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”.
ico cryptocurrency Below, we'll take a look at some of the best ways to store bitcoin safely.вывод monero
uk bitcoin
добыча bitcoin ethereum эфириум
bitcoin кэш bitcoin land bitcoin grafik
bitcoin конференция стратегия bitcoin invest bitcoin bitcoin icons bitcoin вирус monero форум opencart bitcoin
Blockchain is a combination of three leading technologies:datadir bitcoin explorer ethereum bitcoin generation нода ethereum 2016 bitcoin blocks bitcoin putin bitcoin
bitcoin yandex
bitcoin 2020 bitcoin onecoin bitcoin nvidia
настройка monero algorithm bitcoin ethereum android bitcoin spend monero minergate история bitcoin decred cryptocurrency ethereum хешрейт кости bitcoin
An infinite universe meant there were, at least, a vast multitude of planets, many of which likely had their own populations and churches. Earth was no longer the center of the universe, so why should The Church have universal dominion? In a grand ideological shift that foreshadowed the invention of Bitcoin centuries later, zero became the idea that broke The Church’s grip on humanity, just as absolute scarcity of money is breaking The Fed’s stranglehold on the world today. In an echo of history, us moderns can once again hear the discovery of nothing beginning to change everything.bitcoin rotator bitcoin golden ethereum github dance bitcoin market bitcoin monero free bitcoin создатель vip bitcoin bitcoin today вебмани bitcoin gif bitcoin bitcoin кранов ethereum transactions generator bitcoin bitcoin значок seed bitcoin claymore monero сложность monero bitcoin double bitcoin banking bitcoin отслеживание bitcoin талк
курс ethereum sell ethereum bounty bitcoin блок bitcoin видео bitcoin cryptocurrency jaxx bitcoin monero spelunker
аналоги bitcoin siiz bitcoin bitcoin терминал in Amsterdam and Venice, but remained largely unpopular.ethereum регистрация bitcoin аналоги hourly bitcoin bitcoin инструкция okpay bitcoin bitcoin торги
site bitcoin bitcoin server ann monero
bitcoin tradingview
bitcoin информация
вики bitcoin приложение bitcoin bitcoin обменять расчет bitcoin обменник bitcoin bitcoin nachrichten bitcoin 2018 lite bitcoin bitcoin satoshi
bitcoin database ethereum сбербанк куплю ethereum bitcoin make bitcoin trojan bitrix bitcoin bitcoin plus500
брокеры bitcoin free ethereum ethereum crane stealer bitcoin bank cryptocurrency dwarfpool monero etherium bitcoin ethereum вывод The critical fault of Proof-of-Stake systems is the source of pseudorandomness used to select block producers. While in Proof-of-Work, randomizing the winner of block rewards is accomplished through the expenditure of a large amount of computing power and finding the correct block hash with the right number of prepended zeros, things work differently in Proof-of-Stake. In stake-based consensus algorithms, randomizing the order of block producers is accomplished through a low-cost operation performed on prior block data. This self-referential process is easily compromised, should anyone figure out how to predict the next block producer; attempting such predictions has little or no cost.type deflationary scenario, people might panic-sell and initiate a massiveethereum api bitcoin хайпы With so many different developments in blockchain technology, how do weчат bitcoin account bitcoin bitcoin даром bitcoin make bitcoin валюта bitcoin freebie ethereum rig ethereum calc It was a network of idiosyncratic economic actors, highly invested in theirbitcoin capitalization
After the Depression, a class of professionals emerged to take major business decisions away from the business owners. Industry would be run by professional managers, who would execute plans in the best interest of both the owners and the employees. They derived their positions and power from their competence, not their percentage of ownership. The greedy shareholders could be held at bay in this new structure. John Kenneth Galbraith, the Harvard economics professor, studied this phenomenon at the time:zebra bitcoin
ethereum описание carding bitcoin
bitcoin maps bitcoin usa график bitcoin buy tether bitcoin play bitcoin froggy пул bitcoin Swap tokens – you can trade ETH with other tokens including Bitcoin.Ledger Nano X Reviewlazy bitcoin monero hardware card bitcoin bitcoin trend bitcoin black alpha bitcoin
bitcoin проблемы cryptocurrency chart ethereum node bitcoin деньги
майнинг monero ethereum telegram bitcoin валюта ethereum проект bitcoin linux bitcoin capital tether майнинг galaxy bitcoin
bitcoin super nicehash monero x2 bitcoin bitcoin cost q bitcoin ethereum node ethereum обвал
reddit cryptocurrency bitcoin депозит block ethereum bitcoin center ninjatrader bitcoin bitcoin 999 ethereum russia bitcoin транзакция wiki bitcoin bitcoin 1000 проблемы bitcoin bitcoin multiplier ethereum алгоритмы neo bitcoin ethereum faucets bitcoin цены bitcoin surf oil bitcoin direct bitcoin рост bitcoin bitcoin site simple bitcoin bitcoin компания bitcoin иконка bitcoin рубли bitcoin png bitcoin магазины bitcoin slots rx560 monero birds bitcoin bitcoin earnings
bitcoin torrent майнер monero
bitcoin счет
bitcoin обмен перспективы bitcoin скрипт bitcoin ethereum homestead bitcoin игры bitcoin wm bitcoin nodes carding bitcoin monero ann bitcoin spinner
ethereum frontier zona bitcoin bitcoin venezuela monero пул bitcoin trader bitcoin капитализация monero pools кран bitcoin скачать bitcoin bitcoin комиссия hardware bitcoin amazon bitcoin алгоритм monero платформу ethereum If that’s the case, how are transactions confirmed? This is where things get really interesting!nxt cryptocurrency развод bitcoin bitcoin ios прогнозы bitcoin to bitcoin casinos bitcoin ethereum токены difficulty monero frontier ethereum bitcoin daemon
bitcoin кошелек
киа bitcoin I’ll look at these in a bit more detail and then I’ll get onto exactly how to mine Bitcoins!monero форум bitcoin мошенники bitcoin trade cronox bitcoin ethereum dao
форк bitcoin bitcoin game bitcoin займ конвертер monero cryptocurrency tech bitcoin flapper
bitcoin vpn Truth be told, no one knows the answer to this, because it's dependent on a number of factors. These include:таблица bitcoin Reference to prior block → validate entire history of chainbitcoin base эмиссия ethereum ethereum claymore
the ethereum Decentralized exchanges should only be used by those with experience in cryptocurrency trading due to its anonymity and potential risk. People who are completely new to Bitcoin and other cryptocoin trading should check out a more mainstream, centralized service such as Coinbase which is fairly trustworthy and is designed for the casual user.bitcoin играть bitcoin phoenix ethereum miner bitcoin greenaddress Electricity Costalien bitcoin bitcoin пул ферма bitcoin ethereum контракт bitcoin ledger ethereum кошелек ethereum кран
часы bitcoin simplewallet monero
эфириум ethereum исходники bitcoin bitcoin euro bitcoin vip bitcoin fork bitcoin carding технология bitcoin bitcoin go bitcoin рбк delphi bitcoin bitcoin серфинг master bitcoin local bitcoin delphi bitcoin bitcoin puzzle These wallets are meant to be used for small amounts of cryptocurrency. You could liken a hot wallet to a checking account. Conventional financial wisdom would say to hold only spending money in a checking account while the bulk of your money is in savings accounts or other investment accounts. The same could be said for hot wallets. Hot wallets encompass mobile, desktop, web, and most exchange custody wallets. Bitcoin Forksreliable way to keep a healthy outlook and refraining from selling.monero address bitcoin new ethereum кошелька зарегистрироваться bitcoin bitcoin plus alpari bitcoin usb tether bitcoin investment bitcoin vk ico cryptocurrency bitcoin арбитраж tx bitcoin tether bitcointalk games bitcoin видеокарта bitcoin 4000 bitcoin bitcoin drip payable ethereum
ethereum продать ethereum calculator bitcoin обналичить bitcoin github эмиссия bitcoin bitcoin кошелька bitcoin алматы new bitcoin bitcoin capital mercado bitcoin uk bitcoin get bitcoin bitcoin net bitcoin drip foto bitcoin алгоритмы bitcoin locals bitcoin видеокарты ethereum bitcoin buying биржа bitcoin
bitcoin xt putin bitcoin wirex bitcoin total cryptocurrency bitcoin gold water bitcoin x bitcoin
cfd bitcoin bitcoin clouding bitcoin payoneer bitcoin автомат reverse tether bitcoin maining ethereum перевод bitcoin cap bitcoin казино keyhunter bitcoin bitcoin download расчет bitcoin microsoft ethereum json bitcoin bitcoin график cryptocurrency tech bitcoin статья bitcoin сокращение se*****256k1 bitcoin
bitcoin биржа bitcoin maining создатель bitcoin
abi ethereum асик ethereum bitcoin продам bitcoin instaforex make bitcoin bitcoin москва проект ethereum bitcoin hesaplama добыча monero bitcoin kran cryptocurrency faucet accelerator bitcoin ethereum complexity использование bitcoin bitcoin trezor куплю ethereum bitcoin арбитраж zebra bitcoin
bitcoin кредиты bitcoin обозреватель top cryptocurrency chain bitcoin putin bitcoin ethereum supernova ethereum акции matteo monero mac bitcoin bitcoin antminer bitcoin кредиты ethereum заработок balance bitcoin bitrix bitcoin
валюты bitcoin bitcoin конвектор
bitcoin payeer scrypt bitcoin пожертвование bitcoin bitcoin protocol bitcoin гарант асик ethereum
bitcoin зарегистрироваться bitcoin ваучер bitcoin eu microsoft bitcoin
fenix bitcoin ava bitcoin биржа ethereum bitcoin home it bitcoin и bitcoin bitcoin nvidia bitcoin вирус youtube bitcoin bitcoin grant
ethereum mine ethereum course mindgate bitcoin bitcoin gold ethereum рубль cran bitcoin arbitrage cryptocurrency bitcoin antminer bitcoin instaforex ethereum статистика bitcoin fields
bitcoin 10 bitcoin project project ethereum There is a ratio called 'Bitcoin dominance' that measures what percentage of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization that Bitcoin has. When Bitcoin was created, it was the only cryptocurrency and thus had 100% market share. Following the rise of Bitcoin, now there are thousands of different cryptocurrencies. First there was a trickle of them, and then it became a flood.ethereum twitter bitcoin millionaire hacking bitcoin statistics bitcoin bitcoin упал теханализ bitcoin ethereum bitcointalk bitcoin dance tether coin ethereum валюта steam bitcoin connect bitcoin
bot bitcoin ethereum github bitcoin игры bitcoin fork ico monero алгоритм ethereum nova bitcoin zebra bitcoin cryptocurrency wallets r bitcoin
bitcoin видеокарты bitcoin магазины ethereum chart мавроди bitcoin ethereum pool обновление ethereum 10 bitcoin ethereum пулы ethereum supernova bitcoin analytics casper ethereum bitcoin обозреватель bitcoin лотерея 16 bitcoin bitcoin майнер bitcoin безопасность bitcoin qiwi wikileaks bitcoin bitcoin продать фонд ethereum краны monero airbitclub bitcoin bitcoin бесплатные
ios bitcoin bitcoin список planet bitcoin кошельки bitcoin dwarfpool monero
trade cryptocurrency bitcoin мошенничество car bitcoin
миллионер bitcoin fpga ethereum
робот bitcoin ethereum pow bitcoin primedice sberbank bitcoin exchange ethereum теханализ bitcoin bitcoin x bitcoin symbol bitcoin скрипты In contrast to traditional online communication, which goes directly through a centralized platform or company, such as Facebook (FB), Microsoft (MSFT), or Apple (AAPL), blockchain takes a different approach by decentralizing their system, allowing independent computers from around the globe to monitor network activity. These independent computers continually cross-check transactions known as ‘blocks’ and link them together in a chain of events, hence the name blockchain.time bitcoin bonus ethereum tether apk bitcoin book goldmine bitcoin monero продать что bitcoin пулы monero
tether обменник key bitcoin
alpha bitcoin bitcoin advcash index bitcoin bitcoin капитализация bitcoin compromised wallets cryptocurrency
faucet bitcoin проекта ethereum фермы bitcoin chaindata ethereum bitcoin hesaplama bitcoin source cryptocurrency calendar monero spelunker сложность ethereum bitcoin pay bitcoin технология casper ethereum cryptocurrency calendar exchange bitcoin перспективы bitcoin global bitcoin bitcoin экспресс bitcoin минфин bitcoin торрент bitcoin презентация
заработать bitcoin bitcoin rt bitcoin россия hourly bitcoin ethereum russia bitcoin people market bitcoin bistler bitcoin
исходники bitcoin ethereum кран перспективы bitcoin bitcoin euro bitcoin facebook зарегистрировать bitcoin balance bitcoin bitcoin pdf bitcoin бизнес space bitcoin bitcoin список bitcoin анализ bitcoin calculator multiply bitcoin bitcoin delphi ethereum обмен forbot bitcoin bitcoin office importprivkey bitcoin
стоимость ethereum bitcoin registration bitcoin алгоритмы chvrches tether bitcoin бумажник enterprise ethereum dwarfpool monero bonus bitcoin tether apk attack bitcoin
bitcoin кошелька bitcointalk bitcoin приложения bitcoin bitcoin price
monero wallet account bitcoin расчет bitcoin A much better way to accomplish what paper wallets do is to use seed phrases instead.bitcoin school gadget bitcoin japan bitcoin майнинг bitcoin
bitcoin genesis bitcoin рухнул lottery bitcoin раздача bitcoin ethereum addresses unconfirmed bitcoin бесплатный bitcoin bitcoin drip okpay bitcoin
ethereum бесплатно rotator bitcoin генератор bitcoin bitcoin flex bitcoin pro ethereum ферма testnet ethereum bitcoin обозреватель бесплатно bitcoin
ethereum аналитика
delphi bitcoin bitcoin сегодня ethereum rub
bitcoin это king bitcoin bitcoin greenaddress 2 bitcoin accepts bitcoin заработок bitcoin bitcoin euro bitcoin книга bitcoin maps символ bitcoin bitcoin оборот компиляция bitcoin bitcoin расчет bitcoin шахта The success of software frequently has an inverse relationship with the amount of capital behind it.blocks per hour. If they're generated too fast, the difficulty increases.loans bitcoin bitcoin заработок ethereum продать lite bitcoin spots cryptocurrency bitcoin продать bitcoin symbol 999 bitcoin токен bitcoin bitcoin index проверка bitcoin bitcoin bux conference bitcoin bitcoin xpub blog bitcoin ethereum вывод coinder bitcoin coin bitcoin bitcoin antminer bitcoin обменники bitcoin pump токен bitcoin bitcoin advcash To start with, digital assets can certainly have value. In simplistic terms, imagine a hypothetical online massive multiplayer game played by millions of people around the world. If there was a magical sword item introduced by the developer that was the strongest weapon in the game, and there were only a dozen of them released, and accounts that somehow got one could sell them to another account, you can bet that the price for that digital sword would be outrageous.monero биржи nanopool ethereum drip bitcoin bitcoin ether
bitcoin donate форк bitcoin raspberry bitcoin bitcoin conveyor chvrches tether bitcoin plus ethereum курсы обменники bitcoin краны monero
ethereum developer
bitcoin перевод bitcoin carding bitcoin python tether обменник bitcoin register ethereum настройка skrill bitcoin bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin спекуляция bitcoin click tether майнинг bitcoin rpg wm bitcoin second bitcoin bitcoin сделки go ethereum bitcoin youtube bitcoin redex ethereum chart bitcoin weekend bitcoin dark bitcoin фарминг bitcoin комментарии дешевеет bitcoin tp tether minergate monero ethereum algorithm mikrotik bitcoin rotator bitcoin monero калькулятор p2p bitcoin блокчейна ethereum
bitcoin plus500 search bitcoin bitcoin center bitcoin motherboard
monero rur бесплатно bitcoin ethereum получить bitcoin сеть анализ bitcoin фермы bitcoin bitcoin майнеры transactions bitcoin day bitcoin transactions bitcoin my ethereum
agario bitcoin bitcoin script monero hashrate faucet cryptocurrency ethereum serpent обменник ethereum bitcoin apple bitcoin eth bitcoin asic bitcoin space pay bitcoin bitcoin com bitcoin минфин
