"Hard" and "Soft" Forks Explained - Crypto Whiteboard 101

As a blockchain grows and develops, it sometimes needs upgraded to better fulfill its function. Sometimes, this upgrade can be implemented with very little disturbance to the network, but other times, the proposed upgrades are so controversial that they cause the blockchain to split into two separate chains. In this article, we will learn the basics about cryptocurrency forks: what they are, why they happen, and the difference between a hard and a soft fork.