Forks In The Road: a guide to Blockchain forks

What are the forks?

What are blockchain forks? The blockchain, which is the underlying innovation Bitcoin, is a distributed ledger consisting of blocks of information that is continuously growing, forming a single chain of blocks. Considering that Bitcoin is a decentralized network, participants in the system must be content with a standard set of rules to validate transactions, to reach consensus. This means that it can end up with a single chain of confirmed information that everyone agrees is correct or a separate reality.

What are soft forks?

A soft fork is like a software update that is on the contrary. Works with the previous variants. This indicates that people who have not upgraded to the new software application will still be able to participate in verification and confirmation of transactions. It is much easier to make a flexible fork because only a part of the participants has to update the software application. All participants, regardless of whether they have been updated or not, will continue to maintain and recognize the compatibility of brand new blocks with the network. One point to keep in mind is that the performance of an out-of-date individual is affected.

What are the hard forks?

Hard forks are like soft forks, but they are not compatible with previous models. All nodes on the network should upgrade to the new software to continue participating and validate brand new transactions. Those who have not been updated would be separated from the network and will not be able to verify the original transactions. This separation translates into a long-term division in the blockchain network. As long as there is support in the minority chain, in the kind of participants that extrapolate the chain, the two chains will co-exist simultaneously. (See more: Guide to the verification of cryptocurrency transactions).

Can someone create a fork?

Anyone can go to GitHub, get the code of a coin (eg Bitcoin) and then perform the development work necessary to update the software. Not everyone can have enough miners to extract the brand new coin, enough users to update their software application or download wallets for the currency, and enough exchanges to list it. There have been very few successful bifurcated coins in the history of cryptocurrency.

How to get free tokens

Check it! Hard forks are popular in the crypto community because it means they will receive free tokens. The duplication of the blockchain caused by the hard fork gives the holders of the old blockchain the right to receive new coins from the new chain. There are many approaches to getting these forked coins that include (however they are not limited to). You can receive them through the launches, or you can pass your knot to the brand new forked network. Finally, you can disperse private keys in the brand new network.