Native BTC gas. Instant USDC bridging. Bitcoin‑security, Avalanche speed.
Snowside is a dedicated Avalanche Layer‑1 blockchain built to host Paul Sztorc's upcoming eCash hard‑fork. It runs as a clean EVM sidechain where the native gas token is BTC itself—no new minted tokens, no pre‑mine, just the same Bitcoin security via blind merged mining.
Unlike Paul's previous EthSide chain (which was abandoned due to maintenance overhead), Snowside leverages Avalanche's subscription model and NodΞRunr automation to remain lean, resilient, and trivially operable.
The name Snowside reflects our commitment to the Avalanche ecosystem and our lineage within the family of Bitcoin sidechains that Paul already maintains.
eCash transactions confirm instantly, dramatically improving user experience over existing Bitcoin‑adjacent chains.
Snowside runs its own validators, ensuring dedicated throughput for eCash operations.
Avalanche Interchain Messaging (ICM) allows trust‑less bridging of USDC from the C‑Chain.
Avalanche9000's subscription model makes community‑run validation cheap and feasible.
Full EVM compatibility—Remix, Hardhat, The Graph all work out‑of‑the‑box.
Architecture Diagram
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Bridging Bitcoin and stablecoin economies in one network.
Snowside natively uses BTC for gas and transaction fees, preserving the economic model of Bitcoin. At the same time, a standard USDC bridge from Avalanche's C‑Chain is integrated from day one, allowing users to bring in stable liquidity without exposure to volatile assets.
No competing token. No new consensus token. Just BTC & USDC, secure and fast.
Snowside is born from NodΞRunr, the lightweight daemon that won a retro9000 grant from the Avalanche Foundation for simplifying Layer‑1 operations. NodΞRunr handles one‑click deployment, custom precompile integration, 24/7 monitoring, and automatic updates.
NodΞRunr Dashboard
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Paul Sztorc (creator of Drivechain, BIP 300) has long maintained multiple Bitcoin sidechains for experimentation. His upcoming eCash hard‑fork provides a new specification for an e‑cash system that preserves privacy and scalability. However, EthSide, his original EVM sidechain, was retired because standalone chain management was too time‑consuming.
Snowside fills that gap. We have coordinated with Paul to ensure the L1's configuration meets the eCash specification. By leveraging Avalanche and NodeRunr, we give Paul and his community a chain that they can actually use – without babysitting.
Snowside is a project by 0xShomari (creator of NodΞRunr).
Current status: Applying for a Team1 Mini Grant to fund the final launch and community onboarding.
| Month | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Month 1 | Fuji testnet launch with NodΞRunr template; automated validator setup |
| Month 2 | Security audit of eCash smart contracts; integration with C‑Chain USDC bridge |
| Month 3 | Mainnet launch with at least 3 community validators; public RPC and block explorer |
| Month 4 | Community AMA with Paul Sztorc; onboarding documentation released |
| Ongoing | Validator growth, protocol maintenance via NodΞRunr |