Paul Sztorc, the developer behind the Drivechain proposal and BIP 300, announced the change in an Aug. 7 update. ECX is a new blockchain that copies Bitcoin’s full transaction history at a set block height, crediting nearly every Bitcoin holder (minus some of Satoshi’s coins) with an equal amount of ECX. Bitcoin’s own network is not altered by the process.
Sztorc Breaks the Launch Into Three Steps
Under the plan, an “alpha” version of ECX activates Aug. 23 at block 963648. A “beta” version follows Sept. 20 at block 967,680. The permanent, full release is set for Oct. 31 at block 973728.
“The Alpha and Beta launches will (ideally) resemble the full launch, in every way possible,” Sztorc wrote on Friday. Coins collected during the alpha and beta phases can later be burned and redeemed for real ECX once the permanent chain goes live on Oct. 31.
Why Wait? Sztorc Points to Software Risk and Price Discovery
Sztorc listed several reasons for spacing out the launch. Among them: giving the project time to work through what he called “LLM bug chaos,” letting the market settle on an early price for ECX before the network’s mining difficulty locks in, and giving traders something to test and speculate on ahead of the final release.
He also framed the staged approach as a safety net. “Gives us cover if there is some kind of big problem or disaster,” he wrote, adding that the format functions as a live demonstration for people asking whether the new chain will work as intended. The move comes at a time where crypto developers have been scrambling to protect projects from bugs discovered faster by artificial intelligence (AI) models.
Replay Protection Stays Optional, and Sztorc Warns Users
One detail carries over from the original plan: replay protection, the mechanism that keeps a transaction from executing on both the Bitcoin and ECX chains at once, remains opt-in rather than automatic. Official ECX wallet software will apply the protection and alert users before a transaction goes through.
