How to Split BTC and ECX
Updated: 23 hours ago
The eCash fork handed you free coins. If you held your own Bitcoin keys when it happened, you now have 1 ECX for every 1 BTC. There was nothing to sign up for.
There is a catch, and it is the reason this page exists. Until you separate them, sending your Bitcoin can send your eCash at the same moment, to the same person. You would not see it happen.
Splitting is how you stop that. It takes minutes, it costs a small eCash fee, and it does not touch your Bitcoin.
What splitting actually does
Your BTC and your ECX currently sit at the same addresses, controlled by the same keys. A normal transaction is valid on both networks, so a copy of it can be broadcast on the other one.
If you send Bitcoin, that same transaction can be mirrored onto eCash. Your ECX goes to whoever received your BTC. You spent both coins and only meant to spend one.
Splitting separates them. After it, spending one has no effect on the other.
Three things it does not do.
It does not sell or convert anything. Your Bitcoin stays Bitcoin, untouched, in the same amount.
It does not cover your whole wallet. Only the coins included in the split transaction are separated. Anything you missed, and anything that arrives later, is still shared.
It is not about the address you send to. Choosing a different destination does nothing. The protection lives inside the transaction.
Where do you keep your coins?
Start here, because the answer changes what you do.
The eCash mobile wallet
It splits for you. Open it, let it switch to the eCash network, and use "Check for splittable coins".
One catch. It only flags a coin while Bitcoin's explorer still shows that coin unspent. If you have already moved your Bitcoin, it may show you nothing.
Another wallet app
Sparrow, Electrum and most desktop Bitcoin wallets use the same formats as eCash. Format compatibility is not support.
They have to connect to an eCash server, and they have to set the replay marker. Most do neither by default. BitWindow on desktop does both.
A hardware wallet
Your signing device has to preserve the locktime and sequence fields, and not every device or companion app does.
If you approve transactions on a physical device, you are in this group. That holds even if you normally use a phone app. Multisig and shared custody need a procedure built for that setup.
An exchange account
You did not hold the keys, so none of this applies. Whether you get anything is that exchange's decision. Ask them in writing and do not assume.
How to split BTC and ECX
Three steps, in this order. The order is the safety mechanism.
Move your eCash first, with protection on. Send the shared coins to an address you control, using a wallet procedure that sets the replay marker. These transactions are only valid on eCash and cannot move your Bitcoin.
Wait for confirmations. A chain reorganisation can reverse a recent split. eCash is a new chain and its blocks arrive unevenly, so wait for more confirmations than you would on Bitcoin.
Check both networks. The eCash transaction should be confirmed, and the matching Bitcoin should still be unspent. Once both are true, you can spend the Bitcoin on its own.
If you already spent Bitcoin since the fork
Check both chains before doing anything else.
Your Bitcoin spend may have been mirrored onto eCash, which means those ECX have already gone to the same recipient. There is nothing to undo.
What is left is still worth splitting. Look at which coins you still hold on eCash, and split those.
The values that matter
This section is for people building the transaction themselves. If your wallet does the split for you, skip it.
Locktime: 499999998. The mainnet value ends in 8.
Sequence: at least one input below 0xffffffff. Without this, Bitcoin ignores the locktime and nothing is protected.
Never use 500000000 or higher. Those are read as a timestamp, not a block height.
Script timelocks need their own procedure. Coins in vaults, Lightning channels or other locked scripts are not covered by this.
Bitcoin Core's sendtoaddress and sendmany do not set the marker.
Scams
Nobody needs your recovery phrase. Not to split, not to claim, not to check anything. Anyone asking for it is stealing from you.
There is no claim site. If a page asks you to connect a wallet to receive ECX, it is fake. The coins are already yours.
Do not import your real Bitcoin keys into anything you are testing with. Practice with a throwaway wallet.
Common questions
Does splitting sell or convert my Bitcoin?
No. Your Bitcoin is untouched and stays the same amount. You pay a small fee on the eCash side only.
Do I have to split right now?
There is no deadline. Do it before you next spend Bitcoin from those addresses, because that is the moment the risk appears.
Is my whole wallet split after one transaction?
No. Only the coins included in that transaction. Anything missed, and anything received later, is still shared.
How many confirmations are enough?
There is no fixed number. Use more than you would on Bitcoin, because a young chain reorganises more easily.
Can I lose my Bitcoin doing this?
Not if you do the eCash side first. Those transactions are only valid on eCash. The danger is spending Bitcoin before the eCash side is separated.
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