What is a Bitcoin fork?

You probably heard by now about the new changes coming to the digital currency networks called “forks”. If your like us you most likely ask the question, What this term "fork" actual mean and how is it going to effect our cryptocurreny?

First things first, let's define the term fork.

Fork: A change to the software of the digital currency that creates two separate versions of the blockchain with a shared history. Forks can be temporary, lasting for a few minutes, or can be a permanent split in the network creating two separate versions of the blockchain. When this happens, two different digital currencies are also created.

Now that we all have a better understanding on what "fork" means, we need to understand why do forks happen in the first place.

There can be several reason why a fork can occur. For example an accidental fork can occur if coin updates are not truly compatible. People using different versions of the software create two different ledgers–one from the older version, and one from the newer version. In this circumstance the coin developer must rapidly eliminate the bugs causing the incompatibilities and decide how to merge the different blockchains.

Another reason a fork can occur is when a hard fork is generated. This happens when the cryptocurrency’s developers makes the decision that changes must be made to the programming of the coin that will create incompatibilities between the older and newer version. When the changes are made, all users of that coin must be willing to update all applications to continue to use that coin type correctly.

Now that you have a better understanding, please comment below we love to hear any questions and/or feedback on this topic.