What Is the Elements+ Drivechain? Hidden Amounts on eCash
Elements+ is a drivechain that hides how much you sent.
The transaction is still public and still verifiable. Anyone can check that the money adds up. They just cannot read the number.
It holds slot 24 on eCash, activated on October 29, 2026.
What confidential transactions do
On Bitcoin, every amount is in the open. Anyone can read what you paid.
Confidential transactions replace the visible amount with a commitment, which is a sealed version of the number. With it goes a range proof. That shows the hidden amount is not negative, without showing the amount.
Anyone can check that inputs equal outputs, and that nobody made coins from nothing. What they cannot see is the size of the payment.
Elements+ also carries surjection proofs. They do the same job for asset types on a chain that holds more than one token.
Where the code comes from
Elements+ is a fork of Elements, which is Blockstream's sidechain software and the code behind Liquid.
Elements is itself a fork of Bitcoin Core, so the line runs Bitcoin to Elements to Elements+. Confidential transactions come with Elements. They were inherited here, not invented.
What the project added is the drivechain part. That means native BIP 300 and BIP 301 deposits, withdrawals and merged mining bids. So it pegs to eCash rather than to a federation.
That difference matters. Liquid is run by a federation of named companies who hold the keys. A drivechain is held by miners under published rules instead.
What else is in the branch
Two things worth noting for anyone reading the source.
There is a parallel Utreexo accumulator test chain. Utreexo proves a coin exists without storing the whole set of unspent coins. That makes running a node far lighter.
The confidential transaction code is kept apart from any exchange. An earlier build bundled an exchange, a stablecoin bridge and a zero-knowledge checker. Those were pulled out and archived, leaving this branch to do one job.
Where the Elements+ drivechain stands
Slot 24 is live.
Elements+ was proposed for it at block 974,499 on launch day. It was the last of the five to activate, hours after Thunder, Flush and Tally.
We confirmed it ourselves on October 30, 2026, in the eCash mobile wallet, which lists all five sidechains as live.
One thing that confirmation does not tell you. A slot being active means miners approved the name. It does not mean the chain is producing blocks. Flush has since started producing blocks on mainnet. We have not seen confirmation that Elements+ has.
The public branch is also worth understanding before you reach for it. It targets a fresh child chain whose parent profile is the eCash beta network, not mainnet. The repository says plainly that this is not a production eCash identity. Expect a separate mainnet build.
Why people are interested in it
Two reasons come up repeatedly in the developer group.
The first is stablecoins. eCash has no dollar token on any sidechain. Elements+ has been the leading candidate, with work on bridging one in.
The second is that Elements is already proven. It has run in production as Liquid for years. That is a stronger start than a chain written from scratch.
What it does not have
Elements+ hides amounts. It is not built for speed.
It has no built-in exchange in this branch, since that was moved out. It does not do fast blocks. Developers have discussed combining it with fast block work from other sidechains. That is a conversation, not a release.
Elements+ status
Last verified: October 30, 2026.
Slot 24 is active on eCash mainnet. It was proposed at block 974,499 and was the last of the five to activate.
A live slot is not a live chain. Flush is producing blocks on eCash mainnet, and we have not seen confirmation that Elements+ is.
The public branch targets a fresh child chain on the eCash beta network and says it is not a production identity.
Confidential transactions, range proofs and surjection proofs are inherited Elements features and work.
The exchange, stablecoin bridge and proof verifier were split out of this branch and archived.
We update this section as Elements+ moves. Big news gets its own article, linked from here.
Elements+ drivechain: common questions
Is Elements+ live on eCash mainnet?
Slot 24 is active, and we confirmed it in the eCash mobile wallet. It was the last of the five to activate on launch day.
What does confidential mean here?
Amounts are hidden. Anyone can still verify that a transaction balances and that no coins were created.
Is this the same as Liquid?
It shares Liquid's code. The difference is who holds the peg. Liquid uses a federation of named companies, and Elements+ uses drivechain rules enforced by miners.
Will there be a dollar token on it?
That is the hope rather than the fact. Bridging a stablecoin in has been discussed and worked on, and nothing has shipped.
Does Elements+ have fast blocks?
No. Combining it with fast block work from other eCash sidechains has been discussed and not built.
Related reading
Sources
ekulkisnek/liquid-drivechain-signet-adaptation — the Elements+ source. Read October 30, 2026. The repository name is stale and does not refer to signet
The branch's own README for chain isolation, the beta parent profile, the Utreexo test chain and the archived exchange branch
Proposal slot and block height are from the rebuilt submissions published in the eCash developer group
Stablecoin bridging interest and the fast block discussion are from the public eCash developer group chats
Slot 24 being active was checked in the eCash mobile wallet on October 30, 2026, which listed Thunder, Elements+, Flush, FreeBank and Tally as live
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