Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#81

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    the difference between a soft fork and a hard fork, is that a hard fork makes blocks that were invalid valid and also splits the chain. on a soft fork it will change protocol and make valid blocks invalid but the chain does not split.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    some reasons why people would use a hard fork is because it is an expansion of the rule set and everyone is clear on the updates.

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    some risk of performing a hard fork are a percentage of the network could, not agree with the change of the rules so causes a split on the chain, and the community. Also it could reduce hashing power and the security of the network.

#82
  1. a softfork makes previous valid block invalid, a hardfork makes previous invalid block valid.
  2. change the consensus rules bu adding new functionality.
  3. split of the community, hashrate decrease because of the split of the community(miners)
1 Like
#83

Hard forks are an expansion of the rule set and a Soft fork is a contraction of the rule set

A change in consensus

Split in community and reduced security due to hash Power split

#84

  1. A softfork makes previously valid blocks invalid. A hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid.

  2. You would do a hard fork if there is a disagreement in the community over the rules. You can choose to stay with the old rules or update to the new. It is also a clear update as in your node has full understanding of the situation.

  3. Risks associated with a hardfork are - splitting the community, the hash power is split decreasing security. Splitting the chain.

#85
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork? In a soft fork the consensus rules are changed in such a way that previously valid blocks now become invalid whereas in a hard for previously invalid blocks are now considered valid.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?A hardfork is a clear update in which democratically only miners that want to update have to continue participating under new consensus rule.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork? Risks of a hardfork include imminent splitting of the chain, community and hash power. This harms adoption, development and security in the chain respectively.
#86

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork? A Soft fork is a contraction of the rule set where valid rules become invalid. A hard fork is an expansion of the rule set where invalid rules become valid. Soft fork only needs majority to convert.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hard fork? To change the consensus rules, to create a new currency, a democratic decision by the community where you get to decide which fork to go with.

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

#87

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A soft fork is a constriction of the protocol for future blocks where previously valid blocks become invalid whereas a hard fork is an expansion of the protocol and blocks that may have been invalid in the past will now be accepted as valid in the future.

  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    To change the rules and create a new currency and give the community an option to either move forward with for example bitcoin cash with larger blocks being accepted or stay with core and the same smaller blocks being accepted.

  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    As miners move from the original chain to the new chain it will cause the two chains to be less secure than the original chain was before due to less hash power. This can also cause fighting within the community and tribalism which could cause new user onboarding to be more difficult.

#88
  1. a softfork makes former valid blocks invalid, a hardfork can make former invalid blocks valid.
  2. create a better version, a new coin
  3. it will split the chain and will lose hash power
#89
    1. A soft fork makes previously valid blocks invalid, a hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid.
    1. To update the consensus, expand the rules, fix bugs, create a new coin.
    1. Splitting the hashing power and the community mean it could be more vulnerable, and greater uncertainty for investors.
#90
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Softfork - valid blocks become invalid. Hardfork- invalid blocks become valid
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    Democratic, >50% hash rate produces no fork, <50% hash rate produces a fork
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    miners losing money if not guessing the valid lomger blockchain
#91
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A softfork makes previously valid blocks invalid and a hardfork the opposite - i.e. makes previously invalid blocks valid.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    If someone wants to create a new coin. Additionally it’s a clean, democratic update that doesn’t “force” nodes into the new consensus rules.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    The community and the hash power will be split.
#92

Hello,

  1. a hard fork is when an updated on the consensus determines that previously invalid terms are now considered valid. A soft fork is when the consensus is updated so that previously valid rules are now invalid. The first one expands the on what is considered valid, the second reduces what is considered valid. A hard fork determines a split of the blockchain unless 100% of the nodes and miners adhere to the new rules. A softfork does not determine a fork if 51% of the nodes and miners accept the new rules.

  2. A hardfork is the more democratic solution, for it allows miners to choose the consensus rules they prefer, by selecting one or the other chain. It also expands on the existing ruleset, introducing something new (not necessarily a good thing).

  3. A hard fork splits the community and the hashing power, reducing the security of the blocks. On a market standpoint, it also dilutes the value of the coin. Introducing new rules for consensus might determine the rise of new flaws or exploits.

Best

#93

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

Hard forks is a permanent divergence in the the block chain, commonly occurs when non-upgraded nodes can’t validate blocks created by upgraded nodes that follow newer consensus rules.

Soft forks is a temporary divergence in the block chain caused by non-upgraded nodes not following new consensus rules.

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

More Forking

Their regularity will create a more proportionate response from the community. Some forks will rightly be given good support and attention, whereas others will be ignored for the scams that they are.

Forks as an ICO alternative

Since the legislators and regulators have ICOs in their site, companies will look for new and imaginative ways to monetise the world of decentralised applications, so you will find that forking existing open source blockchains will become the means by which firms will tokenise their ventures. The mild success of the Bitcoin Gold and Bitcoin Cash (success being that neither are worth zero), will have ignited the spark of opportunity in many an entrepreneur.

More Hodling of Bitcoin

HODLing is a term referring to Hold On for Dear Life…Finally, and most significantly, the almost inevitable landscape of regular hard forks may result in an increase in the overall market cap and the market dominance of Bitcoin. More people will buy and hold, simply accumulating multiple assets as hard forks become more popular, and the increased holding (hodling) may boost the demand and therefore the price of Bitcoin.

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

Drop in Exchange Volume

Without clear certainty what the results of a fork will be, users will have an incentive to hold their own coins until the uncertainty is resolved. Similar behavior is exhibited by financial markets in anticipation of major Central Bank decisions.

Drop in Bitcoin Value

With the uncertainty of a hard fork looming, investors may move to fiat or alternate currencies during this period of high risk.

Fork Day could be a disaster

Bitcoin has never performed a contentious hard fork (where less than 95% of the network supports the rule change) in its history. The possibility of encountering unforeseen problems could bring into question Bitcoin’s stability.

#94

  1. a soft fork restricts the network in a way where updated nodes and old nodes can still mine the same chain without creating a fork in the chain as long as majority of the nodes update. While a hardfork will create a forked chain cutting all nodes that don’t update this requires 100% adoption not to create a new chain.

  2. to fix a bug or update the security of the network by extending the hash length.

  3. You risk creating an entirely new chain that may not have the transactions the same transactions as before as well as losing a large amount of hash power if the fork isn’t adopted.

#95

  1. A hard for makes previously invalid transactions valid (expanding the rule set), and a soft for makes previously valid transactions invalid (tightening the rule set).

  2. To expand the rule set on the blocks such as block size.

  3. You are splitting the hash power which reduces security and you are also splitting the community.

#96
  1. A soft fork makes previously valid block invalid. A hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid.
  2. If the consensus rules change, (expansion of the rules occurs) for example, the rule that blocks must be smaller or equal to 1MB is changed to 2MB then more than 50% of the network needs to update to avoid a fork.
  3. The challenge is to get the majority of the nodes to update. If less than 50% of the miners update then there will be a fork. The hash power will be reduced, security decreases and the community splits.
#97
  1. HF reduces rule strictness and allows previously invalid blocks to be valid while SF increases rule strictness and causes previously valid blocks to be invalid.
  2. Adds extra functionality that parties can choose to make use of or not. Creates own coin/community.
  3. Reduces security since previous network is split
#98

  1. Hard forks are not backward compatible. Splits the chain.

  2. Improvement to the network. Difference in community on opinion.

  3. Loss of hash power. Reduces community size.

#99

  1. A hard forks is caused by the expansion of the rules set and makes previous invalid blocks valid. Soft forks are the opposite. They have diffrent consequences.

  2. It is a clearer and more democratic update as allows the noes to choose to follow the new rules or not.

  3. It splits the chain and the community and consequently the hash power and the network security.

#100

  1. A soft fork makes the previous valid blocks invalid, while a hard fork makes the previous invalid blocks valid.

  2. If you wand to make an change in the consensus rules. If two parties in the community cannot agree or find a compromise on some important issue and need to split (for example Bitcoin Cash vs Bitcoin, or later Bitcoin SV vs Bitcoin Cash).

  3. This can create confusion in the user of the cryptocurrency (do I need to use Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash to purchase this item?) and in this respect, it doesn’t help mass adoption. Another risk is seeing the two new communities fighting each other, saying on their side they hold the truth, which can in the long run affect their reputation. Finally, in the case of Bitcoin, they are so many hard forks, such as Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin SV, Bitcoin Diamond, Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Private, etc… that it becomes difficult to really understand what they stand for and what differentiates them from Bitcoin.