Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#2831
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Answers
    1).Softfork can be thought of as being a compression in that previously valid blocks becomes invalid while a hardfork can be thought of as being an expansion due the fact that previously invalid blocks becomes valid.

2).I would do a hardfork because the update is clear and democratic.

3).Some of the risks with performing a hardfork are a split in the chain and a split in the community which results in half hash-power and reduced security.

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#2832

  1. What is the difference between a soft fork and a hard fork?
    A hard fork expands the rule set. A soft fork contracts the rule set.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hard fork?
    Change in consensus.

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hard fork?
    Split chain, split community, and split hash power which reduces security.

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#2833

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
Even if both are caused by an update in the consensus, a hardfork will make previously invalid blocks valid by expanding the ruleset. In the other direction, a softfork will make previously valid blocks invalid, making a contraction in the ruleset.

What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
Since in a hardfork we are increasing the ruleset, it increases the capacity of the blockchain, with possibility of creating new communities and currencies, but most of all itā€™s because we can increase security.

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
An hardfork is a more democratic update, since all nodes have the choice to continue with the old ruleset, or change to the new. There is a risk of splitting the community and therefore splitting the hash power.

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#2834
  1. A softfork makes previous valid blocks invalid and a hard fork makes previous invalid blocks valid.
  2. Hardforks are an ā€œupgradeā€ to the previous blockchain, can fix ā€œbugsā€ but are not backward compatible. Soft forks are backwards compatible but are less democratic.
  3. It splits the blockchain into two coins if everyone does not agree on the scope of the hardfork. It can reduce the size of the community supporting the blockchain which can affect the security of the blockchain.
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#2835
  1. A softfork contracts the rules so that previous valid blocks are invalid. That is, all nodes after the whether they update or not, will approve blocks for the new rules. Eventually the longest chain will take over and that will be the new rule set. A hard fork is when previously invalid blocks are valid and it expands the rule set. This will always cause a split in the chain depending on which nodes decide to update.
  2. Perhaps you want increased TPS (transactions per second) and thus, you want to expand the block size to 2mb. A hardfork would split the chain and gaurentee this happening. A hard fork is more democratic and straightforward since itā€™s clear what side you are choosing.
  3. A hardfork will weaken the network since the community will be split and there are less nodes and miners on the orginal network.
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#2836

[quote=ā€œivan, post:1, topic:8446ā€]

  • What is the difference between a soft fork and a hard fork?
    Softfork occurs when the consensus rule enable previous valid block to become invalid , and the majority of node continue with block with longest chain. while for hard fork, is occurs when their is. a split of network as they are forces to update in order to continue with the blockchain. so the invalid become valid
  • What are some of the reasons why you would do a hard fork?
    Clear democratic decision on consensus
  • What are some of the risks with performing a hard fork?
    Community split, new coins formed and split of hashpower
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#2837
  1. A soft-fork occurs when the set of rules required for validating a block is contracted. Ex: Reducing the acceptable block size from 1mB to 500kB. A hard-fork occurs when the set of rules for validating blocks is expanded. Ex: Increasing the acceptable block size from 1mB to 2mB. In a soft-fork all of the new blocks will be accepted by the network whereas in a hard-fork the new blocks may be accepted by the updated nodes only if they adhere to the old set of rules.
  2. A hard-fork may occur if there is a disagreement over the future of the blockchain, as it is a democratic system.
  3. Risks associated with hard-forks include a decrease in security of the network as the hash power is divided into two separate chains, the community is split with the decision, there is a new coin that is produced which can decrease the financial viability of the original coin at least in the short term.
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#2838

  1. What is the difference between a soft fork and a hard fork?
    A soft fork is an update to the blockchain that contracts the ruleset used to accept new blocks while a hard fork is an update that expands the ruleset.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hard fork?
    Some of the incentives to choose to do a hard fork are that they are clear and concise rule changes with little ambiguity and they also allow for democracy to be used when deciding which miners will stay and update their nodes and which ones will leave the network and stick with the old ruleset.

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hard fork?
    Some of the risks of hard forks include splitting up not only the community but also the hashing power if a large number of nodes/miners choose to not go forward with the update. This would decrease the security of the network since the number of nodes/miners on each network would be reduced. It is also almost certain to cause a fork unless you can get 100% of the nodes/miners to go along with the update, which is extremely difficult if not impossible to accomplish.

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#2839
  1. A hard fork occurs when an update causes
    previously invalid blocks to be valid
    because it is an expansion of the former
    rule set. It splits the chain, the community,
    the hash power of the network, and
    creates a new currency.
    A soft fork occurs when an update causes
    previously valid blocks to be invalid due to
    a contraction of the former rule set. Unlike
    a hard fork, a soft fork only causes a
    temporary split of the chain, but the
    community is maintained. Also, whereas a
    hard fork update is very clear that
    compliance is mandatory, a soft fork can
    lead to confusion in nodes that are not
    updated, which can be a security risk if a
    large part of the network is unable to
    validate transactions.
  2. A hard fork may be introduced in order to:
    a. add new functions and features to the
    Blockchain protocol;
    b. to enhance security;
    c. to improve scalability;
    d. to change mining rewards or
    transaction fees; and/or,
    e. to change the speed and scale of
    transaction validation.
  3. Performing a hard fork runs the risks of:
    a. splitting the community and decreasing
    hash power, which leads to less
    security;
    b. allowing crypto to be spent in the new
    blockchain, then spent again in the old
    blockchain because the old
    blockchainā€™s code would not see the
    spending in the new blockchain
    because it deems it invalid; and,
    c. causing volatility in the cryptoā€™s price.
2 Likes
#2840

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

A hardfork update is expanding the rules and a softfork update is contracting the rules.
So a hardfork makes block valid, that have not been valid before the update. A softfork makes block invalid that has been valid before the update. E.g. The hardfork update that created the BitCoinCash Blockchain in 2017, where the blocksize has been increased to 8MB instead of 1MB.

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

If there is a need, or demand, for change in the consensus algorithm.
Hard forks may add to the functionality of the blockchain or tackle security risks. On Ethereum it happened that a Hard Fork was introduced to reverse transactions after the hack of the DAO.

What are some of the risks of performing a hardfork?

One of the biggest risk is, that the chain will split permanently, leading to, at least a temporary decrease in hash power. Nodes can decide which chain they want to be propagating, the new or the old one. The split of the chain can also cause increased volatility on the price, as it might change investors minds about the asset.

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#2841
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A hardfork occurs when a set of rules to make previously invalid block valid expand for example from 1mB to 2mB
    Sof fork is for making valid blocks invalid so the node continue with block with longest chain
    2.Democratised, clear and concise rules but softfork is not clear and not democratised
    3.Hardfork can split chain and reduce the community size and less miners on the network impacting the security and PoW
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#2842

The differences between hard forks and soft forks include expansive rule set vs contractive rule set, previous blocks are now valid vs invalid and the outcome of the fork results in a new blockchain vs continuation of original blockchain,

Reasons to justify a hard fork include expanding a rule set or updating consensus rules.

Some of the risks with performing a hard fork include a split chain and a lower level of security due to the drop in nodes and hashrateā€¦less people and computers.
A hard fork divides the community and sense of group responsibility.

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#2843

  1. Soft forks are previously valid blocks becoming invalid and hard fork are previously invalid blocks becoming valid

  2. A hard fork will cause a change of consensus and expansion rule set

  3. It can cause a split in the chain as it can lower the security of the network with decreased hash rate

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#2844

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Is the expansion or contraction of the rule set. Soft fork is contracting the rule sets and hard forks is Expanding the rule set.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    To do 100% update, changed the current consensus rule set. Rectify the issues

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Splitting or the chain, Splitting the community Splitting hash power and if some nodes did not get an update then it will still cause issues.

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#2845

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A softfork is restricting a set of rules so that valid blocks become invalid. A hardfork is the opposite i.e. expanding a set of rules so that invalid blocks become valid.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    Update important security risks found in older versions of the software, to add new functionality or to reverse transactions which may be required in the event of a hack.

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Split chain and community and lower security

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#2846
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork? ā€” hard fork updates make previously invalid blocks valid thus expanding the the rule set and causing a chain split. Soft fork updates make previously valid blocks invalid thus contracting the rule set. Although this may cause a temporary chain split, the chain eventually conjoins again since both old and new nodes will add new blocks, making the chain of new blocks longer and causing the other chain to drop.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork? To have a clear distinction between different versions of the software and two different communities.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork? Security is compromised since the community is split, thus reducing the number of nodes and hence hash power on both sides.
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#2847
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A hard fork amkes a previous invalid block valid whereas a soft fork maked a previos valid block invalid
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    add funtionality or change the vision that cannot be done in the current setup
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    split community, another currency, reduced hash power reduces security
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#2848

  1. A hard fork makes previously invalid nodes valid. A soft fork makes previously valid nodes invalid.

  2. Its a clear, democratic update. Nodes that donā€™t want to update to the new consensus rules are able to remain on the blockchain, creating their own new version of the currency.

  3. A hard fork will split the chain and community, meaning the hash power is now split reducing security of the blockchain.

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#2849
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

The definition marks the difference: Updates are the sources: Hard Fork-previously invalid blocks are now valid; Soft Fork-previously valid blocks are now invalid.

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

When there is a need for an agreed upon (democratic) update.

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

Hardforks can split a community so it can be detrimental. Hash Power will be reduced which could lead to less security and a less robust network.

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#2850
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Hardforks are an expansion of the rules making previously invalid block valid. Softforks are a contraction of the rules making previously valid blocks invalid.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    Hardforks split the chain and the community. It is a clear and democratic choice; you donā€™t have to adopt the new rules.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Splitting the hash power can affect the security of the networks. Splitting the community can affect adoption.
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