Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#4013

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Hard fork cause a split of chain in comparison of soft fork if there all nodes don’t accept the new rules and updates. In soft fork it needs >50% of the hashing power to be updated and prevent the fork.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    Expansion of the current valid rules

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Decrease of hashpower and security

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#4014

  1. hard forks make changes that don’t work within the current rule set. soft forks make changes that can work inside current rule set.

  2. A change in consensus.

  3. during hard fork the hash power splits into two chains, reducing security.

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#4015
  1. What is the difference between a soft fork and a hard fork?

A Hard fork is the result of updating the consensus rules by expanding them.
The hard fork update makes previously invalid blocks valid.
Until the entire network (100% of all nodes) accepts the update, the hard fork is not resolved, and there will be 2 separate chains:

  • one that has blocks that enforce the update, and
  • the other chain that is comprised of blocks that do not enforce the update and use the old consensus rules (the rules before the update).
    When everybody accepts the update, the hard fork will be resolved and there will be only one version of truth (one blockchain accepted by the entire network).

A soft fork is the result of updating the consensus rules by contracting them.
A soft fork update makes the previously valid blocks invalid.
There will not be a fork when the nodes that accepted the update have more than 50% hash power. That’s because the nodes that didn’t accept the update will sooner or later switch to the chain that has the most hash power (because the rules for this chain also fit their rule book, and, is the chain that, due to the greater hash rate, will have the most PoW).

So, the main difference between a hard fork and a soft fork is that:
To resolve a hard fork the entire network must adhere to the update (the new rules), meanwhile, for a soft fork to be resolved, only more than 50% of the network nodes need to accept the update.

“The most important difference between a soft fork and a hard fork is whether it is backward compatible. Soft forks are backward compatible while hard forks are not. This means that you can choose to apply a soft fork, but you must apply a hard fork.”
https://medium.com/@mainfinex/soft-vs-hard-understanding-cryptocurrency-forks-d22ed7d101f6

  1. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hard fork?
  1. What are some of the risks with performing a hard fork?

  • splitting the blockchain and consequently the community,

  • splitting the hash power, which means reduced security (because some miners will choose the other chain and the hash power will decrease making the chain more vulnerable),

  • “There is one unique risk associated with hard forks. There is a possibility that someone could spend a crypto in the new blockchain and then spend them again in the old blockchain. After all, the old blockchain’s code would not see the spending within the new blockchain since it sees it as invalid.”
    https://medium.com/@mainfinex/soft-vs-hard-understanding-cryptocurrency-forks-d22ed7d101f6

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#4016

What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

A hardfork makes invalid blocks valid
A softfork make valid block invalid

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

To make some invalid blocks valid “change block size from 1MB to 2MB”
to add rules to the network that were not there before.

What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?

you will split the chain, and the community won’t always agree
Which will cause a reduced hash power

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#4017

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Hardfork is an expansion of the blockchain where previously invalid blocks become valid and Softfork is a contrction of the blockchain where previosly valid blocks become invalid.

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

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Blockchain split, community split, change of currency hence miners not able to verify transactions.

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#4018

  1. The difference between a softfork and a hardfork is that updates make invalid rules valid on a hardfork and the opposite applies for a softfork.

  2. New currency, clear split so rules more definitive and more democratic.

  3. The community is split as some ideaologies change & some don’t. Less secure network and hash power is split due to split network chain.

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#4019
  1. A softfork makes previously valid blocks invalid and a hardfork makes previously invalid blocks valid.
  2. Clear update and can choose chain.
  3. The chain is split and the community is split.
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#4020

  1. A softfork happens when a update that changes previous valid blocks to invalid blocks occurs and in the event of this, two blocks with the same height are observed but as more block adds, the blockchain selects the chain with more pow and disregards the other blockchain but in a hard fork where a update that changes previous invalid blocks to valid blocks occurs, there’s a split, two blocks with the same block height are observed and the blockchain would now have two versions of truth which are true and would continue to run.

  2. To set in play new consensus rules.

  3. The splitting of the chain lowers security.

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#4021

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
A soft fork contracts the rule set, a hard fork expands the rule set.
2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
If you want to start a new currency, you might want to do a hard fork.
Also if you want to let users choose which branch of the fork to follow.
3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
Lowering security by splitting the miners.
Splitting the community.

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#4022

  1. A hardfork makes previously invalid blocks valid, a softfork is the opposite.

  2. To expand the rules of the network.

  3. You will split the chain and divide the community.

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#4023

A hard fork usually happens with an expansion of rule set in an update that makes the previously invalid transactions valid, whereas a soft fork happens with the contraction of rule sets in an update that make the previously valid transactions invalid

Correcting important security risks found in older versions of the software, to add new functionality, to reverse transactions or to split the currency as per democratic consensus for example in the case of Bitcoin and BTC Cash/ BTC Gold etc.

With hard forks we run the risk of the double spending problem where 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.
On top of a split community the hash power is also split which means reduced security.

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#4024

Answer 1 -

Soft fork - It makes previously valid blocks invalid. There is no chain split.
Hard fork - It makes previously invalid blocks valid. There is a chain split as well.

Answer 2 - If a new rule/update need to be forced into consensus algorithm without seeking approval from more than 50% nodes/validators. Or a new currency need to be created.

Answer 3 - Chain Split. Loss of Hash power resulting in reduced security

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#4025

Softfork: A contraction of the mining rules (within the existing framework)
Hardfork: An expansion of the rules (beyond the original framework)

2- To add new functionality like larger block sizes for example

3- A hardfork may force the creation of a new chain, new coin etc. and split a community if not all nodes update to the new framework

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#4026
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Hard fork makes previous invalid blocks valid and soft fork makes previous valid blocks invalid. Expansion vs contraction. Chain split vs no chain split.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    It’s more democratic and it gives a clear update. Or when in need of creating a new currency.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Split chain, community and hash power(lower security)
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#4027

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Hardfork makes previously invalid blocks valid.
    For a hardfork even 1% of the community is enough to split the chain.
    A soft fork requires 50%+ of the hash power to disagree with the update to split the chain

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    Lower block creation time

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

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#4028

  1. A soft fork is the unfortunate result of a contraction of the rule set. A hard fork is the unfortunate result of an expansion of the rule set.

  2. Well, as I see it, you don’t “do a hard fork”; you make an update which results in a hard fork. The fork is just a side effect. I don’t yet have the understanding to be able to give multiple reasons why one would make an update that expands the rule set.

  3. I guess they’re the same as with any fork, namely that when one of the two parallel block chains has been abandoned, some transactions that were considered confirmed will be back in the mempool.

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#4029
  1. A softfork has the power to make current valid transactions invalid, it does not split the current blockchain. A hardfork can make previously invalid transaction valid, however when a hardfork happens, the blockchain splits into two different roads. Generally a new coin is created with a hardfork.
  2. If you wanted to make a large change to the bitcoin protocol, and there was people who did not agree with the changes, you could do a hardfork and hard fork to a new blockchain. One reason could be to have a larger block size.
  3. When you perform a hardfork the security of the network is lowered significantly because theres not as many nodes on the network. Performance wise the hash rate drops a lot all well. Also you run this risk of the new forked blockchain not catching on.
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#4030

  1. IN a hard fork invalid block are become valid. The rules are loosen up for example Block size increase from 1mB to 2mB.
    In soft forks valid block become invalid. Tightening the rules for example the block size shrinks from 1mB to 0,5 mB.

  2. To change the rules of consensus.

  3. Split the comunity, minors dont join the update therefore the hashpower would decrease.

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#4031

1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
Soft forks contract the ruleset (previously valid blocks become invalid), whereas hard forks expand the ruleset (previously invalid blocks become valid).

2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
It’s a clear and democratic update to the ruleset that doesn’t cause confusion. Hard forks will happen when a blockchains codebase is improving functionality, security, or altering miners reward structure, etc.

3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
The community can disagree with the new ruleset in a hard fork, which can lead to a split in opinion that can create a new currency; when a split in community opinion happens, this will decrease the security on the network as the hash power will split between the two currencies.

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#4032
  1. Hard forks are updates, which make previously invalid blocks valid, meaning the ruleset was being expanded to accommodate more samples (such as block sizes). Soft fork does it the other way around, also known as contraction of ruleset.
  2. Change in consensus. With hard forks, you get clear and democratic updates.
  3. The obvious con is that we split the chain. With that, we can also cause splits in a strong community, as well as the split in hash power, which results in a lower security over the network.
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