Forks: Understanding Changes to Blockchain Rules
A fork is a divergence in a blockchain network caused by changes to protocol rules or disagreement among nodes. Forks are mainly divided into soft forks and hard forks. The key difference is whether they are backward compatible and whether nodes that have not upgraded can continue participating in the network.
How Forks Occur
Nodes in a blockchain each maintain a copy of the ledger and validate transactions according to a common protocol. When the protocol is upgraded, node operators must decide whether to adopt the new version. If nodes differ in their acceptance of the new rules, the network may diverge, and transaction history may continue from a certain point under different rules.
Soft Forks and Hard Forks
A soft fork tightens the rules while maintaining backward compatibility: nodes that have not upgraded can generally still recognize blocks that comply with the new rules. Its activation and continued enforcement depend on the specific network's consensus arrangements and cannot be determined simply by whether more than half of ordinary nodes support it. A hard fork is not backward compatible and requires adoption of the new rules to validate the new branch; if participants continue maintaining both the old and new rules, two chains may emerge.
Impacts and Examples
Forks can be used to add functionality, adjust protocol rules, or address community disputes. They may also change network governance and generate new tokens when a chain splits. The material uses the split between Ethereum and Ethereum Classic to illustrate a hard fork, and Bitcoin Segregated Witness to illustrate a soft fork. When studying these examples, focus on compatibility and the consensus outcome.
Original Tutorial
https://www.binance.com/zh-CN/academy/glossary/fork
Changes to Bitcoin Consensus Rules
https://developer.bitcoin.org/devguide/block_chain.html
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