ECX Hard Fork Surpasses 25,000 Blocks in 13 Hours

Paul Sztoric’s ECX hard fork entered its Alpha phase at Bitcoin block height 963,648 and, as of 9 a.m. EDT on August 23, 2026, has mined more than 25,000 blocks in just 13 hours.

Rapid Block Production and Difficulty Growth

The network started with a difficulty of 1, mirroring Bitcoin’s launch parameters. After several difficulty adjustments, the difficulty has climbed to 16.78 million, resulting in block intervals that are dramatically faster than Bitcoin’s ten‑minute target.

Hashrate and Mining Participation

ECX is currently receiving approximately 3.53 petahash per second (PH/s) from a growing set of miners and pools. The leading pool is Ecashpool‑alpha, with additional participation from Kikko, L2L Pool, Nurserypool, Ckpool, Solo, Guilastuce, BIP300.xyz, Layertree and Avonpool.

Market Status

At this stage ECX (ecash) has no listed price and is not traded on any exchanges. The next major milestone, when pricing may emerge, is scheduled for October 31, 2026, the 18th anniversary of Bitcoin’s white paper.

Outlook

The early mining activity demonstrates technical viability, but sustained miner interest will depend on the emergence of a tradable market price and the ability of wallets and exchanges to support the asset.