DRA

Paul Sztorc on Bitcoin Core, Lightning, and eCash - Bitcoin & Chill X Space

July 22, 2026Original source

On July 22, 2026, Wicked hosted Paul on Bitcoin & Chill in a Rexpaces-recorded X Space that covered Bitcoin Core governance, Lightning’s custodial trajectory, Drivechain and BIP300/301 scaling, miner incentives, and eCash as a platform for merge-mined sidechains.

Highlights

Key Takeaways

Scaling Without Custodial Substitutes

Paul distinguished genuine noncustodial scaling from custodial products that merely display Lightning or settle merchants in fiat, noting that users cannot verify whether sats actually moved. He argued that Bitcoin needs high-capacity L2s and sidechains tailored to payments, with merge mining and Blind Merged Mining returning transaction revenue to L1 miners. In this design, growing usage strengthens the base layer while preserving meaningful self-custody for users who need censorship resistance. Stablecoins could also be issued in connection with Bitcoin and circulate on scalable L2s rather than consuming scarce L1 block space.

CUSF and Miner Coordination

The discussion framed technical readiness as only one part of activation, with social coordination among users, developers, pools, and miners determining when improvements arrive. Paul presented CUSF, the Core Untouched Soft Fork, as a route for advancing consensus changes while leaving Bitcoin Core code untouched and obtaining sufficient hash-rate support. BIP300/301 would let specialized mining pools support sidechains and earn additional fees, giving miners a direct economic reason to participate. This approach separates permissionless experimentation from the narrow pace of base-layer changes and lets users evaluate new functionality without forcing every feature into Bitcoin Core.

eCash as a Drivechain Platform

Paul described eCash’s L1 as an intentionally close fork of the latest Bitcoin Core, minimizing code differences and inheriting mature send-and-receive behavior while remaining able to continue independently. Its purpose is to make Drivechain available from launch and support merge-mined L2s for planetary-scale capacity, privacy, namespaces, prediction markets, and future applications. Because the node interface closely follows Bitcoin Core and modern wallets can swap assets directly, adoption need not depend solely on centralized exchange listings. eCash therefore provides a practical proving ground for BIP300/301 and an independent route to Bitcoin-compatible innovation.