An eCash fork that would create a separate ECX asset for Bitcoin holders entered its Alpha test phase on Aug. 23, producing practice blocks but not the permanent chain split. The Alpha chain generated blocks from Bitcoin height 963,648, while Bitcoin’s own block at that height was confirmed separately by Mempool.space as 00000000000000000001769d9a327f5b455aa8a2dd407b1b63040d2a9f832d32 with timestamp 2026-08-23 01:48:47.
According to the project’s revised roadmap, the deployment is split into three stages: Alpha near block 963,648 on Aug. 23, Beta near block 967,680 around Sept. 20, and permanent Mainnet near block 973,728 expected around Oct. 31. Alpha and Beta produce practice pECX rather than the final 1:1 balance copied from Bitcoin. Founder Paul Sztorc said 1,000 pECX could be redeemed for 10 ECX, but the evidence does not show that Alpha history or balances automatically carry into Beta or Mainnet.
The eCash integration guide, last updated Aug. 11, still treats 963,648 as the production fork point and labels key values as drynet4 parameters. Final fork hash, software branch or tag and replay scheme have not been published. Current coin-splitting guidance uses an opt-in nLockTime of 499999999 for ECX transactions, but integrators are told to verify the final scheme before launch.
Replay protection and ticker confusion remain unresolved. Because the network copies Bitcoin’s transaction history, transactions signed on BTC could execute on ECX without dedicated safeguards. The ECX ticker also collides with the existing eCash project trading as XEC, increasing phishing and fake-wallet risks. Self-custody users will be able to claim ECX once allocation software is released, but exchange customers depend on platform policy. GMO Coin said it would not handle pECX or ECX during Alpha and Beta, while Coincheck, SBI VC Trade and Zaif left later crediting, listing or handling undecided.
For miners, wallets and exchanges, the next production target is Bitcoin block 973,728, with final software, replay protection and exchange integration schedules the key checkpoints before the permanent allocation.
