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”.
ethereum pow
monero cryptonote bitcoin status котировки bitcoin bitcoin school ethereum cryptocurrency youtube bitcoin bitcoin sec
bitcoin etf халява bitcoin 100 bitcoin
txid bitcoin мастернода bitcoin bitcoin account вывод ethereum bitcoin strategy wallets cryptocurrency calculator cryptocurrency bitcoin терминал bitcoin фирмы bitcoin forum количество bitcoin poker bitcoin bitcoin china ethereum asic ethereum difficulty bitcoin мерчант ethereum платформа polkadot su bitcoin кошелька bitcoin lion
bitcoin акции blogspot bitcoin bitcoin birds bitcoin авито история ethereum сбербанк ethereum tether комиссии теханализ bitcoin
валюта tether bitcoin spinner bitcoin matrix обменники ethereum история ethereum bitcoin local bitcoin metal bitcoin sha256 bitcoin abc pow bitcoin биржа ethereum майнинга bitcoin bitcoin anonymous криптовалюта ethereum
buy tether bitcoin testnet bitcoin it bitcoin bounty bitcoin форекс bitcoin analytics bitcoin adress bitcoin multiplier ethereum programming ethereum info escrow bitcoin mail bitcoin ethereum solidity bitcoin математика bitcoin background
abc bitcoin bitcoin main bitcoin instant
bitcoin 1070 android tether bitcoin zona вики bitcoin casper ethereum cryptocurrency market ethereum wallet
график bitcoin dorks bitcoin bitcoin node tether комиссии bitcoin fund
ethereum хардфорк подарю bitcoin Web-based user interface with exchanges built-inbitcoin пополнить bitcoin кошелька bitcoin mining
кран bitcoin bitcoin обмен bitcoin up bitcoin кошелек local bitcoin bitcoin lurk ethereum сбербанк
bitcoin лого monero amd hd bitcoin биржи bitcoin monero usd ethereum forks bitcoin видеокарты хайпы bitcoin
bitcoin testnet Insight:ethereum crane сайте bitcoin мониторинг bitcoin контракты ethereum курс monero bitcoin japan bitcoin 2018 bitcoin луна ethereum info neo cryptocurrency
bitcoin china ethereum хешрейт бесплатный bitcoin bitcoin generator mining cryptocurrency ethereum russia casascius bitcoin blogspot bitcoin ethereum кошельки coinmarketcap bitcoin
blender bitcoin blockchain ethereum bitcoin p2p bitcoin motherboard bitcoin exe bitcoin flapper segwit2x bitcoin
bitcoin инструкция wikipedia cryptocurrency bitcoin club dogecoin bitcoin обменники bitcoin bitcoin check bitcoin uk калькулятор bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet
ethereum хардфорк fpga ethereum reward bitcoin lealana bitcoin ethereum vk micro bitcoin buy ethereum tether chvrches bitcoin видеокарты
film bitcoin bitcoin pps полевые bitcoin service bitcoin скрипт bitcoin bitcoin doge bitcoin xt bitcoin заработок Proof of Work VS Proof of Stake: not sure what's the difference between the two? Learn what's the difference between Proof of Work VS Proof of Stake.pplns monero bitcoin приложение перспектива bitcoin monero cryptonote bitcoin путин up bitcoin bitcoin халява bitcoin is bitcoin escrow перевести bitcoin
bitcoin zone
киа bitcoin сбор bitcoin lootool bitcoin ethereum casino порт bitcoin bitcoin vip loan bitcoin заработок bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin download bitcoin clouding seed bitcoin ethereum eth
bitcoin loan bitcoin map ethereum programming и bitcoin
monero proxy battle bitcoin tether верификация краны monero blender bitcoin tether provisioning bitcoin регистрации bitcoin converter monero сложность machines bitcoin bitcoin заработок bitcoin телефон bitcoin delphi адрес bitcoin bitcoin stock портал bitcoin bistler bitcoin doge bitcoin mindgate bitcoin майн ethereum gadget bitcoin bitcoin trading blacktrail bitcoin buy bitcoin bitcoin mt4 bitcoin q tether верификация bitcoin blog список bitcoin bitcoin reklama bitcoin widget
free ethereum hacking bitcoin форумы bitcoin testnet ethereum Automatically distribute the correct insurance payout to passengers who were on a delayed flight.bitcoin банкнота paypal bitcoin plus bitcoin основатель ethereum и bitcoin bitcoin monkey live bitcoin bitcoin конвертер футболка bitcoin tor bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin монета ethereum майнить bitcoin ethereum получить mempool bitcoin Methods of Cold Storageethereum pools The final domino to fall, of course, is the power which governments wield over their flock via their ability to print, regulate, and control the nation’s money. When a state currency is challenged, the state itself is challenged, and market forces move swiftly around sickly, depreciating inhibitors. The press conferences of someone like Bernanke would become less and less important, because the currency he printed would be used in narrower and narrower circles. Instead of fighting the government, Bitcoin enables individuals to sidestep it — to ignore it to a large degree. Bitcoin, paired with the internet, provides all that is needed to realize a system of anarcho-capitalism.ethereum chaindata bitcoin loan bitcoin автокран
bitcoin adress форки bitcoin bitcoin bitrix bitcoin вектор addnode bitcoin продать ethereum top bitcoin bitcoin monkey bitcoin png
bitcoin etherium ethereum mine nem cryptocurrency падение ethereum зарабатывать bitcoin bitcoin bcc mercado bitcoin
bitcoin grafik playstation bitcoin
bitcoin cudaminer bitcoin кошелька bitcoin оборот bitcoin минфин ethereum plasma bitcoin grant кран ethereum сбербанк ethereum love bitcoin etherium bitcoin fire bitcoin tether обменник генераторы bitcoin linux bitcoin cryptocurrency ethereum linux ethereum
приложения bitcoin
bitcoin fasttech bitcoin команды bitcoin кредиты видеокарты ethereum 999 bitcoin bitcoin обменять tether apk bitcoin site monero ann bitcoin форк нода ethereum server bitcoin cryptocurrency charts tradingview bitcoin atm bitcoin bitcoin капча se*****256k1 bitcoin bitcoin wmx wei ethereum tether верификация exchange monero платформа bitcoin Supports more than 1500 coins and tokensфорк 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 se*****256k1 ethereum bitcoin stellar bitcoin блог convert bitcoin
bitcoin trust bitcoin hesaplama ethereum vk
keyhunter bitcoin monero пул genesis bitcoin flex bitcoin cryptocurrency market bitcoin skrill
bitcoin рейтинг trezor ethereum
bitcoin golden joker bitcoin список bitcoin habrahabr bitcoin bitcoin department bitcoin block l bitcoin win bitcoin bitcoin россия mac bitcoin ethereum news bitcoin лопнет monero cryptonight bitcoin магазины money bitcoin Both wired and wireless home networks qualify as peer-to-peer environments. A router simply joins the home network to the Internet; it does not by itself change how resources within the network are shared.количество bitcoin раздача bitcoin bitcoin stealer bitcoin money bitcoin минфин bitcoin legal конференция bitcoin
bitcoin robot bitcoin hunter bitcoin shops bitcoin community Let’s consider an example of ABRAкалькулятор bitcoin reindex bitcoin bitcoin xapo rus bitcoin статистика ethereum
ethereum api monero стоимость
bitcoin комиссия bitcoin qr pay bitcoin bitcointalk ethereum fast bitcoin работа bitcoin bitcoin fox difficulty monero bitcoin global bitcoin elena обменять ethereum логотип bitcoin ethereum алгоритмы monero dwarfpool bitcoin cryptocurrency direct bitcoin ethereum dag asics bitcoin bitcoin okpay ставки bitcoin daemon bitcoin bot bitcoin кости bitcoin network bitcoin ethereum клиент Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a use case of Ethereum. It offers traditional financial instruments in a decentralized architecture, outside of companies' and governments' control, such as money market funds which let users earn interest. Examples of DeFi platforms include MakerDAO and Compound. Uniswap, a decentralized exchange for tokens on Ethereum grew from $20 million in liquidity to $2.9 billion in 2020. As of October 2020, over $11 billion was invested in various DeFi protocols. Additionally, through a process called 'wrapping', certain DeFi protocols allow synthetic versions of various assets (such as Bitcoin, gold and oil) to become available and tradeable on Ethereum and also compatible with all of Ethereum's major wallets and applications.Can Bitcoin and Ethereum Live Side by Side?bitcoin сети Although technically transactions occur instantaneously on both the Bitcoin and Litecoin networks, time is required for those transactions to be confirmed by other network participants. Litecoin was founded with the goal of prioritizing transaction speed, and that has proven an advantage as it has grown in popularity. According to data from Blockchain.info, the Bitcoin network’s average transaction confirmation time is currently just under 9 minutes per transaction (the time it takes for a block to be verified and added to the blockchain), though this can vary widely when traffic is high.10 The equivalent figure for Litecoin is roughly 2.5 minutes.11 In principle, this difference in confirmation time could make Litecoin more attractive for merchants. For example, a merchant selling a product in exchange for Bitcoin would need to wait nearly four times as long to confirm payment as if that same product were sold in exchange for Litecoin. On the other hand, merchants can always opt to accept transactions without waiting for any confirmation at all. The security of such zero-confirmation transactions is the subject of some debate.12bitcoin дешевеет
