When it comes to upgrading an app on your mobile, you don't have to think twice. If your software has an auto-update function, it will be modified without your knowledge. Updates to the software are needed for it to run properly. If the program is not modified on a regular basis, you may be refused access to its services.
Developers, miners, and full node users all work together in the crypto industry to create a solution that implements a blockchain consensus protocol. When a group of developers implements a software update, the blockchain is said to "fork." Soft forks and Hard forks are the two types of forks.
When it comes to computer program upgrades, the device has two types of updates: backward compatibility and incompatibility. It is said to be backward compatible if the software is modified and the files are made in such a way that the latest version of the program can be opened and works in the old version, otherwise it is said to be backward incompatible.
Similarly, a soft fork occurs when a blockchain protocol is backward compatible, which ensures that modifications in the code do not affect the functional continuity of the previous version. A hard fork, on the other hand, is when a blockchain protocol is not backward compatible and does not support the previous version of the system.
Let's take a closer look at forks and the various forms of forks.
What is a fork?
When software is copied, changed, or upgraded, a fork occurs. The original program is still available, but it takes a different path than the previous version. Assume that there is a disagreement on a cryptocurrency information platform. Another member of the team will create a website that is identical to the previous one but is hosted on a different domain.
Different types of details are added to the new website as the days pass. The two ventures would have a common ground and a shared history in such situations. Similar to a single road that is split into two different routes, but their paths are constantly diverging. This is a common occurrence in open-source projects.
Hard Fork
Hard Forks are incompatible changes that occur when new rules are applied to nodes that clash with the rules of older nodes. Only the current version nodes will connect with these new nodes. As a result, the blockchain creates two networks: old rules and new rules.
To propagate blocks and transactions, these two networks operate in parallel. However, the networks would not share a blockchain. Before a fork happens, all nodes will operate on the same blockchain, but after that, these networks will have separate blocks and transactions.
Since there is a common past, if you had coins before the fork, you would have them in both networks. Let's pretend you had 5 BTC when the first fork happened at Block 1. You may have spent 5 BTC in Block 2 on the old blockchain, but you haven't spent them in Block 2 on the new blockchain. Let's pretend the cryptography hasn't changed, and you still have those five coins on the forked network.
Example of Hard Fork
There was a split between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash on August 1, 2017. The split was created to maximize the amount of transactions performed per block. The SegWit solution had a maximum block size of 1 MB when it was produced. Some of them were dissatisfied with the SegWit solution because of its limited size, so they wanted to raise the block size from 1 MB to 8 MB.
Both Bitcoin Cash and the Bitcoin protocol can accept any block with a small size or a size of 1MB. If a block's size exceeds 1 MB, it can only be validated by the Bitcoin Cash protocol. As a consequence, there is a backward incompatibility, and there is no universal agreement on how to implement it. As a result, the blockchain has been divided into two branches.
Bitcoin-Cash was the name of the branch that introduced the change, while Bitcoin was the name of the branch that did not implement the change. When a blockchain breaks, so does the underlying currency. If the break does not occur, all protocols will be processed by both blockchains, resulting in a problem of double-spending.
To address this issue, a new currency has been developed that will have the same history as the old one before the break. After the currency has been divided, it can be handled and traded separately.
Types of Hard Forks
Planned Fork
A scheduled hard fork is a protocol update that the project developers have announced ahead of time. Before the hard fork, the project developers and the community can reach a high level of agreement. Monero's hard fork, which introduced a new privacy feature called Ring Confidential Transactions, is an example of a planned hard fork.
Contentious Hard Fork
The contentious hard fork occurs when there is a significant disagreement among project stakeholders. This hard fork happens because a portion of the project team assumes that significant modifications to the cryptocurrency code would result in a better blockchain. Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork is an example of a controversial hard fork, in which one faction of the group argues that increasing the block size from 1 MB to 8MB would result in faster transaction processing on the network.
Soft Forks
Soft Forks are backward-compatible updates that enable upgraded nodes to communicate with nodes from previous versions. The new rules would not conflict with the old rules in soft forks. When opposed to hard forks, soft forking is very quick and easy to do.
The soft-forking technique can be used to reduce the block size in a soft fork. There is a limit to the size of the block, but there is no limit to the size of the block. If you want to consider blocks of a certain size, you must refuse blocks of a larger size.
Example of Soft Fork
A well-known example of Soft Fork is the adoption of SegWit. To increase the amount of transactions that can be included in each block, a new block is mined every 10 minutes. To do so, the project's stakeholders devised a solution known as Segregated Witness (SegWit).
The aim was to free up some space in each block so that more transactions could be added. It is possible because each transaction's public key and signature are separated and sent via a different messaging channel. The public key and signature account for 60% of the entire transaction. As a result, by sending them separately, each block's transactions could be doubled.
Final Thoughts
Forking isn't going anywhere anytime soon. With the advancement of the cryptocurrency industry, forking will become more popular in the future. Forking will continue to be used to aid mass adoption in the future. The key benefit of forking is that it allows for new protocols, faster transaction times, lower mining costs, and many other advantages.
Both hard and soft forks are critical to the blockchain network's long-term success. They allow us to make software modifications and updates even in decentralized systems. Through the use of forks, new functionality may be added to blockchains and cryptocurrencies.