A Cashu eCash mint
Dollars and bitcoin, fully backed and checked every hour.
Forge issues eCash in US dollars and bitcoin. Every unit is backed by a reserve, and the coverage is published every hour.
How it works
From Lightning or on-chain to eCash and back
Pay in
Pay a Lightning invoice for the dollars or bitcoin you want. For bitcoin, you can also send to an on-chain deposit address.
Hold
eCash lands in your wallet. Its seed phrase restores it on a new phone.
Spend
Send it to anyone for free, pay any Lightning invoice, or withdraw bitcoin to an on-chain address.
Trust roadmap
What you can check today, and what comes next
Forge holds the money behind your eCash. Each step on this roadmap adds a check that you can run yourself.
Hourly reserves report
Every hour Forge publishes how much eCash is outstanding against each reserve. You can check the bitcoin node's channel on-chain, and the operator reports the dollar balance.
See the reserves reportProof of liabilities
Forge will publish a commitment to every eCash token it has issued, so your wallet can confirm your balance is counted in the total. With the reserves report, that covers both sides of the books.
Questions
Common questions
What backs my balance?
Dollar eCash is backed by a US dollar balance in the mint's Flash account, and bitcoin eCash by the sats in Forge's own Lightning node, plus on-chain deposits waiting to be swept into it. The reserves report shows coverage for both, every hour.
Can I deposit or withdraw bitcoin on-chain?
Bitcoin eCash can move on-chain in a wallet that supports Cashu's on-chain method. Ask Forge for a deposit address and send to it: the sats count after 3 confirmations, and Forge mints at least 10,000 sats at a time. Withdrawals to a bitcoin address also start at 10,000 sats, with a choice of fee and speed. Dollar eCash moves over Lightning.
Is my balance insured?
eCash at Forge carries no deposit insurance. Its protection is the reserve behind it and the public report on that reserve.
What happens if I lose my phone?
eCash is a bearer asset: whoever holds the tokens can spend them. With your wallet's seed phrase, a Cashu wallet can restore your tokens from Forge on a new phone.