Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

[iliyanyordanov]

1. hard forks - update that makes previously invalid blocks valid; soft forks - update that makes previously valid blocks invalid
2. there is an update in the protocol but no every miner node do the update - needs consesus between all
3. its splits the chain, community, less hash power

[Deufrey13]

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
Soft fork makes previously valid blocks invalid and hard fork makes invalid blocks valid.

2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
A change in consensus rules

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

reducing security cause of a split hash power
A split within the community and a split in the chain

[mchaney9900]

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
   A. A soft fork is created by a consensus rule update, making previously valid blocks invalid. A hard fork is created by two miners creating a block at the same time and propagating their version of the block to other miners.

2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
   A. Clear consensus update to rules, split community.

3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
   A. Hash power will be split and the chain will be split. Split community.

[SDoyle]

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

Soft Fork: Makes makes previously valid blocks invalid
Hard Fork: Makes invalid blocks valid

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

A change to expand the rules of the blockchain will result in a hard fork. A hard fork will split the block chain and requires all miners and nodes to accept the update. Reasons for implementing a hard fork include improved scalability, speed, or other reasons like creating a new coin.

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

If miners or nodes do not accept the new rules and remain under the old block chain rules, this split reduces the hash power which can create vulnerabilities, resulting in a security threat to the network.

[bneroar]

1. A soft fork is a change in protocol whereas a hard fork splits the blockchain into 2 parallel chains and creates another fork that will be its own block structure.
   2.If a group of people wnat the blockchain to go into another direction or may do not agree with the new upgrade on the present blockchain.
2. Trust of the eco system diminishes to the community and new investors, also there is the chance of a replay attack on the coins that you own.

[Op1um]

1. A soft fork makes previously valid blocks invalid. A hardfork, on the other hand, makes previously invalid blocks valid.

2. To expand the rule set of the consensus algorithm like increasing the block size. It may also be used to reverse transactions.

3. It leads to the creation of a new chain that is incompatible with the original one, and it splits the original blockchain community. Given that after the fork there are two independent blockchains for the same total number of miners, the hash power naturally decreases for both chains.

[riverrat]

1. A hardfork makes previous blocks that were invalid because they didn’t meet previous rule set now become valid. It can be considered expansion. However, it can lead to division of the community. A soft fork makes previous blocks that don’t meet new rules invalid.
2. A hard fork forces nodes to abide by new ruleset in order to continue to add to the same blockchain.
3. If some nodes don’t agree to the new rule set they can continue on a separate chain but it divides the community and diminishes hashing power to each chain.

[Fabrice]

@mchaney9900

A hard fork is created by two miners creating a block at the same time and propagating their version of the block to other miners.

You’re describing an accidental fork that can happen when 2 miners mine a block at the same time on the same consensus rules.
A hardfork is a fork where you change consensus rules, where you expand the ruleset, wich makes these rules not compatible with the previous ruleset. So valid blocks after the fork may not be valid on the previous rule set. If every user and miner would update to the new rules you don’t have a split in hashpower and community. Only If a part of the community doesn’t want to update to the new consensus rules. You have a split and basically have 2 different version with 2 different currencies (a copy with the same history) . You need enough users and miners to keep it secure and decentralized.

[mchaney9900]

Fabrice, Thanks for correcting me . I believe I had the two forks reversed.

[drewb4]

1 a hard fork splits the chain into 2 separate blockchains. A soft fork makes previously invalid blocks, valid.
2. A hard fork is used to change the rules that govern the chain.
3. there is a security risk with a hard fork because the hash power is split between the 2 chains.

[cnhaupt]

Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
   A soft forks makes previously valid blocks invalid while a hard fork makes previous invalid blocks valid

2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
   It is a clear change to all Nodes, it is more democratic.

3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
   You split the community, and you divide the hash power and therefore reduced the security of the network.

[anoninuk]

@ivan

• What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
• What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
• What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

A hardfork is where previously invalid blocks become valid and the opposite for softforks.

A change in consensus and vision of the community.

Hashpower divides into two, community splits

[vrielance]

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
A: in a softfork previously valid blocks become invalid. In a hardfork previously invalid blocks become valid.

What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
A: To update consensus rules

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
A: The chain will be split and the hashpower will diminish

[andreas_nygren]

• What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

Hardfork invalidates previous valid blocks and softfork does the oposite

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

Update entire system consensus rules. Block Size for exapmle.

• What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

**Split in the Blockchain.Split community. Hash power split.

[LeoSp22]

1. They are both classified as “update” forks, as they do not happen accidentally. In fact, they may happen when there are updates related to consensus rules or other adjustments made to the blockchain, which have to be accepted by the entire network to be valid.
   Hard Forks are determined by updates that make previously invalid blocks valid or, more generally, when some change is applied to current rules which undermines the validity of the previous infrastructure, and such change is not accepted by the entire network. Thus, the network will split in two, with two separate blockchains based on different rules.
   Soft Froks are updates that make previously valid blocks invalid, so it basically is Hard Forks’ opposite situation. Specifically, it is determined when the change in rules that is adopted on the Blockchain makes it so that new blocks will be acceptable for both those nodes in favor of the change and those who are not, because the new rule fits also to the previous model. Therefore, since the new rule will be accepted from all members of the network while the previous rule will be rejected by most of the network, a soft fork will naturally occur as the longest chain will always be the one based on the new rule. This happens only if the nodes that accept the new rule own more than 50% of the hash power.
   To summarize, Hard Forks are an expansion of the current rule set, whereas Soft Forks are a contraction.
2. It offers a clear update to the blockchain, as the new version of the blockchain will be entirely separated from the previous one. It can also be considered as a democratic choice, in terms of the fact that once the Hard Fork has happened all nodes are satisfied because they are working on the version they like best. Another possible reason is having a new coin injected into the market.
3. Risks are related to the fact that Hard Forks split the entire network, both in terms of blockchain infrastructure and its community. It is quite likely to have an impact on hash power, value of the coin(s) and stability of both blockchains, but it could also impact on reputation.

[dAnijboned]

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
   A softfork makes previously valid blocks invalid, and a hardfork makes previously invalid blocks valid.

2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
   To change the rules of block validation (for example, to make it larger).

3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
   If we don’t have all the miners updating to the new set of rules, we will end with 2 versions of the blockchain.

[magnusnor]

Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

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?

1.Softfork is making previously valid blocks invalid. Hardfork is an expansion and makes former invalid blocks valid.
2. To make a change in the consensus rules in a democratic way where miners can decide if they want to update or not.
3. Some of the risks are splitting community and lower hash power (which may be a security issue).

[never_settles]

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

1. A soft fork is a backward compatible method of upgrading a blockchain; a hard fork is a divergence from the previous version of a blockchain.

A soft fork is a software upgrade that can still work with older versions. It is called backward compatibility, which means that users that failed to upgrade their software to the latest version won’t be entirely cut off from the network. Blocks created by the latest software version will be accepted by old version nodes, but not the other way round. The newer software will reject old blocks, thus forcing users to upgrade. This is a snowballing process as the more miners switch to the newer version, the longer their chain becomes, encouraging the other miners to update the software and join the mainstream.

A hard fork implies a change to a software protocol that makes older and newer versions incompatible. It means that newly generated blocks do not support old ones and vice versa. Users running old version will be completely separated from the network and won’t be able to participate in validating and verifying transactions. In case of a hard fork, all users have to switch to a new version to stay in sync with the network. Otherwise, if they continue operating, they will end up with an entirely different chain and different data set registered in the ledger. Two chains can concurrently exist, as long as miners are willing to support the minority offshoot.

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

2. A change in consensus
   Hard forks can be either planned or controversial. In the first case, the update was stated in the project’s roadmap since the very beginning, which means that the whole community moves to the new chain, while the old one is abandoned. A controversial fork happens when the community members cannot agree on fundamental issues. As a result, one group introduces significant changes to the code, and thus creates a new chain with a new digital asset, based on it.

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

3. Hard forks are potentially messy and plagued by double spending problem: coins spent in a new block can be spent once again in an old block as merchants and users with the old version of the software will not see the spending registered on a new chain. Even planned hard forks might lead to confusion and loss of money as due to decentralized nature of the system it is challenging to get all the nodes to switch to the newer version at the same time.

[Crypto-Dylan]

• What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
  -hard forks is update that makes previously valid block invalid
  -soft forks is update that makes valid blocks invalid
• What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
  -clear update
  -democratic
• What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
  -split chain
  -hash power split
  -split community

[Iva_Ivanova]

1. Hard forks - an update that makes previously invalid blocks valid, soft forks - the opposite, update that makes previously valid blocks invalid.
2. Update to the consensus rules.
3. Split of the chane, split of the community, hash power split that reduces security.