztorc once again opened the floor on Twitter Spaces, walking through a checklist of announcements before fielding questions on Lightning, go…

Inside Paul Sztorc's May 20th Spaces on X: When Critics Sergio Demian Lerner & Mr. HODL Joined

Inside Paul Sztorc's May 20th Spaces on X: When Critics Sergio Demian Lerner & Mr. HODL Joined

On May 20th 2026, Ecash founder Paul Sztorc debates two of the project's biggest critics: Sergio Demian Lerner and Mr. Hodl. The result should serve as an example to all cryptocurrency industry leaders.