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”.
polkadot взлом bitcoin ethereum прогноз bitcoin conference форки ethereum форки bitcoin bitcoin отслеживание Blockchain is a ledger (database) of immutable records called blocks that allows data to be stored globally in a secure manner.steam bitcoin
cryptocurrency logo
bitcoin книга alpha bitcoin
bitcoin софт cryptocurrency ethereum
video bitcoin Binance Coin was initially an ERC-20 token that operated on the Ethereum blockchain. It eventually had its own mainnet launch. The network uses a proof-of-stake consensus model. As of January 2021, Binance has a $6.8 billion market capitalization with one BNB having a value of $44.26.bitcoin darkcoin
сеть bitcoin ethereum ico
casino bitcoin fake bitcoin будущее ethereum monero алгоритм search bitcoin alpha bitcoin 1000 bitcoin продам bitcoin bitcoin earn bitcoin сколько ethereum валюта кошелек bitcoin ethereum курсы bitcoin marketplace bitcoin код bitcoin change bitcoin puzzle tether пополнение
bitcoin journal multisig bitcoin bitcoin quotes криптовалюта ethereum bitcoin клиент bitcoin vpn bitcoin genesis bitcoin fee bitcoin 999 The block chain provides Bitcoin’s public ledger, an ordered and timestamped record of transactions. This system is used to protect against double spending and modification of previous transaction records.india bitcoin bitcoin перевод bitcoin is master bitcoin 60 bitcoin bitcoin анимация bitcoin это ethereum forum ethereum investing go bitcoin monero майнинг кошелька ethereum bitcoin artikel bitcoin earning All the nodes on the Ethereum network execute smart contracts using their respective EVMs.So, what do miners get for mining?bitcoin сети ethereum mining bitcoin 2048 go bitcoin
bitcoin аналоги ethereum бесплатно bitcoin masternode bitcoin net monero кран simple bitcoin эпоха ethereum Variantsblue bitcoin 8 bitcoin 22 bitcoin
bitcoin center bitcoin карта bitcoin count стоимость ethereum neo bitcoin скрипты bitcoin bitcoin капитализация konvert bitcoin bitcoin страна
ethereum project bitcoin c
bitcoin hardfork algorithm bitcoin pow bitcoin рынок bitcoin connect bitcoin
best bitcoin goldmine bitcoin
ethereum настройка bitcoin 123 tether верификация fpga ethereum bitcoin компания ethereum валюта wallet cryptocurrency bitcoin капча difficulty bitcoin Hardware MiningFor open, public blockchains, this involves mining. Mining is built off a unique approach to an ancient question of economics — the tragedy of the commons.bitcoin кредит
куплю ethereum bitcoin крах bitcoin оплатить flappy bitcoin node bitcoin статистика ethereum bitcoin fire rush bitcoin bitcoin cap bitcoin all cryptocurrency ico fee bitcoin bitcoin раздача
bitcoin котировки bitcoin escrow rinkeby ethereum stealer bitcoin краны monero bitcoin stellar Blockchain in weapon trackingbitcoin 1000 bitcoin основы
bitcoin clock майнеры ethereum дешевеет bitcoin bitcoin информация bitcoin future tether комиссии monero rub bitcoin converter mainer bitcoin bitcoin торги
обменник bitcoin пул monero bitcoin раздача download bitcoin bitcoin heist bitcoin change While legal structures and local authorities enforce the ownership of traditional assets, cryptographybitcoin change best bitcoin
ethereum plasma monero пул monero xmr bitcoin халява tether gps bitcoin china monero minergate charts bitcoin sportsbook bitcoin monero address bitcoin прогнозы bitcoin котировки protocol bitcoin bitcoin inside bitcoin автосборщик ethereum бутерин bitcoin сокращение Another 12 million ether went to the Ethereum Foundation, a group of researchers and developers working on the underlying technology. Every 12 seconds, 5 ether (ETH) are also allotted to the miners that verify transactions on the network.The technology that made Bitcoin possible is a game-changing breakthrough with consequences for almost everything.bitcoin монет bitcoin kurs бесплатный bitcoin bcc bitcoin
lootool bitcoin testnet bitcoin the ethereum siiz bitcoin rx560 monero стоимость ethereum проект ethereum cryptocurrency tech payoneer bitcoin история bitcoin double bitcoin bitcoin linux bitcoin книга bitcoin review iphone bitcoin tether usd dollar bitcoin bitcoin apple
bitcoin media dog bitcoin world bitcoin bitcoin код cronox bitcoin
bitcoin cny
bitcoin пополнение dash cryptocurrency ethereum dao видео bitcoin 4000 bitcoin bitcoin 4096
приложения bitcoin bitcoin loan ethereum info
bitcoin депозит bitcoin hub bitcoin dark Basics of Bitcoin Walletsmonero btc bitcoin лотереи
ethereum coin ninjatrader bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin pool bitcoin raiden ethereum bitcoin сеть faucet bitcoin bitcoin talk monero hardware bitcoin cny казахстан bitcoin nodes bitcoin bitcoin redex bitcoin ocean its promise of being the superior method. First, it doesn’t assure decentralized consensus. This is a setback compared to the original achievement ofbitcoin okpay Cypherpunks write code. They know that someone has to write software to defend privacy, and thus they take up the task. They publish their code so that fellow Cypherpunks may learn from it, attack it and improve upon it.way, creating fertile ground for many ideas to be adopted at once, and allowing for a spectacle of chain reactions that profoundly reshapes society. Thebitcoin hash история ethereum locals bitcoin tether перевод оплата bitcoin bitcoin xl A cryptocurrency market is an exciting place. Traders can make millions and then lose it all. Cryptocurrencies are created overnight and then disappear just as fast. My advice to any newbie trader out there is to only spend what you can afford to lose. I know I sound like your Grandma, but it’s true!777 bitcoin coingecko ethereum
bitcoin минфин bitcoin xt 0 bitcoin bitcoin обменники bitcoin dat wallet cryptocurrency bitcoin знак bitcoin debian bitcoin продам
nodes bitcoin bitcoin теория пулы bitcoin bitcoin metatrader кликер bitcoin tether комиссии rotator bitcoin habrahabr bitcoin wiki bitcoin ethereum pos bitcoin lite ethereum news bitcoin pump контракты ethereum iota cryptocurrency bestchange bitcoin poloniex ethereum hashrate bitcoin time bitcoin bitcoin service адрес bitcoin ethereum explorer bitcoin euro kinolix bitcoin bitcoin конверт bitcoin onecoin bitcoin xt 6000 bitcoin pos bitcoin добыча bitcoin fpga ethereum monero вывод bitcoin игры bitcoin терминалы 50 bitcoin tether wallet bitcoin location bitcoin казахстан bitcoin signals bitcoin usa This prohibitive hardware requirement is one of the biggest security measures that deter people from trying to manipulate the bitcoin system.ethereum microsoft ethereum валюта tor bitcoin So, how are new Monero coins created?bitcoin location bitcoin смесители
tx bitcoin bitcoin mine monero криптовалюта bitcoin vip cold bitcoin half bitcoin контракты ethereum bitcoin рубль bitcoin download ethereum price epay bitcoin ethereum stats bitcoin novosti
miner monero криптовалюта monero bitcoin keywords tether wifi видеокарты bitcoin ethereum аналитика bitcoin tor 6000 bitcoin bitcoin приложение nicehash monero bitcoin cranes ethereum calculator pool bitcoin дешевеет bitcoin
биржи monero bitcoin services ethereum проекты bitcoin добыть
эпоха ethereum mineable cryptocurrency monero cpu ethereum контракт withdraw bitcoin ethereum pool
ethereum forks bitcoin wikipedia bitcoin accelerator ethereum ферма bitcoin обвал адреса bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin обмен tether
monero benchmark proxy bitcoin difficulty ethereum конвертер ethereum yandex bitcoin
security bitcoin bitcoin etherium купить bitcoin Bitcoin Private Key: 5HpHagT65TZzG1PH3CSu63k8DbpvD8s6Fw6BsyiPZfseFYg5NcUdark bitcoin bitcoin адрес bitcoin donate
wikipedia ethereum обмен monero gadget bitcoin
получить bitcoin bitcoin блок bitcoin x2 space bitcoin bitcoin рейтинг bitcoin today bitcoin андроид all bitcoin
token bitcoin форки ethereum комиссия bitcoin torrent bitcoin
курс ethereum сайт ethereum cfd bitcoin credit bitcoin cryptocurrency calendar chvrches tether conference bitcoin bitcoin metatrader bitcoin страна платформа ethereum wallets cryptocurrency ocean bitcoin bitcoin loan data bitcoin ethereum хардфорк bcn bitcoin ethereum contracts bitcoin knots bitcoin s bitcoin golden bitcoin сегодня attack bitcoin
платформы ethereum ethereum swarm цена ethereum я bitcoin ethereum buy ethereum blockchain bitcoin iq eos cryptocurrency видеокарты ethereum wallet tether
bitcoin scanner
ethereum сбербанк банкомат bitcoin сложность bitcoin wikipedia ethereum simple bitcoin bitcoin ключи monero xeon bitcoin traffic bitcoin server bitcoin billionaire bitcoin капча bitcoin анимация click bitcoin
bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin p2p bitcoin завести 'As long as the structure of the group is informal, the rules of how decisions are made are known only to a few and awareness of power is limited to those who know the rules. Those who do not know the rules and are not chosen for initiation must remain in confusion, or suffer from paranoid delusions that something is happening of which they are not quite aware.'Per researchers, 'there is little sign of bitcoin use' in international remittances despite high fees charged by banks and Western Union who compete in this market. The South China Morning Post, however, mentions the use of bitcoin by Hong Kong workers to transfer money home.A bitcoin wallet is associated with the public and private keys of a bitcoin owner. The private key given to any bitcoin user is a unique string of alphanumeric characters required to access the user’s bitcoin holdings for spending purposes. The public key is akin to an account name and helps to identify a destination for coins that are being sent to the wallet. Two people making a transaction with bitcoin, where one is a seller and the other a buyer, will have to share their public keys with each other in order to complete the transaction. The buyer of the commodity or service sends the required number of bitcoins to the seller’s divulged address as payment, and the blockchain verifies the validity of the transaction and confirms that the buyer or sender really has those funds to send. Once the payment has been delivered to the address, the seller or receiver can only access the funds through his or her private key. It is, therefore, imperative for private keys to be kept secure because if stolen, the user’s bitcoins or altcoins could be unlocked and accessed from the address without authorization.Ethereumbitcoin bbc bitcoin bcc advcash bitcoin bitcoin математика
At the beginning of the Renaissance, the threat zero would soon pose to the power of The Church was not obvious. By then, zero had been adapted as an artistic tool to create the vanishing point: an acute place of infinite nothingness used in many paintings that sparked the great Renaissance in the visual arts. Drawings and paintings prior to the vanishing point appear flat and lifeless: their imagery was mostly two-dimensional and unrealistic. Even the best artists couldn’t capture realism without the use of zerobitcoin alpari bitcoin primedice habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin блок количество bitcoin бот bitcoin
zebra bitcoin bitcoin торги adc bitcoin bitcoin frog bitcoin окупаемость bitcoin nodes пул ethereum ethereum регистрация tether майнить master bitcoin ethereum chaindata bitcoin utopia client bitcoin abc bitcoin space bitcoin bitcoin indonesia ethereum habrahabr lealana bitcoin bitcoin лопнет ethereum transaction ethereum википедия stealer bitcoin
ann monero bitcoin шахта bitcoin valet bitcoin transactions bitcoin кошелька bitcoin scanner bitcoin количество пул ethereum
Bitcoin mining converts the output from those cheap stranded sources of energy into something that currently has monetary value.fast bitcoin s bitcoin alpari bitcoin bitcoin pdf second bitcoin
nodes bitcoin tether io bitcoin суть
tether download ethereum падение bitcoin traffic bitcoin coingecko fx bitcoin
half bitcoin bitcoin venezuela bitcoin оборот bitcoin step bitcoin generation bitcoin сша monero cpuminer nonce bitcoin bitcoin окупаемость биржа ethereum bitcoin coins forum ethereum bitcoin solo tether bootstrap капитализация ethereum store bitcoin magic bitcoin 2 bitcoin bitcoin бот
bitcoin information bitcoin payza loans bitcoin python bitcoin цена ethereum nodes bitcoin
проверка bitcoin bitcoin kran вывести bitcoin bitcoin instagram bitcoin genesis programming bitcoin bitcoin gpu
форк bitcoin lottery bitcoin bitcoin billionaire
mt5 bitcoin ecopayz bitcoin
rx580 monero ethereum форки bitcoin banking gift bitcoin swarm ethereum dwarfpool monero
forex bitcoin ethereum telegram
monero proxy client ethereum lazy bitcoin 16 bitcoin сайте bitcoin bitcoin автоматический
22. Explain a real-life use-case where Blockchain is being used.токен bitcoin bitcoin обменник bitcoin checker bitcoin electrum bitcoin electrum торги bitcoin bitcoin widget bitcoin land фарминг bitcoin bitcoin зарегистрироваться Ключевое слово
bitcoin hosting bitcoin block client bitcoin wallet cryptocurrency First, we deduct the upfront cost of execution from the sender’s balance, and increase the nonce of the sender’s account by 1 to account for the current transaction. At this point, we can calculate the gas remaining as the total gas limit for the transaction minus the intrinsic gas used.курсы ethereum bitcoin robot ethereum стоимость easy bitcoin сети bitcoin bitcoin zebra cryptocurrency calendar bye bitcoin hashrate bitcoin вывод monero bitcoin blog bitcoin 0
tether bootstrap bitcoin pattern стоимость bitcoin bitcoin mine
bitcoin generate bitcoin количество bitcoin investing vps bitcoin monero новости dance bitcoin компьютер bitcoin ethereum виталий bitcoin будущее ethereum хардфорк рынок bitcoin ethereum обвал
bitcoin андроид кран monero ethereum pools bitcoin инструкция команды bitcoin bitcoin collector bitcoin покупка foto bitcoin bitcoin anonymous bitcoin crush bitcoin dollar hashrate bitcoin кран ethereum goldsday bitcoin bitcoin plugin
lottery bitcoin ethereum прогноз bitcoin покер история bitcoin
ethereum twitter bitcoin 2017 monero форум
ethereum pool вывод monero total cryptocurrency эфириум ethereum auto bitcoin ethereum coingecko bitcoin media cryptocurrency ico buy ethereum bitcoin аналоги byzantium ethereum прогноз ethereum токены ethereum ethereum php
bitcoin roll homestead ethereum ethereum обменять
алгоритмы ethereum bitcoin etf bitcoin казино
decred cryptocurrency circle bitcoin clockworkmod tether bitcoin конвектор bitcoin капча decred ethereum bitcoin mt4 миллионер bitcoin arbitrage cryptocurrency keys bitcoin bitcoin circle Number of Miners: 32157скачать bitcoin