Guide to Forks: Everything You Need to Know About Forks, Hard Fork and Soft Fork

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Guide to Forks Everything You Need to Know About
Forks, Hard Fork and Soft Fork
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What does Fork Mean? How many types of Forks in
are there in Cryptocurrency? Whats the
difference between Soft Fork and Hard Fork? If
you are also looking answers for all these
questions, then youve come to the right place.
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• Each software requires updates to keep them up to
  date with the changing dynamics and to enhance
  their offering. In the dictionary of Crypto, it
  is termed as forks.
• As you have heard already, Soft Fork and Hard
  Fork are two types of forks. If put in simple
  words, the only difference between the two forks
  is that Soft Fork also supports the prior version
  of the software whereas Hard Fork is a permanent
  alteration which is not compatible with the
  earlier version.

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What Is Fork And How Many Types Are There?

• The crypto community is one big family, and each
  member of the chain is known as a node. To
  co-exist, each node needs to align by a bunch of
  rules called protocols. The basic rules of the
  protocol are decided by its creator. The
  blockchain size, the mining rewards, etc., are
  selected for the community, and they all then
  work together.
• So, Fork is a sort of upgrade or update in the
  program code of the blockchain that modifies the
  working principle of the intact blockchain. Now,
  the question is what is Soft fork and Hard fork
  in blockchain? These are two types of Forks, one
  of which can be reversed, i.e. Soft Fork and the
  other is backwards-incompatible, i.e. hard Fork.

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• A soft fork indicates the minuscule modifications
  made to the chain, whereas as the name goes, hard
  fork changes are usually more substantial and
  radical.
• Contrary to popular belief, a forking is possible
  in all blockchain-based platform and not just
  bitcoin. This is by virtue of the fact that all
  cryptocurrencies are primarily based on the
  blockchain technology only. Each particular block
  can be perceived as a crypto key which helps in
  pushing the block memory further forward.
• Now, lets know both the forks separately with
  past examples in the crypto industry.

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1. What is Soft Fork In Crypto?

• The backwards-compatible upgrade to the protocol
  is called Soft Fork, which signifies that even
  after the Fork that resulted in the formation of
  a new chain, the earlier nodes can still process
  transactions. However, the older blocks should
  follow the new rules.
• For instance, if according to the Fork, the block
  size of more than 3MB could no longer be
  processed, previous nodes would still be able to
  push blocks that are less than 3MB in size.

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• Since the earlier nodes were not as capable as
  the latest, it encourages it to update to the new
  protocol. But if a user is not interested in
  using the advanced version, he can still continue
  using the previous version but without the latest
  features.
• To perform a Soft Fork, the approval of the
  majority of members in the chain is required.
• Some of the examples of Soft Fork that happened
  in the crypto industry in the past are BIP
  (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) and P2SH.

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2. Hard Fork/Hard Fork In Bitcoin

• Hard Fork is rather complicated than a soft fork
  as it implements significant alterations to the
  protocol. These changes are so extreme that it
  results in two distinct cryptocurrencies, one of
  which stays unchanged and the other is an
  entirely new altered version.
• After the division, the transactions occurring
  the former blockchain would not be identified by
  the new chain. This is why Hard Fork is followed
  by many controversies and uncertainty in the
  community.

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• Hard Fork forces the community to pick sides
  which is one of the reasons that it is
  implemented very rarely. However, if done
  correctly, it can result in an efficient upgraded
  network with enhanced immunity.
• One of the well-recognized examples of the Hard
  Fork in Bitcoin is Bitcoin Cash, (the split
  between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash) and the split
  between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum, i.e.
  Ethereum Classic Hard Fork.

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Types Of Hard Fork

• While mostly, Hard Forks brings controversies, it
  can also be planned by the consent of the
  majority of members and developers in the
  community. Hard Forksare of various types among
  which the two most popular are Contentious Hard
  Fork and Planned Hard Fork.
• 1. Planned Hard Fork The Fork which has been
  prepared from the very starting of the project
  and is agreed upon by the majority of developers
  with the consent of the community is called
  planned hard Fork. Planned Hard Fork brings in a
  much better version of the existing coin with
  enhanced chain abilities and features. In 2017,
  Monero went through a hard fork which brought
  aRing Confidential Transactions (RingCT), a new
  privacy feature to the chain.

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• Some other examples of planned hard Fork happened
  previously in the crypto industry includes
  Ethereum Byzantium and Segregated Witnesses
  (Segwit).
• 2. Contentious Hard Fork A contentious hard fork
  occurs when there is conflict within the space
  regarding the Fork that results in two different
  chains, one unchanged and another, the better
  version of the original. One of the major Hard
  Fork of Bitcoin performed in the past is Bitcoin
  Cash. Crypto community had faced such
  controversies in the history regarding extending
  the block size of Bitcoin to 8MB from 1MB, which
  was deemed to make the transactions faster.
  Eventually, the disagreement emerged as the hard
  Fork of the chain.

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Difference Between Soft Fork And Hard Fork
Both Soft Fork or hard Fork are implemented to
upgrade the security and enhance the features of
the chain. Where soft Fork applies minor changes
to the blockchain, Hard Fork alters the protocol
entirely, which then cannot be reversed. It is
the reason Hard Fork is not readily accepted by
the community, which becomes the reason for
controversies. Now that you know what is Fork,
lets see the difference between Soft fork and
Hard Fork.
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Conclusion Cryptocurrency forks, whether soft
Fork or hard Fork, planned or Contentious is a
topic of discussion. Forking can also also be
seen as one of the core values of any-open source
Cryptocurrency because it further enhances the
security of the blockchain. Fork also provides
the investors as well as miners with a voice in
case of disagreement with the developers of the
coin.

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