What Is Fork?
Also known as: Blockchain Fork, Chain Split, Chain Fork
In short
A fork is the splitting of a blockchain onto different paths as a result of a change in its rules or software or a disagreement on the network, or the creation of a new project by copying the code of an existing one.
In terms of protocol changes, there are two basic types of fork. A soft fork is a backward-compatible change with the old rules; nodes that are not updated continue to consider new blocks valid. SegWit and Taproot upgrades on Bitcoin are examples of this type. A hard fork, on the other hand, is a change that is not backward compatible; all nodes must update their software, otherwise the chain can split permanently in two.
Apart from these, short-lived, temporary forks occur in situations such as two miners finding a block at almost the same time. The network chooses one of the branches according to consensus rules (on Bitcoin, the chain with the most work), and the blocks on the other branch become invalid; these are called orphan or stale blocks.
In the software sense, a fork is when the code of an open-source project is copied, modified, and released as a separate project. Litecoin being derived from Bitcoin's code and SushiSwap from Uniswap's code are examples of this kind of fork. Forks can pave the way for innovation; however, they can also lead to community splits and technical risks such as replay attacks.
Last updated: · This content is for information purposes only and is not investment advice.