Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#3272
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

The Soft Fork is a contraction of the rule set, while the Hard Fork is an expansion os the Rule Set

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

A change of the consensus about the Rule Set

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

First is reduce the Hash Power while you divide the chain and also the community

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#3273

1.What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
Softfork makes previously valid block invalid. (exp: 1 mB -> 0,5 mB)
Hardfork makes previously invalid block valid. (exp: 1 mB -> 2 mB)
2.What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
For example: According to more transactions in the blockchain space, there has to be expansion in the block size.
There could be new rule in consensus.
3.What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
split chain
split community
new currency
split hashpower

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#3274

  1. A soft fork is when previously valid rules become invald and a hard fork is when previously invalid rules become valid.

  2. When you want to expand the rules of the network and you don’t get 100% of the community to update to the new set of rules

3.not everybody accepts the hardfork and you loose hashpower on the existing network, you split the chain

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#3275

  1. Hard forks make previously invalid blocks valid and expand the rules. Soft forks contract the rules and make previously valid blocks invalid.

  2. If there are different views between the community. Expansion.

  3. The community splits and the hash rate also decreases because it is split among two separate chains.

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#3276
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Softfork- previously valid blocks are made invalid. Hardfork- previously invalid blocks are made valid.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    A hard fork would be done when new rules can’t be agreed upon. Each chain would operate under a different set of rules.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Split of hash power (more hash power = more security)
    Split of community
1 Like
#3277

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

AI - hard fork:

  • An update that makes previously invalid blocks valid;
  • Expansion of the rules;
  • Needs 100% the network to update to avoid the fork;
  • splits the chain;
  • People generaly don’t like hardfork;
  • Splits the community; and
  • Splits the hash power and decease the security.

AII - soft fork:

  • An update that makes previously valid blocks invalid;
  • Contraction of the rules;
  • Needs at least 51% of updates the network;
  • The majority wins;
  • Don’t splits the network; and
  • Keeps the community; and
  • Keeps the hash power and the security.

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

A2 - If i don’t agree with the rules of consensus or with the updates made i have the option to make a hardfork;

3 - What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

A3 - Split the chain / Splits the community /Splits the hash power and decease the security / create new criptocurrency.

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#3278
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork? A softfork comes from an update that makes previously valid blocks invalid, whereas a hardfork makes previously invalid blocks valid
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork? To expand the current consensus rules by making a new currency
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork? A split in miners results in less hashing power and reduced security
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#3279

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A hard fork is backward-incompatible and a soft for is backward-compatible

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    To expand the blockchain rules or loosen the restrictions

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    loss of hashpower and therefore reduced security, and a split in the community

1 Like
#3280

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid and so is an expansion of the network rules whereas a soft makes previously valid blocks invalid and so contracts the network consensus rules.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    To be more democratic and enable some miners to split from the min chain consensus. It expands the network consensus rule sand creates a new currency.

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    It splits the community and creates a fork which can also reduce security as miners split off reducing hash power from the main/old blockchain.

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#3281

  1. Hard Fork makes previous invalid blocks valid and is expansion. Soft Forks Make valid blocks invalid as they are contraction.

  2. A change in the vision which results in a consensus.

  3. Split Chain, Split the Community, Hash Power Reduced and thus security.

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#3282
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    soft fork makes previously invalid block valid
    hard fork makes a valid block invalid
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    updating a rule set and community can choose if they agree on the new chain or stick with the old one
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    It splits the chain, the community will split and will result in a lower hash rate that can cause security issues
1 Like
#3283

  1. Hard forks are caused by updates that render previously invalid blocks valid. In other words, hard forks are caused by updates that expand the BTC network’s consensus rules. For example, increasing the BTC block size limit from 1MB to 2MB would render previously invalid blocks (those with a size greater than 1MB) valid. In contrast, soft forks are caused by updates that make previously valid blocks invalid. For example, reducing the BTC block size limit from 1MB to 500KB would result in a tightening of the consensus rules. In this situation, even those nodes that do not update would still be able to mine and “understand” the new 500KB blocks. Moreover, unlike hard fork updates (which require 100% of all nodes to update so as to avoid an actual hard fork in the blockchain), soft fork updates only require a simple majority of nodes (i.e. more than 50%) to update so as to avoid a fork in the chain (because the updated nodes will have the higher hash power and, of course, the longest chain always “wins”). However, if less than 50% of the nodes update, then a soft fork update will indeed result in a fork (because the updated nodes will have the greater hash power and therefore create the longest chain).

  2. One of the main reasons why you would do a hard fork would be to perform an update that expands the BTC network’s consensus rules (i.e. the rules that must be checked before a block can be validated). Moreover, hard forks are arguably clearer and more democratic than soft forks in that all of the nodes within the BTC community must choose whether to update or not to update so as to be in line with the new consensus rules. If they do not update, they will not be able to mine or understand the new blocks stemming from the hard fork update (i.e. previously invalid blocks which are now valid because of the update).

  3. Some of the risks with performing a hard fork update are that a certain percentage of nodes will not update and will therefore form a “new” blockchain that has a common past with the “main” BTC network. For example, if the BTC block size limit were to be increased from 1MB to 2MB, any node that does not update would reject the new 2MB blocks and continue to search only for blocks that are equal or less than 1MB in size. Ultimately, a hard fork update could result in a split chain, a divided community and a reduction in hash power.

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#3284

  1. A Soft Fork is an update that makes the previous valid blocks invalid and a Hard Fork is the opposite.

  2. If the rule set needs to be changed.

  3. Splits chain, community and hash power

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#3285

  1. A softfork occurs when an update to the consensus rules makes previously valid blocks invalid. As such, nodes which do not update, continue to participate in the network because the new blocks will still fall within the old consensus rules. If a node which has not updated encounters a block which they consider valid, but which is now invalid under the new rules, it will still validate the block, but subsequently discard it as it conflicts with the longest chain. In the case of a hardfork, previously invalid blocks are made valid. This results in a chain split, because when nodes which have not updated encounter blocks which are accepted under the new rules, but not the old ones, they will reject these blocks, while the updated nodes will accept them.

  2. One advantage of a hardfork is that the changes are clearly defined and nodes can choose whether or not to accept the upgrade. If they do not wish to participate in the new network, they can continue following the old rules, along with all other nodes which do the same - they are now their own chain, which is the old chain. It is worth noting that in many cases the nature of the proposed changes make a hard fork the only option. If the proposed rule changes entail making previously invalid blocks valid, a hardfork is inevitable.

  3. There is a security risk which results from splitting the network, in that it splits the hashpower. Splitting the community could also be considered a risk.

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#3286

A soft fork contracts the rules, and only needs 51% of the miners to update to avoid a fork. A hard fork expands the rules, and needs 100% to update to avoid a fork

  1. If you want to expand the rules for some reason, and there is consensus that this is the best way to go

  2. The risks are that the mining community becomes reduced, thus making the network more vulnerable

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#3287
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

Hard forks extend the current rule set (make a previous invalid block valid). Soft forks contradict the current rule set (Make previously valid blocks invalid).

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

If consensus needed to be changed.

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

Chain, hash power and community could split if not everyone is agreeing to the changes. This could cause security issues.

1 Like
#3288

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

    A hardfork is an expansion of rules and a softfork is a contraction of rules.

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

    To make a clear and democratic update.

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

    The chain and the community can split and if the community splits then the hash power splits as well which leads to reduced security.

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#3289

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

Soft Fork update makes previously valid blocks invalid, whereas hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid.

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

change consensus and protocol’s rules.

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

It is a permanent change in a blockchain protocol’s rules, with each version propagating their own transactions and blocks. So it’s about splitting community and a chain. A hashpower is also splitted.

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#3290
  1. A Hardfork expands validation rules whereas a Softfork contracts validation rules. A Hardfork requires all miners/nodes to update in order to keep building blocks on the longest chain; whereas, a Softfork only requires a majority of miners/nodes to be updated for building blocks.
  2. To change the size of a block, to update the rules to ensure a transaction is valid.
  3. The risk is that not all nodes/miners will update at the same time causing wasted electricity and resources when still mining on the old rules.
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#3291
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

A soft fork makes previously valid blocks invilaid after new rule set while a hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid,

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

Reasons could be to speed up the network or reduces transaction fees by increasing the block size, as was the rationale behind the Bitcoin Cash hard fork,

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

Risks include splitting up the original chain and community unless 100% of miners accept the update, and also reducing hashpower in the case where only a portion of the miners accept the new hard fork update, this is what happened with the Bitcoin cash hard fork as it split up the Bitcoin community at the time since a minority of the miners accepted the bitcoin cash update

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