Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#2751

  1. A soft fork will do a contraction of the ruleset. A hard fork will do an expansion of the ruleset.
    Hard: previously invalid blocks are now valid.
    Soft: previously valid blocks are now invalid.

  2. To change the consensus ruleset.

  3. Their will be a fork. So the chain splits. This means the initial hashpower is split and security is reduced.
    This also splits the community.

1 Like
#2752

1)What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
A soft fork is when an update is intended that will invalidate a previous block , e.g. attempting to increase the capacity of future blocks from 1mb to 0 . mb. A hard fork intends to make a previous invalidated block valid once more, e.g increasing future blocks from 1mb to 2mbs.

2)What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
You might do a hard fork if you wanted to increase block size so that miners can get more profits, by adding more transactions. If you agree with the update, it is clear and democratic. You might consider protocol will potentially make a better currency

3)What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
The risks are that security is diminished, with the hash power operating in the system, formerly all concentrated in one direction, is now split in 2. Also split the community

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#2753

  1. The difference is that the update between soft and hard forks leads to expansion or contraction of the rule set. In Hard fork case is becomes expansion in soft fork case in becomes contraction.

  2. If you want to make an update to a consensus in case you would need to increase the size of the block, for example from 1mb to 2mb.

  3. Spliting the chain and the community

1 Like
#2754

Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

A hardfork update expands the current ruleset to make previously invalid blocks valid, while a softfork update contracts the current ruleset to make previously valid blocks invalid.

  1. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?

Adding functionality to the network that can’t be done inside the current ruleset

  1. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

The network and community could split with people not agreeing on the changes.

1 Like
#2755
  1. A hard fork update is an expansion of the rule set, where a soft fork is a contraction of the rule set.
  2. A hard fork would be done if consensus needed to be changed.
  3. The risk would be split hash power and a less secure network and a split chain.
1 Like
#2756

  1. The difference between a soft fork and hard forks is weather the rules are expanded or constricted. Hard forks create two different chains and communities, whereas Soft forks keep the same chain and community. BCH is an example of a hard fork from BTC

  2. You would want to do a Hard fork if you wanted to create a separate blockchain independent from the original. You want different rules all together,

  3. When you create a Hard fork, you create a completely different blockchain which has less security overall because you would have split the nodes into two separate communities, which decreases the hash power of both blockchains.

2 Likes
#2757

Soft Fork - Contraction of the rule set (ie 1MB => 500 kB) This makes previously valid blocks invalid

Hard Fork - Expansion of the rule set (ie 1 MB => 2 MB) This makes previously invalid blocks valid

What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?

-Change in consensus, to expand the rules of the network, to create a new coin

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

Hard forks will split the community and the miners. Since the hash power is split between the forks, there is less hash power for each individual coin. This reduces network security.

2 Likes
#2758
  1. A softfolk make previously valid blocks invalid; A hardfolk make previously invalid blocks valid.
  2. Update consensus rules.
  3. Split the community, reduce hash power, and increase security risk.
1 Like
#2759
  1. A softfork contracts the rules, making previously valid blocks invalid, and a hardfork expands to rules to make a previously invalid block valid.
  2. You would do a hardfork if you needed to add size or data to the blocks, or change the protocols by which a block was validated (such as to add security features). Hardforks have also been used to remediate major hacks.
  3. Some of the risks with performing a hardfork include reducing the number of minors/nodes running a particular fork (reducing total computational power, hash speed, and hence security), and splits in the community.
1 Like
#2760

1. ٍSoftfork is making the previous valid rules to invalid, it is like a compression process.
Hardfork is making previous invalid rules to valid, it is like an expansion process.

2. Hardfork are made to; implement a new protocol to make previous invalid protocols valid, it will spilt the chain that will form forks which will lead to 2 separate chains, having 2 separate chains are useful to make a new crypto coin, perform a clear update and it is more democratic.

3. Risks of performing Hardforks; splitting the into two coins, splitting the community, reducing total hash rate and 100% of the nodes have to be updated to avoid splitting into two separate chains

1 Like
#2761

Hello @filip i hope you are doing well,

So i have a question that has been bugging me and i feel stuck a bit here. uhmm so it is about the 6 confirmed blocks, isn’t it in the protocol to form blocks each 10 mins?

So how does transaction happens in real time when people make transactions that takes from 20sec to 1 min?
does it mean that transaction went to to a mempool then it was pick up by a miner then it was partially confirmed then later it will be permanently added into the block chain at 10 mins time cylce?

i’m a little bit confused here xD

#2762

1.Hard fork is an update that makes previously invalid blocks valid ex:1mb <=2mb / A soft fork is an update that makes previously valid blocks invalid eg: going from 1mB to 0.5mB so the was Block <=1mB now is reduced to Block<=0.5mB
2. If a new currency was desired and or new rule sets
3.It splits the chain and it splits the community .The hash power gets split and reduces the security of the blockchain

1 Like
#2763

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
A soft fork is a contraction of the consensus rule set and a hard fork is an expansion of the consensus ruleset.

What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
A hard fork may be used to change the vision of the network or create a new currency. For example if we increase blocksize we can handle more transactions per block.

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
Some of the risks include splitting the chain, splitting the comunity and splitting hash power which can reduce security.

1 Like
#2764

6 confirmations means that 5 more consecutive blocks were added on top of the tx (once the tx is in a block means 1 confirmation) which takes approximately 1 hour. This is in case of stale blocks occurring to make sure the tx is not part of a stale block and gets dropped back into the mempool. :slight_smile:

#2765

1.A soft fork is more of a reduce and rule set where as a hard for is an expansion on the rule set.

2.Some reasons to hard fork would be to split the currency, or to change the set of rules.

  1. Hard forks can split the hash power which can reduce security.
1 Like
#2766

  1. Softforks and hardforks differ in the way they update the consensus rules. Softforks make previously valid blocks invalid, and only require 50% of the network to update in order to avoid a fork. Meanwhile, hardforks make previously invalid blocks valid, and require 100% of the network to update to avoid a fork.

  2. If you want to expand on the rule set (i.e. increasing transaction capacity within blocks) or create a new currency with different consensus rules.

  3. The chain is split, which splits the hash power, as well as the community and security from more nodes on one network.

1 Like
#2767

  1. A hard fork will make previously invalid blocks valid, while a soft fork will make previously valid blocks invalid.

  2. If you wanted to increase option rules in the rules of the chain or to split to a new currency.

  3. Split the community, split the hashpower, lower security.

1 Like
#2768

@Alko89 Thank you for replying :D,
yes i understand this but what i can not get is how the transaction are confirmed from one walled in another in such a short time after confirming on the wallet to construct the tx to propagate it around.

for an example i just confirmed my tx on my wallet such as metamask then it takes like 30sec to 1 min to receive funds or send it. so this is clashing in my mind as it takes so fast compared to the 10 mins cycle to get a new mined block appended into the blockchain.

i can not connect between that the Tx was confirmed so fast compared to how long it takes to mine a new block. i don’t get it

i know my explanation doesn’t so clear, it would be nice to get over this mind barrier for me xD

thanks in advance tho :smiley:

#2769
  1. The differences between a Hard Fork and a Soft Fork are that essentially a Hard Fork expands the rules of the network whist a Soft Fork contracts them. Similarly, a Hard Fork makes previously invalid transactions valid, and a Soft Fork makes previous valid transaction invalid.
  2. You would do a Hard Fork in an attempt to improve and update the network to bring in a feature or function that is perceived at the time to improve the network in someway.
  3. However the risks are that it splits the chain, splits the community, and even results in less hash power on the network which leads to a reduction in security.
1 Like
#2770

Well first off, Ethereum has 15s block time, not 10m and it also handles stale blocks differently. Ethereum doesn’t drop stale blocks but uses a Greedy Heaviest Observed Tree (GHOST) protocol to include stale blocks with a lower reward. These are caller “uncles” or “ommers”.

A Bitcoin wallet could also display an updated balance while the tx is still in the mempool, it will show it as unconfirmed as soon as it shows up in the node the wallet is connected to. This depends on the wallets UI though :slight_smile: