Bitcoin Holders Prepare for Matching eCash (ECX) Balances as Multi-Phase Hard Fork Begins

Bitcoin owners are getting ready to claim an equivalent amount of a new cryptocurrency known as eCash, or ECX, as a planned hard fork of the Bitcoin blockchain moves into its initial phase.

The project, developed by LayerTwo Labs under the leadership of longtime Bitcoin contributor Paul Sztorc, aims to create an independent network that mirrors Bitcoin’s transaction history at specific points without altering the original Bitcoin chain in any way.

Rather than launching as a single event, the ECX hard fork is proceeding through three deliberate stages to allow testing, infrastructure preparation, and community familiarization.

The alpha phase activates around Bitcoin block height 963,648, corresponding roughly to August 23, 2026.

During this period, participants can experiment with software, mining, wallet functionality, and trading of temporary practice tokens referred to as pECX or alpha ECX.

These practice units carry no permanent value on their own but can later be burned and redeemed for a portion of the official coins once the full network is live.

A beta stage follows around September 20 at block height approximately 967,680.

This intermediate step is expected to involve greater participation from exchanges, custodians, wallet providers, and miners, providing a more realistic environment for testing operational readiness.