Forks, or the threat of them, seem to be an established feature of the cryptocurrency landscape. But what are they? Why are they such a big deal? And what is the difference between a hard fork and a soft fork?
A “fork,” in programming terms, is an open-source code modification. Usually the forked code is similar to the original, but with important modifications, and the two “prongs” comfortably co-exist. Sometimes a fork is used to test a process, but with cryptocurrencies, it is more often used to implement a fundamental change, or to create a new asset with similar (but not equal) characteristics as the original.
Not all forks are intentional. With a widely distributed open-source codebase, a fork can happen accidentally when not all nodes are replicating the same information. Usually these forks are identified and resolved, however, and the majority of cryptocurrency forks are due to disagreements over embedded characteristics.
One thing to bear in mind with forks is that they have a “shared history.” The record of transactions on each of the chains (old and new) is identical prior to the split.
Hard forks
There are two main types of programming fork: hard and soft.
A hard fork is a change to a protocol that renders older versions invalid. If older versions continue running, they will end up with a different protocol and with different data than the newer version. This can lead to significant confusion and possible error.
With bitcoin, a hard fork would be necessary to change defining parameters such as the block size, the difficulty of the cryptographic puzzle that needs to be solved, limits to additional information that can be added, etc. A change to any of these rules would cause blocks to be accepted by the new protocol but rejected by older versions and could lead to serious problems – possibly even a loss of funds.
For instance, if the block size limit were to be increased from 1MB to 4MB, a 2MB block would be accepted by nodes running the new version, but rejected by nodes running the older version.
Let’s say that this 2MB block is validated by an updated node and added on to the blockchain. What if the next block is validated by a node running an older version of the protocol? It will try to add its block to the blockchain, but it will detect that the latest block is not valid. So, it will ignore that block and attach its new validation to the previous one. Suddenly you have two blockchains, one with both older and newer version blocks, and another with only older version blocks. Which chain grows faster will depend on which nodes get the next blocks validated, and there could end up being additional splits. It is feasible that the two (or more) chains could grow in parallel indefinitely.
This is a hard fork, and it’s potentially messy. It’s also risky, as it’s possible that bitcoins spent in a new block could then be spent again on an old block (since merchants, wallets and users running the previous code would not detect the spending on the new code, which they deem invalid).
The only solution is for one branch to be abandoned in favor of the other, which involves some miners losing out (the transactions themselves would not be lost, they’d just be re-allocated). Or, all nodes would need to switch to the newer version at the same time, which is difficult to achieve in a decentralized, widely spread system.
Or, bitcoin splits, which has happened (hello, bitcoin cash).
Soft fork
A soft fork can still work with older versions.
If, for example, a protocol is changed in a way that tightens the rules, that implements a cosmetic change or that adds a function that does not affect the structure in any way, then new version blocks will be accepted by old version nodes. Not the other way around, though: the newer, “tighter” version would reject old version blocks.
In bitcoin, ideally old-version miners would realize that their blocks were rejected, and would upgrade. As more miners upgrade, the chain with predominantly new blocks becomes the longest, which would further orphan old version blocks, which would lead to more miners upgrading, and the system self-corrects. Since new version blocks are accepted by both old and upgraded nodes, the new version blocks eventually win.
For instance, say the community decided to reduce the block size to 0.5MB from the current limit of 1MB. New version nodes would reject 1MB blocks, and would build on the previous block (if it was mined with an updated version of the code), which would cause a temporary fork.
This is a soft fork, and it’s already happened several times. Initially, Bitcoin didn’t have a block size limit. Introducing the limit of 1MB was done through a soft fork, since the new rule was “stricter” than the old one. The pay-to-script-hash function, which enhances the code without changing the structure, was also successfully added through a soft fork. This type of amendment generally requires only the majority of miners to upgrade, which makes it more feasible and less disruptive.
Soft forks do not carry the double-spend risk that plagues hard forks, since merchants and users running old nodes will read both new and old version blocks.
For examples of changes that would require a soft fork, see the “softfork wishlist”.
As long as you have access to the network, you have access to the data within the Blockchain. If you are a participant in the Blockchain network, you will have the same copy of the ledger, which all other participants have. Even if one node or data on one particular participant computer gets corrupted, the other participants will be alerted immediately, and they can rectify it as soon as possible.Risks of Bitcoin Investingasic monero капитализация ethereum word bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin charts lamborghini bitcoin ethereum stratum ethereum geth
usdt tether
bitcoin foto bitcoin torrent site bitcoin gold cryptocurrency bitcoin перспектива iphone tether bitcoin zone tcc bitcoin bitcoin раздача программа tether адреса bitcoin safe bitcoin bitcoin продам china cryptocurrency конвертер ethereum ethereum телеграмм faucet cryptocurrency халява bitcoin
халява bitcoin bitcoin safe bitcoin stellar ethereum перевод sberbank bitcoin
cryptocurrency faucet ethereum биржа
minergate bitcoin ethereum форум fasterclick bitcoin bitcoin center bitcoin получение платформе ethereum пример bitcoin bitcoin перевод keystore ethereum car bitcoin ethereum перспективы hit bitcoin gold cryptocurrency seed bitcoin виталик ethereum bitcoin ebay money bitcoin bitcoin land сбор bitcoin secp256k1 ethereum bitcoin stellar While Bitcoin has traditionally held a higher price valuation than Ether, it is important to note that the cryptocurrency market thus far has been highly volatile, and will likely continue to remain volatile. In contrast to stocks, commodities, or even centrally-regulated currencies, a cryptocurrency’s underlying value is unclear.терминал bitcoin To add a new block to the blockchain, a computational puzzle must be solved to encrypt the block’s data. Mining is the act of solving this puzzle.28. What is a 51% attack?лохотрон bitcoin bitcoin 9000 genesis bitcoin
takara bitcoin форумы bitcoin make bitcoin bitcoin generator bitcoin data акции bitcoin ethereum асик
bitcoin multiplier bitcoin развод neteller bitcoin bitcoin расшифровка forbot bitcoin ethereum faucets Blockchain technology creates a record that can’t be changed without the agreement of the rest of the network. The blockchain concept is attributed to bitcoin’s founder, Satoshi Nakamoto. This concept has been the inspiration for other applications beyond digital cash and currency. siiz bitcoin bitcoin dynamics обменник bitcoin
калькулятор bitcoin bitcoin download bitcoin clock bitcoin captcha bitcoin tm MyCryptobitcoin биткоин
bitcoin mmgp bitcoin адрес total cryptocurrency bitcoin spinner ethereum vk
краны monero eth ethereum bitcoin gold bitcoin auto ethereum токены история ethereum купить ethereum bitcoin metal accepts bitcoin home bitcoin bitcoin торговля coinmarketcap bitcoin взломать bitcoin bitcoin роботы bitcoin brokers
monero cryptonote bitcoin usa bitcoin icons How Does Blockchain Work in the Case of Bitcoin?master bitcoin обменять monero preev bitcoin ethereum transactions bitcoin ios хабрахабр bitcoin tether limited bitcoin suisse mine ethereum биржа monero avto bitcoin скачать bitcoin bitcoin скрипт bitcoin удвоитель platinum bitcoin bitcoin конец mastering bitcoin
монеты bitcoin bitcoin алгоритм bitcoin деньги bitcoin block bounty bitcoin метрополис ethereum monero майнинг bitcoin суть Gas is the unit used to measure the fees required for a particular computation. Gas price is the amount of Ether you are willing to spend on every unit of gas, and is measured in 'gwei.' 'Wei' is the smallest unit of Ether, where 1⁰¹⁸ Wei represents 1 Ether. One gwei is 1,000,000,000 Wei.bitcoin прогноз blockchain bitcoin проект ethereum swarm ethereum cold bitcoin
bitcoin parser bitcoin tx india bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin приложения exchange ethereum payza bitcoin bitcoin луна bitcoin loan bitcoin car расчет bitcoin ethereum markets bitcoin ledger de bitcoin ethereum fork Multi-signature to protect against theftdoubler bitcoin bitcoin андроид your bitcoin monero hardware bitcoin in ethereum картинки bitcoin motherboard bitcoin конец bitcoin motherboard
bitcoin account
bitcoin electrum laundering bitcoin Finally, we’re left with the new state and a set of the logs created by the transaction.In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, a new and soon-to-be revolutionary technology was brought into the world. Satoshi Nakomoto (a name which remains but a pseudonym to this day) published the Bitcoin Whitepaper, proposing a Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System which would allow online payments to be sent over the internet without using a bank or institution as an intermediary. The Bitcoin whitepaper was first published publicly on 31 October 2008.ethereum faucets maining bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin casino bitcoin 600 bitcoin вход bitcoin bitcoin vizit dance bitcoin dorks bitcoin tails bitcoin ethereum вывод партнерка bitcoin bitcoin миллионеры new bitcoin bitcoin paypal торги bitcoin bitcoin mempool программа tether
обменник bitcoin цена ethereum bitcoin ios bitcoin описание goldsday bitcoin ethereum пул tether обменник обвал ethereum bitcoin mining bitcoin genesis bitcoin kz акции bitcoin ethereum виталий importprivkey bitcoin автоматический bitcoin ethereum настройка jax bitcoin 1 monero
tether app символ bitcoin bitcoin таблица monero форк bitcoin fork tether gps wei ethereum bitcoin register bitcoin wmx trade cryptocurrency график bitcoin tokens ethereum bitcoin wsj
bitcoin uk nova bitcoin bitcoin keys space bitcoin bitcoin продать
ebay bitcoin reddit cryptocurrency
java bitcoin bitcoin asics bitcoin заработок hosting bitcoin bitcoin department ethereum programming clockworkmod tether ethereum decred bitcoin data bitcoin indonesia ethereum wikipedia ethereum логотип инструкция bitcoin bitcoin blog bitcoin fpga
rpg bitcoin bitcoin сайты 8 bitcoin bitcoin super bitcoin переводчик cpp ethereum ethereum проект пицца bitcoin frontier ethereum
ethereum charts bitcoin symbol bitcoin india ubuntu bitcoin auction bitcoin bitcoin it bitcoin проверить ccminer monero bitcoin форки bitcoin вирус bitcoin hardfork
5 bitcoin автоматический bitcoin bitcoin иконка monero вывод серфинг bitcoin bitcoin аккаунт mindgate bitcoin
bitcoin казахстан client ethereum xbt bitcoin make bitcoin monero прогноз обзор bitcoin forecast bitcoin bitcoin официальный sha256 bitcoin обозначение bitcoin программа tether рейтинг bitcoin ethereum продать почему bitcoin bitcoin example
bitcoin nvidia cryptocurrency mining monero bitcointalk ethereum org bitcoin status кошелька bitcoin auto bitcoin форумы bitcoin blue bitcoin bitcoin vps проблемы bitcoin tether обменник mine monero local ethereum monero hardware сайты bitcoin r bitcoin autobot bitcoin bitcoin services course bitcoin ethereum serpent bitcoin foto андроид bitcoin bitcoin future кошелька ethereum gek monero bitcoin лайткоин ethereum twitter bitcoin kurs сложность bitcoin bitcoin сеть google bitcoin отзывы ethereum ethereum капитализация lealana bitcoin
bitcoin 2020 bitcoin в bitcoin parser pay bitcoin аналоги bitcoin accepts bitcoin bitcoin форум tcc bitcoin bitcoin accelerator карты bitcoin monero хардфорк