Bitcoin fork ECX has surrendered 76% of its value since reaching an all-time high of $134.97 per coin, trading near $32 at press time as a $6.3 billion Binance hack and the resulting market downturn eclipsed the token's launch in late October, according to Bitcoin.com News.
The decline matters because ECX arrived with an unusual pedigree: a deliberately planned fork from Drivechain creator Paul Sztorc that handed tokens to nearly every bitcoin holder. Instead, the breach of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume dominated industry attention on the very day the network went live, leaving the debut largely unnoticed, Bitcoin.com News reported.
A 76% Slide for Bitcoin Fork ECX
At 4:15 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, ecash was changing hands just above $32, having given up nearly 31% of its value over the preceding 24 hours, according to Bitcoin.com News. That single-day drop compounded a retreat that had already stripped away most of the token's early gains.
The token's descent followed a phased rollout and the start of trading that briefly carried it to $134.97 per coin before sellers erased the bulk of that advance, Bitcoin.com News reported. The gap between that peak and the current price near $32 illustrates how quickly sentiment turned once the initial trading window opened.
At roughly $32 per coin, the bitcoin fork ECX carries a market capitalization of about $639 million, a figure that would place it near the bottom of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market value, according to Bitcoin.com News. The headline valuation, however, sits atop thin trading conditions that complicate the picture, the outlet reported.
Sztorc's Deliberate Fork Design
ECX is the native token of the Ecash blockchain, a Bitcoin fork led by Paul Sztorc, founder of Layertwo Labs and creator of Drivechain, according to Bitcoin.com News.
In contrast to the recent BIP110-Bitcoin Knots fork tied to Luke Dashjr, Sztorc engineered his split on purpose, with a distribution that mirrored BTC balances so that almost every holder received matching ECX coins at a one-to-one rate. Satoshi Nakamoto was the only holder carved out of that allocation, Bitcoin.com News reported.
The rollout unfolded across three phases and culminated in a mainnet debut on Oct. 29, 2026, one day before the 18th anniversary of the Bitcoin white paper. By Nov. 4, the network was actively producing blocks with roughly 943 petahash per second of computing power, approaching the 1 exahash per second threshold, according to Bitcoin.com News.
Binance Hack Overshadows Debut
The official launch proved decidedly lackluster, as the $6.3 billion Binance hack landed on the same day as the Ecash mainnet debut and commanded vastly greater attention across the cryptocurrency industry, Bitcoin.com News reported. The timing left Sztorc's ambitious rollout largely unnoticed by the wider market, according to the outlet.
Traders and investors were focused instead on the $6.3 billion breach of the world's largest exchange by trading volume and what it might mean for the broader industry and digital asset prices, according to Bitcoin.com News. Even the rival BIP110 effort from Luke Dashjr's camp drew noticeably more coverage than Sztorc's carefully planned split, the outlet reported.
Thin Liquidity and Limited Listings
Exchange support for the bitcoin fork ECX remains super limited. Neoxa Exchange facilitates ecash trading, much as it does for the BIP110 fork, and on that venue the ECX pair against USDC has become the third busiest market by volume, according to Bitcoin.com News.
Measured only against bitcoin and its offshoots, the token still holds the fourth spot by market capitalization, according to figures on eCash's own website, trailing bitcoin, bitcoin blake2b and bitcoin cash, Bitcoin.com News reported. Bitcoin SV and the earlier Ecash blockchain that split from bitcoin cash both carry market valuations below ECX.
Yet nearly every one of those longer-running networks has built up far wider adoption than the new Ecash ledger has managed so far, according to Bitcoin.com News. Bitcoin Blake2b, listed under BTCB2 or the contentious XBT ticker, was priced at $317 per coin at press time, a level far above the roughly $32 fetched by ECX.
Each of these assets trades within a thinly adopted ecosystem where exchange access is scarce and available liquidity is minimal, Bitcoin.com News reported. In trading conditions that fragile, the outlet noted, even modest exchange swaps can send valuations careening.
What Comes Next for the Fork
The takeaway, according to Bitcoin.com News, is that an inventive distribution scheme and promotion by themselves are not enough to manufacture relevance in the market. When a forked chain arrives in the middle of an industry crisis, it has to demonstrate value through deep liquidity, broad exchange listings and genuine demand, not through its technical ancestry, the outlet reported.
Should the bitcoin fork ECX fail to build real utility or gain broader exchange listings, its early valuation could end up amounting to little more than speculative noise, Bitcoin.com News reported.
Conclusion
The bitcoin fork ECX now trades near $32, down 76% from its $134.97 peak, with a market capitalization of about $639 million and exchange support confined largely to Neoxa. Its late October mainnet debut was eclipsed by the $6.3 billion Binance hack that broke the same day, according to Bitcoin.com News. The next concrete test for the network, the outlet reported, is whether it can build genuine utility and win broader exchange listings; without them, its remaining valuation may amount to little more than speculative noise.
Frequently Asked Questions
How far has the ECX price fallen from its peak?
ECX reached an all-time high of $134.97 per coin after its phased launch and the start of trading, then relinquished 76% of that peak valuation. At press time it was changing hands near $32, according to Bitcoin.com News.
Who created the ECX bitcoin fork and how were tokens distributed?
ECX powers the Ecash blockchain, a Bitcoin fork created by Paul Sztorc, who founded Layertwo Labs and developed Drivechain. The deliberately orchestrated split granted nearly every BTC holder an equivalent ECX balance at a 1:1 ratio, with Satoshi Nakamoto the only exception, Bitcoin.com News reported.
Why did the $6.3 billion Binance hack affect the ECX launch?
The Binance breach landed on the same day as the Ecash mainnet debut and commanded vastly greater attention across the cryptocurrency industry. Market participants were preoccupied with the hack of the world's largest exchange by volume and its potential ramifications, leaving the ECX launch largely unnoticed, according to Bitcoin.com News.
What is ECX's market capitalization and where can it be traded?
Trading near $32 per coin, ECX carries a market capitalization of approximately $639 million, placing it near the bottom of the top 100 cryptocurrencies. Exchange support is super limited: Neoxa Exchange facilitates trading, and ECX's USDC pair is Neoxa's third most active market by volume, Bitcoin.com News reported.
How does ECX compare with other bitcoin forks like BTCB2?
Among Bitcoin and its forks, ECX ranks fourth by market capitalization, behind bitcoin, bitcoin blake2b and bitcoin cash, per eCash's own website. Bitcoin Blake2b trades at a substantially higher $317 per coin versus roughly $32 for ECX, though both networks have sparse adoption and thin liquidity, according to Bitcoin.com News.
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