What you need to know about forks in Bitcoin Sometimes there are hard forks in Bitcoin, also known as a fork. Since virtual currencies are h...

What you need to know about forks in Bitcoin

Sometimes there are hard forks in Bitcoin, also known as a fork. Since virtual currencies are held on decentralized networks, each party must use the rules and work together to preserve history. If this process is not carried out, there will be two blockchains running at the same time in different parts of the network, which are called split chains.

What are forks in Bitcoin?

Basically, these are constituted as a series of changes within the Bitcoin network. They are also defined as situations in which two or more blocks have the same height. Most of the time, forks are held to add new features to the blockchain. Thus, it is possible to reverse the effects exerted by piracy or when serious errors arise. To upgrade the Bitcoin complex the concept of hard forks was introduced. If you want to get profitable results on your Bitcoin journey. Here is everything you need to know about Bitcoin hard forks.

Hard forks

Bitcoin forks of this type that split the blockchain are created through a series of changes to the rules of the blockchain. In this way, they share a certain history of bitcoin transactions up to a specific date and time. Hard forks are stiff and are not backwards compatible.

The first bitcoin hard fork split occurred on August 1, 2017, which resulted in the creation of Bitcoin Cash. Also called Hard Forks, many hard forks are non-controversial, meaning that the parties agree to accept the rules compound.

Soft forks

Also called Soft Forks, these forks are changes to the protocol that is much more flexible and backward compatible. In other words, this means that they help the new versions to work well with the original ones and that an update of other nodes is not necessarily needed in order to maintain the process.

Each of the blocks that are accepted as valid by the most current version is also classified as valid in the previous version. It is worth noting the fact that Segregated Witness joined Bitcoin via a soft fork mechanism in order to go public.

How can bitcoin forks occur?

There are two ways in which the Live Blockchain forks, which are:

• Accidentally: They usually occur when different miners reach the block almost at the same time, generating two Blockchains. Most of the time, these kinds of forks are resolved with a certain degree of speed as more blocks are added, which lengthens the chain and the other blocks are discarded.

• Intentionally: In this case, they happen when there are differences between the developers and their techniques to run the program. In it, the protocol is changed and a new coin is created. At this time, if there is not enough interest, the token and its value drop to zero and it stops being mined, but intentional chain splits can be successful if enough people are willing to back the new currency.

What does the future hold for the fork?

If there is one thing that is certain, it is that forks generate a positive and negative impact that grows over time in the world of Bitcoin. Thanks to them, crypto assets are generated and improved, along with creating drama, increasing risks and much more.

As long as people continue to immerse themselves in the world of cryptocurrencies, many of them will have different goals. Among them, Bitcoin forks will continue to play an indispensable role in the rise, progress and full development of digital currency-related industries; thus, a breakthrough can be achieved in the digital world in which we live and in the crypto industry.