The eCash Sidechain on Avalanche
Native ECX Gas • Native USDC Liquidity
What is Snowside
Snowside is a dedicated Avalanche Layer-1 blockchain built for the eCash hard-fork. Native ECX gas, Drivechain security, and instant USDC bridging — no new tokens, no pre-mine.
The native gas token is ECX itself — no competing consensus token, no pre-mine. The eCash economic model carries over directly to a high-throughput EVM.
Blind Merged Mining brings eCash's proof-of-work security to an EVM execution layer — without miners running sidechain software or understanding its internals.
Avalanche Interchain Messaging bridges USDC from the C-Chain from day one — stable liquidity without exposure to volatile assets.
eCash transactions confirm instantly, dramatically improving user experience over existing PoW‑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.
Built around BIP‑300/301 from day one — hash-rate escrows and blind merged mining are first-class, not bolted on.
Bridging the eCash and stablecoin economies in one network.
Snowside natively uses ECX for gas and transaction fees, preserving the economic model of eCash. At the same time, a standardUSDC 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 ECX & USDC, secure and fast.
Drivechain (BIP 300/301) has long promised purpose-built sidechains secured by proof-of-work. The upcoming eCash hard-fork activates Drivechains on an eCash base layer, providing a new specification for an e-cash system that preserves privacy and scalability. However, EthSide — the original EVM sidechain — was retired because standalone chain management was too time‑consuming.
eCash miners secure Snowside blocks via Blind Merged Mining — no hashrate, no Bitcoin-style merged mining required.
Snowside fills that gap. We have coordinated with the eCash community to ensure the L1's configuration meets the specification. By leveraging Avalanche and operational automation, we give the community a chain that they can actually use – without babysitting.
Our Resources
Jump straight into the tools, portals, and documentation that make up the Snowside ecosystem.
Deposit ECX and bridge USDC across Avalanche and eCash networks.
Launch
Inspect blocks, transactions, and addresses in real time.
Launch
Technical guides, architecture references, and integration how-tos.
Launch
A guided, visual walkthrough of how Snowside works end to end.
Launch
The one-page Snowside business model canvas and overview.
Launch
Source code, issue tracker, and open-source contributions.
Launch
| Phase | Milestone |
|---|---|
| Devnet | Local development network; internal testing of eCash precompiles, ECX gas, and BMM coordination |
| Alphanet | Public alpha with federated bridge; early validator onboarding and deposit flow validation |
| Betanet | Permissioned beta; security audit of eCash contracts; C‑Chain USDC bridge integration |
| Mainnet | Mainnet launch with community validators; public RPC and block explorer live |
| Ongoing | Validator growth, protocol maintenance, and ecosystem development |