Bitcoin Forks to Duplicate BTC at Block 964,000

Developer Paul Sztorc plans a deliberate hard fork called eCash to activate at block 964,000, expected around Aug. 21, 2026. Separately, a contested soft-fork proposal named BIP-110 has an August signaling window that could produce an accidental split. Both events would create two networks that share the same history up to the split point.

Bitcoin does not record account balances. It records unspent transaction outputs, or UTXOs, each locked to a specific private key. When a lasting split occurs, both chains inherit the identical set of UTXOs that existed before the split. At the snapshot moment every UTXO appears on both ledgers and can be spent separately on each chain.

Control of the private key at the snapshot determines who can spend the duplicated coins on each chain. Users who hold their own keys can generally sign transactions on both networks. Coins held in wallets controlled by exchanges or other custodians are subject to the custodian’s policy because the custodian controls the keys at the snapshot.

A technical risk at the snapshot is replay, where a transaction signed for one chain may be accepted on the other if signing rules match. Replay protection embeds a chain-specific marker in signatures so a transaction valid on one network fails on the other. Forks without clear replay protection require users to create chain-specific transactions before they can move funds safely on either ledger.

A forked chain also inherits Bitcoin’s mining difficulty, which was calibrated for the pre-split hash rate. If substantially less hashpower follows the fork, block production can slow until difficulty adjusts, producing irregular block times and a period when the new chain is easier to disrupt. If major miners support the fork, block production can remain regular and the network can sustain similar security levels.

Nodes choose between competing chains by comparing accumulated proof of work, but only among chains that comply with the node’s rules. A node enforcing Bitcoin’s original consensus rules will not accept blocks that violate those rules, even if a forked chain has greater cumulative work. That separation of rule sets can lead to two persistent, valid chains after a split.

At the moment of a lasting split, every holder receives a duplicate coin because the pre-split UTXO set exists on both ledgers. Whether the duplicate coins are usable or maintain market value depends on replay protection, who controls the private keys at the snapshot, and the level of miner and user support for the new chain.