Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#281

1 What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
A softfork is a contraction to the consensus rules and a Hardfork is a contraction to the consensus
rules. A softfork will generally not split the chain and a Hardfork will split the chain
2 What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
A hardfork may take place for example if they want to increase the blocksize from 1GB to 2GB. and
the current rule is 1GB = or smaller than and the new 2 GB rule would no longer be valid on the
current chain
3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
There could be a security risk due to some of the miners moving to the new chain. This reduces
hashpower.

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#282

  1. One is soft and cute, the other kinda rough and ugly. No im kidding the soft fort restricts the rules that were and the hard expands them. Meaning one of them is compatible with the current rules and the other not. Hard forking is making previously invalid blocks be valid, ie. 1mb to 2 mb. 2mb blocks were ignored before but now arnt anymore. Soft is from 1mb to 500kb, this makes previously valid blocks invalid.

  2. To implement a new important feature + having the majority of people backing up that idea.

  3. One of the chains will die and the other may thrive depending on the community.

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#283

  1. A softfork is an agreement among a majority of users in a sort of non-democratic way for the nodes to update their blockchains to make previously valid blocks invalid, contrasting the “rules.” This means they are able to keep those who didn’t update on the same blockchain because the new rules still fit within the parameters of the old rules and will eventually be carried onto the main chain after a certain amount of time
    A hardfork is when a group of people decisively update their blockchains that make previously invalid blocks valid and expanding the rules to be able to take on more than the previous rules allowed. Because of this the nodes that update now operate on their own blockchain completely separate from the nodes that did not update

  2. In any case that there is a change in the consensus among the community

  3. This obviously separates the community which results in a split in hash power and that leads to lower security for the blockchain

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#284
  1. An hard fork makes previously invalid blocks, valid. A soft fork makes previously valid block, invalid.
  2. Here some of the reason to do an hard fork: You can fix bugs, you can improve performance, you can create a new coin.
  3. Some of the risks concern the security of the network. Hash power is reduced by a magnitude of 50, trust in the token is degraded, and also community becomes weaker since part of it will support the newly born token.
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#285
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A softfork is a contraction of the consensus ruleset and a hardfork is an expansion of the ruleset.

What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
To increase the block size, or to create a new currency with a new set of rules.

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
The hashpower is split which decreases security because some miners will leave for the new chain.

[/quote]

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#286

  1. A hardfork is an update that makes previously invalid blocks valid, is an expansion of the rule set
    A softfork makes previous valid blocks invalid is a contraction of the rule set.
    Softforks are often preferred by the community as there is normally no chain split and the community is kept.

  2. For example when you want to increase the block size from 1mb to 2mb, a part of the community wants to expand the rule set.

  3. Some of the risks are: the hash rate goes down and therefore security goes down. There is also a split in the community creating often rivalries that perhaps do more damage then good for the community.

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#287

1 A Softfork makes the previous valid blocks, invalid. Hardfork make the previous invalid blocks, valid.

2 Generally to add new functionality

3 Possible to lose hash power(security). Change in consensus.

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#288
  • What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork? A softfork results from the consensus rules being contracted, making previously valid blocks invalid. A hardfork expands the consensus rules making a previously invalid block valid.
  • What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork? A hardfork might be done when not all in the community agree with the new rules, so they stick to the old rules and 2 chains are split from the original chain.
  • What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork? Risks of a hardfork are: Loss of community for both branches, and not enough community forming with one of the forks so it goes under; A split chain has less Proof of Work, so security is compromised.
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#289

  1. A hard fork changes the rule set to make previously invalid blocks valid, while a soft fork changes the rule set to make previously valid blocks invalid

  2. A hard fork may be chosen when the community differs on the optimal route to take going forward. An example would be the creation of the BSV fork, where the pro-BSV community differs in opinion from the original BTC community, and changes the rue set to effectively create a new blockchain and currency.

  3. Creating a hard fork reduces the hash power on both networks by splitting the total hash power between the two communities, thereby reducing the network security on both sides

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#290

Only if not everybody updates you will have a split and a new currency with the same history till the fork happened.
For example if some bug is discovered that makes bitcoin vulnerable, everybody would probably update without a split in the community with a new coin

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#291

Hard forks doesn’t always have to be ugly. If some serious bug is discovered that requires a hard Fork to solve, everybody would probably update. It wouldn’t make sense that a part of the community wants to keep using a flawed version. Or some updates would be a massive improvement that everyone would like

#292

BSV didn’t fork from Bitcoin (btc).
Bitcoin Cash forked away from Bitcoin in August 2017. BSV forked from Bitcoin Cash in November 2018.
So BSV is a fork of a fork :wink:

https://cryptalker.com/bch-bsv/

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#293

Yes, in that sense I would be all in for a hard fork.

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#294

  1. A soft fork makes previously valid blocks invalid (a decrease in the rule set), while a hard fork dpes the opposite (expansion of the rule set)/

  2. For clarity in updates, and allowing the participants to agree by updating.

  3. A decrease in hash rate, which makes the network less strong. Also fighting between developers.

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#295

Thank you for info , much appreciated .

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#296

  1. Softforks make previously valid blocks invalid by contracting the consensus rules. Hardforks make previously invalid blocks valid by expanding the consensus rules.

  2. Implementing updates that increase security or improve functionality.

  3. The community can be split so that where there was one blockchain there are now multiple. Hash power is split so security is reduced.

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#297

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

A soft fork is a software upgrade that is backwards compatible with older versions , which means that the new rules can still be interoperable with the legacy protocol. On the other hand, a hard fork enables a rule change to the software, but it does not have backward compatibility .

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

you will create a new courrency since it does not have backward compatibility

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

When you make a hard fork, you are making a new blockchain, with new rules that are not compatible with older versions. As a result, an entirely new cryptocurrency will be created.

You might think that your cryptocurrency needs bigger blocks to try and lower transaction fees. If some devs agree, and others don’t, you can take the codebase of the original blockchain, update it to allow for larger blocks, and roll out the update to fork the blockchain. It’s then up to the community to decide which blockchain to support: the old one, or the newly “forked” one, or both.

This is what happened with Bitcoin [back in August 2017] group of developers decided the cryptocurrency needed bigger blocks after transaction fees for the original Bitcoin were getting out of hand. So they wrote a new protocol, started a new blockchain, and with it a new cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Cash.

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#298

During a hard fork, the rules of the protocol are expanding. Hard forks will divide the community, and result in two separate chains with two different coins.
At the event of a soft fork, the rules of the protocol are contracting. Soft forks have a “majority rule” sentiment. If the majority updates to the new rules, eventually the rest of the miners will update or will leave if they disagree.

-To make improvements to the rules in case of a security issue that can jeopardise the performance or existence of the network.
-To make expansions to the rule set.

If not 100% of the network agrees to the proposed updates, the community will divide, the chain will split, resulting in two different ledgers and coins. By dividing community, the hash power will also divide, this can lead to network security issues.

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#299

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
The HF expands the Consensus Rules.
The SF contracts the Consensus Rules.

2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
If you want to create a New Currency.
If you want to accept previous Invalid Consensus Rules.

3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
The Security of the Network that is depended on the Hash rate will drop.
The community and the Chain will be spited.

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#300

  1. A soft fork is an update that makes previously valid blocks invalid and it is viewed as contraction of the rule set. A hard fork is an update that makes previously invalid blocks valid and it is viewed as expansion of the rule set.

  2. You would do a hard fork if there is need for a new consensus that would increase security, improve functionality or create another cryptocurrency or all of them for that matter. Also Hard Forks present a clear update and are democratic in a sense.

  3. Some of the risks with performing a hard fork are that you split the chain, split the community, and your hash power splits, which reduces security.

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