Not a theft, but a statement: Inside the Bitcoin proposal to reassign Satoshi-linked coins

A proposal called eCash would fork Bitcoin in August (at block height 964,000), copying BTC balances 1:1 onto a new chain but reallocating roughly 500,000 of the ~1.1 million forked coins attributed to Satoshi to early investors while leaving 600,000 on the copied addresses. The plan, led by Paul Sztorc of LayerTwo Labs, has sparked intense backlash from Bitcoin proponents who say selling claims on a forked-chain version of Satoshi’s holdings threatens Bitcoin’s core promise of inviolable property rights and could damage long-term confidence in BTC as “digital gold.” Sztorc stresses no actual BTC would be moved. Market impact is likely reputational rather than immediate price-driven—eCash may fail to gain value like prior forks, but the debate raises contagion risk around interventions in dormant balances and could weigh on sentiment in crypto markets.