Hello Steemians I highly welcome you to my post today. In this post I have discussed forks in accordance with the questions that were asked in the Cryptoacademy contest.
Using your own terms to define what is a fork in general?
A fork is simply when a cryptocurrency splits into two different cryptocurrencies due to changes in the original cryptocurrency. Forks often happen when the coding of a blockchain or the cryptocurrency is changed. When discussing forks, there are probably two types of forks, which are hard fork and soft fork. We will look at them later.
However, in a nutshell, a hard fork is when two blockchain networks are not compatible with each other, whereas a soft fork is when both the new and old versions of the blockchain network are compatible with each other.
Forks can sometimes be so complicated for users since they require the acquisition of new wallets, software updates, and also learning how to make use of the new system. In a nutshell, a fork is simply a division of a cryptocurrency, which often occurs. based on disagreement that led to separation. As you keep on reading, you will get to know more about hard fork and soft fork.
Using any blockchain example, explain what a hard fork is.
When Bitcoin forked into Bitcoin Cash in November 2017, it was a well-known hard fork. A hard fork is the harder of the two fork types, and is frequently the outcome of a lack of consensus among the owners of the cryptocurrency's nodes. It is obviously the more complicated of the two fork types.
Users may find forks highly challenging because they frequently necessitate updating software as well as purchasing new wallets or becoming familiar with a new system. This does not, however, imply that forks are undesirable; in fact, they frequently lead to free coins for users who had coins in one of the cryptocurrencies before the fork. In the event that you had one Bitcoin in November 2017, for instance, in December 2017 you would have had one Bitcoin and one Bitcoin Cash in December 2017. It is only when there is a hard fork that users can be awarded with a free coin.
In a nutshell, a hard fork is essentially a permanent divergence from the most recent version of a blockchain. This results in the blockchain being split into two separate networks that operate independently of one another because some nodes can no longer reach consensus.
Using any blockchain example, explain what a soft fork is.
A soft fork happens when the new and old versions of the technology are compatible. A hard fork occurs when the two technologies are incompatible with one another.
SegWit, which operates concurrently with the Bitcoin software but isn't technically Bitcoin, is an example of a soft fork.
Generally speaking, a soft fork persuades the legacy blockchain network to accept the modified rules, enabling the simultaneous acceptance of both the upgraded and legacy blocks of transactions.
A soft fork, as opposed to a hard fork, maintains the previous blockchain by maintaining two lanes with distinct rules and standards. The 2015 Segregated Witness (SegWit) Bitcoin protocol upgrade is a prime example of a soft fork that worked well.
What are the differences between hard forks and soft forks?
The both differnences are explained below.
The software powering a cryptocurrency can be updated in other ways other than through hard forks.
Soft forks are viewed as a more secure option that is backward compatible, ensuring that nodes that do not update to newer versions will still regard the chain as valid.
A soft fork can be used to offer new features and capabilities without altering the requirements that a blockchain must adhere to. To incorporate new features at the programming level, "soft forks" are frequently employed.
A simple operating system upgrade on a computer or a mobile device can be compared to the distinction between hard forks and soft forks. All of the applications on the smartphone will continue to function after the upgrade with the new.
Explain the Steem and Hive Hard fork by showing the similarities/differences in their Genesis blocks.
Steem was the first ever social media cryptocurrency with its own platform known as Steemit, which was launched in 2017, before hive, which was launched around 2020 as a fork from Steem. STEEM is the cryptocurrency that is earned on Steemit with other rewards coins such as SDB and SP (Steem Power) with the integration of Tron as a reward also.
Hive, on the other hand, was created on January 1, 2020 as a hard fork of the Decentralized Blogging Social Media Platform that separates itself from Steemit. Hive also rewards users with cryptocurrency just like Steem. Hive cryptocurrency rewards include the Hive native coin and the Hive-backed Dollar (HBD). In order for us to understand the similarities and differences in both Steem and Hive, I would like us to take a look at both their Genesis Blocks.
| Steem Genesis Block |
|---|
https://steemworld.org/block/1
| Hive Genesis Block |
|---|
The genesis block of both networks is the same, as can be seen from the screenshots above. We can observe that the transaction id, witnesses, timestamp, and other details are identical. When a blockchain hardforks, the newly formed blockchains download the transaction history of the original blockchain and so share a common ancestor.
Let's use the example of the same block number mined following a hard fork to clarify this idea. Let's use block 61000000 as an example.
Steem was created on January 24, 2017, and Hive was founded on January 17, 2017—the same date as a block of the Steem blockchain. Other information such as witnesses and transaction identifiers is different for both blocks of the same number.
Thank you for stopping by, friend.
I am inviting
@preye2
@rubilu123
@badmus-official
Sounds like you are very familiar with blockchain forks. You shared in great detail and I will be waiting for you at another opportunity at Crypto Academy. I also shared about blockchain Fork.
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I do have little knowledge about it sir.
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In this article you have explained about the fork which occur when the software of different miners become misaligned. Sometimes these fork occurs accidentally and sometimes intentionally. Hard fork is an example of internally occurs fork.
Yes, I am totally agree with you because when hard fork occurs then new set of rules or protocol form which are completely diverse from the original one.
After that you have explained about the hard fork and soft fork difference and as you said soft fork is good option rather than going to complicated hard fork.
In the last section you have explained about the hive fork which is the fork part of steem and also about steem fork . Thanks for your detailed explanation and best of luck for the contest 🤞
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Interesting article you have here my friend, as your post proofs that you have a detailed knowledge about blockchain forks. You have done Justice in the explanation of Steem and Hive Hard forks. Thanks for sharing sir, and I hope to see more of your write ups.
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You are very right my friend, hard fork is the most complicated that results due to no middle ground, and there is some kind of enmity in the process because there is a lack of consensus.
The Steem and Hive blockchains have the same genesis block, that's how hard the fork works, and the history is the same until the network splits. Thanks for sharing my friend and I wish you good luck.
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You wrote well boss, I love how you explained the term fork, you explained in the best way possible. Forks are awesome and lovely project that makes the upgrading and updating of a Blockchain become easier and successful.
Thank you very much for sharing, please you can check my own entry here
wishing you success
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Your post is upvoted using the @steemcurator08 account by @chant. Continue making quality content for more support.
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Congratulations, your post has been supported by @steem4nigeria. This is the official community account of Nigerians on Steemit. You can reach us here on our community account.
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