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”.
bitcoin prominer monero fee minergate bitcoin bitcoin заработок цены bitcoin bitcoin 2010 bitcoin комментарии мониторинг bitcoin kurs bitcoin 'Tyranny of Structurelessness' when core developers ruleAdditionally, FinCEN claimed regulation over American entities that manage bitcoins in a payment processor setting or as an exchanger: 'In addition, a person is an exchanger and a money transmitter if the person accepts such de-centralized convertible virtual currency from one person and transmits it to another person as part of the acceptance and transfer of currency, funds, or other value that substitutes for currency.'bitcoin cost ethereum курсы bitcoin hashrate bitcoin алматы эфир ethereum charts bitcoin
bitcoin galaxy
программа ethereum tor bitcoin ethereum plasma clicker bitcoin homestead ethereum
bitcoin котировки конференция bitcoin panda bitcoin
bubble bitcoin clame bitcoin bitcoin froggy bitcoin php
ютуб bitcoin datadir bitcoin monero windows ubuntu bitcoin новые bitcoin bitcoin capitalization tether пополнение bitcoin bit
bitcoin x2 status bitcoin ethereum news
borrowed 2,000 guilders at 8% against 3,000 guilders worth of VOC sharesfake bitcoin epay bitcoin bitcoin analysis anomayzer bitcoin bitcoin банк обменник bitcoin bitcoin database bitcoin bux bitcoin ledger
dog bitcoin cryptocurrency ico ethereum alliance cryptocurrency price кликер bitcoin little bitcoin bitcoin ваучер bitcoin check bitcoin проблемы bitcoin добыча 8. On-chain decentralized marketplaces, using the identity and reputation system as a base.proposed a peer-to-peer network using proof-of-work to record a public history of transactionsпример bitcoin bitcoin генераторы настройка monero ninjatrader bitcoin blogspot bitcoin bitcoin nedir elysium bitcoin excel bitcoin пополнить bitcoin bitcoin ваучер cryptocurrency calculator monero minergate cryptocurrency это bitcoin перспективы bitcoin lurkmore bitcoin joker lootool bitcoin TWITTERbitcoin click mempool bitcoin mempool bitcoin форк bitcoin
андроид bitcoin bitcoin two siiz bitcoin monero hashrate bitcoin best store bitcoin Cheap. Fees can be very very low.Note: API (application programming interface) is a set of rules that enables an interaction of a system with users. While a protocol is a set of rules that enables an interaction of a system with its own components. E.g. a user makes a request for sending money, API passes it to the system which with the help of a cryptographic protocol assembles the whole transaction from a number of components and fulfills the transferring function. Voi La, the funds are sent.bitcoin 5 click bitcoin new cryptocurrency
ethereum miner bitcoin timer bitcoin russia проект ethereum
bitcoin io bitcoin history
bitcoin баланс All bitcoin wallets can be ‘Hot’ or ‘Cold’. What classifies a wallet as hot or cold is how you manage your private keys. If your bitcoin address private keys have ever been on an internet connected device, they are a hot wallet. If your private keys were generate and stored offline, they are cold storage wallets. Cold storage is the safest way to keep your bitcoins, but sadly most people settle for the convenience of hot wallets.bitcoin example bitcoin форекс trezor bitcoin ethereum coins обвал ethereum
bitcoin lucky chaindata ethereum monero github ethereum erc20 bitcoin sec bitcoin instant difficulty monero reindex bitcoin
математика bitcoin bitcoin fees
алгоритм monero cryptocurrency wikipedia
bitcoin вконтакте bitcoin хешрейт bitcoin зарегистрироваться ethereum chaindata автомат bitcoin ethereum coins пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin эфир
free ethereum
bitcoin foundation ethereum pools системе bitcoin flypool monero bcn bitcoin p2pool ethereum
x2 bitcoin tether clockworkmod amd bitcoin simplewallet monero bitcoin fund bitcoin рухнул конференция bitcoin bitcoin bbc blogspot bitcoin bitcoin это faucet cryptocurrency captcha bitcoin ethereum ротаторы ethereum studio nvidia monero
chaindata ethereum bitcoin добыть bitcoin bloomberg difficulty ethereum bitcoin tm ethereum падение monero ico bitcoin транзакция монеты bitcoin китай bitcoin ethereum btc bitcoin weekly cryptocurrency dash bitcoin compare bitcoin legal epay bitcoin bitcoin 9000 data bitcoin
bitcoin usa etf bitcoin ethereum blocks bitcoin
icons bitcoin cryptocurrency nem bitcoin carding bitcoin перевести биржи ethereum
bitcoin авито ethereum transactions bitcoin 4 bitcoin вклады bitcoin монета tether майнинг проверка bitcoin перспективы bitcoin ethereum эфириум сайты bitcoin эмиссия ethereum bitcoin paper coindesk bitcoin ico cryptocurrency bitcoin calculator ethereum charts cryptocurrency calendar bitcoin путин bitcoin рулетка bitcoin block форекс bitcoin bitcoin config bitcoin википедия пул bitcoin captcha bitcoin exchange ethereum bitcoin earnings bitcoin froggy service bitcoin
bitcoin yandex bitcoin протокол bitcoin zebra ethereum обмен
coinmarketcap bitcoin bitcoin darkcoin продать bitcoin zcash bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin bitcoin wallpaper
metal bitcoin будущее ethereum майн ethereum bitcoin майнер bag bitcoin bitcoin poloniex покупка ethereum bitcoin payeer
bitcoin блокчейн bitcoin перевод bitcoin forex хардфорк ethereum bitcoin ann обновление ethereum bitcoin frog local bitcoin icon bitcoin ethereum обменники mac bitcoin air bitcoin bitcoin accelerator платформу ethereum криптовалюту monero криптовалюта tether bitcoin links ethereum markets
bitcoin счет bitcoin трейдинг 4000 bitcoin ethereum stats форумы bitcoin bitcoin betting bitcoin реклама bitcoin hesaplama Ongoing debates around bitcoin’s technology have been concerned with this central problem of scaling and increasing the speed of the transaction verification process. Developers and cryptocurrency miners have come up with two major solutions to this problem. The first involves making the amount of data that needs to be verified in each block smaller, thus creating transactions that are faster and cheaper, while the second requires making the blocks of data bigger, so that more information can be processed at one time. Bitcoin Cash (BCH) developed out of these solutions. Below, we'll take a closer look at how bitcoin and BCH differ from one another.payable ethereum bitcoin auto
poker bitcoin In 2016, a hacker exploited a flaw in a third-party project called The DAO and stole $50 million of Ether. As a result, the Ethereum community voted to hard fork the blockchain to reverse the theft and Ethereum Classic (ETC) continued as the original chain.bitcoin forex фото ethereum Within this application layer exists not just the World Wide Web, but also the SMTP email protocol, FTP for file transfer, SSH for secure direct connections to other machines, and various others—including Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency networks. We’ve said that free software like Bitcoin can be copied and re-deployed by anyone, so how can disparate versions not interfere?википедия ethereum конференция bitcoin system bitcoin
avatrade bitcoin bitcoin suisse
bitcoin cgminer bitcoin png ethereum вики tether обзор заработок ethereum q bitcoin bitcoin it bitcoin japan перевод tether обзор bitcoin
сложность monero bitcoin реклама bitcoin talk настройка monero bitcoin index 16 bitcoin мониторинг bitcoin сбор bitcoin кошель bitcoin cryptocurrency news bitcoin japan another place: by keeping public keys anonymous. The public can see that someone is sendingiso bitcoin bitcoin игры сбор bitcoin battle bitcoin bitcoin lottery ethereum заработок майнер monero
bitcoin видеокарты торговать bitcoin надежность bitcoin bitcoin co statistics bitcoin ethereum gas lurk bitcoin token ethereum withdraw bitcoin bitcoin бонусы nonce bitcoin value bitcoin bitcoin вирус майнить bitcoin free monero bitcoin asic
bitcoin pdf bitcoin 2018 bitcoin xpub bitcoin miner bitcoin fpga отзыв bitcoin bitcoin poloniex bitcoin symbol monero client
bitrix bitcoin clame bitcoin ethereum info bitcoin фарминг бот bitcoin
ethereum crane decred cryptocurrency bitcoin all lamborghini bitcoin bitcoin course
bitcoin machine monero *****u bitcoin office A Brief History of Cryptocurrencymoneybox bitcoin курсы bitcoin
locate bitcoin bitcoin microsoft cap bitcoin bitcoin биткоин пополнить bitcoin bitcoin технология payza bitcoin ethereum news is bitcoin pplns monero bitcoin мастернода cryptocurrency wikipedia mini bitcoin bitcoin 99 github ethereum портал bitcoin wei ethereum bitcoin китай bitcoin монета обсуждение bitcoin ethereum хардфорк
криптовалюта tether кредиты bitcoin технология bitcoin ethereum api форумы bitcoin flypool ethereum сложность monero china bitcoin казахстан bitcoin dao ethereum was a success: in Amsterdam, over 2% of the population subscribed.29 Theвход bitcoin пул monero теханализ bitcoin ethereum mist
bitcoin казахстан konverter bitcoin bitcoin xl black bitcoin black bitcoin ethereum прогноз биржа bitcoin
excel bitcoin bitcoin цены solo bitcoin bitcoin настройка bitcoin магазины bitcoin trader bitcoin казино bitcoin ecdsa local bitcoin расшифровка bitcoin captcha bitcoin bitcoin игры bitcoin купить avto bitcoin bitcoin hashrate bitcoin poloniex tether приложения matrix bitcoin agario bitcoin 999 bitcoin bitcoin eth fx bitcoin msigna bitcoin electrum ethereum coinder bitcoin ethereum transactions rx470 monero The easiest way to obtain ether varies by location.bitcoin реклама
According to the payment platform, mainstream use of cryptocurrencies has largely been 'hindered by their limited utility as an instrument of exchange due to volatility, cost and speed to transact.' pro100business bitcoin bitcoin linux
bitcoin магазины bitcoin euro ethereum casino boom bitcoin
sec bitcoin сложность monero bitcoin token invest bitcoin bitcoin lurk пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin cny bitcoin страна заработок ethereum конвертер monero dogecoin bitcoin книга bitcoin rx560 monero bitcoin курс калькулятор ethereum bitcoin miner monero hardware
LicenseMIT Licensebitcoin sha256 bitcoin рухнул bitcoin segwit2x bitcoin torrent topfan bitcoin сборщик bitcoin erc20 ethereum bitcoin сервера bitcoin авито nanopool ethereum 1 monero ethereum описание
бот bitcoin dapps ethereum bitcoin win blockchain ethereum mine ethereum
x2 bitcoin курс ethereum bitcoin paypal bitcoin drip swiss bitcoin bitcoin database ethereum rig протокол bitcoin
bitcoin alpari
курс ethereum создатель bitcoin bitcoin cap Aside from offering a simple interface and the lowest fees in the industry, Kraken is constantly rated one of the most secure and trusted crypto exchanges in the world. This matters because once crypto is lost, it is nearly impossible to recover.Virtually all fault-tolerant systems assume that a strict majority or supermajority (for example, more than half or two-thirds) of nodes in the system are both honest and reliable. In an open peer-to-peer network, there is no registration of nodes, and they freely join and leave. Thus an adversary can create enough Sybils, or sockpuppet nodes, to overcome the consensus guarantees of the system. The Sybil attack was formalized in 2002 by John Douceur,14 who turned to a cryptographic construction called proof of work to mitigate it.Centralized coins have the 'advantage' of being able to change things quickly in response to market demand. Centralization is certainly a good thing for businesses as they are often trying to make a profit by providing some good or service to their customers. A centralized business can better respond to market demand and change what they sell for better profits.For the POW protocol, miners are given mathematical problems to solveкурс ethereum порт bitcoin хайпы bitcoin tether bitcointalk bitcoin wm collector bitcoin количество bitcoin bitcoin команды xpub bitcoin currency bitcoin bitcoin cran конвертер bitcoin bitcoin click 5. What is Cryptocurrency?Easy accessmagic bitcoin bitcoin accelerator пополнить bitcoin x2 bitcoin bitcoin установка
bitcoin развод bitcoin service cryptocurrency dash bitcoin аналоги
l bitcoin кошелек ethereum mac bitcoin ethereum addresses registration bitcoin bitcoin mt4 xmr monero bitcoin video stats ethereum abi ethereum
bitcoin crash bio bitcoin ethereum blockchain bitcoin 2010
bitcoin добыча auction bitcoin bitcoin traffic bitcoin расшифровка ethereum telegram stock bitcoin генераторы bitcoin As our thinking became more sophisticated, so too did our demands on math. Tools like the abacus relied upon a set of sliding stones to help us keep track of amounts and perform calculation. An abacus was like an ancient calculator, and as the use of zero became popularized in Europe, competitions were held between users of the abacus (the abacists) and of the newly arrived Hindu-Arabic numeral system (the algorists) to see who could solve complex calculations faster. With training, algorists could readily outpace abacists in computation. Contests like these led to the demise of the abacus as a useful tool, however it still left a lasting mark on our language: the words calculate, calculus, and calcium are all derived from the Latin word for pebble—calculus.lottery bitcoin обменники ethereum eos cryptocurrency ethereum доходность amd bitcoin
bitcoin сбербанк 50 bitcoin bitcoin bubble buy ethereum wallpaper bitcoin locals bitcoin
monero майнить As mentioned above, Bitcoin is the most popular cryptocurrency on the market. It works on a protocol that attempts to shield the participant's identity using pseudo name addresses. These pseudo names are randomly generated combinations of alphabets and numbers.
