Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

Blockchain and Bitcoin 101
#1107

Homework on Soft and Hard Forks - Questions

  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    The main difference between a soft fork and a hardfork lies in the handling of the block before the protocol update. A hardfork makes a previously invalid block valid whereas the softfork makes the previously valid block invalid.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    You would do a hardfork when there is no consensus for the block size to be added to a blockchain. It’s also possible to do a hardfork when there is disagreement on mining procedures. This allows for a democratic expression of the two factions in the community and provides clear rules leading to a clear choice for which chain the miners are to append the next block they create.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    A hardfork splits the community and decreases the hash power in each blockchain possibly leading to the reduction of strength/security and availability. It may also lead to temporary volatility in the valuation of the cryptocurrency.
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#1108
  1. The difference is that a hard fork update is loosening in the set of rules required for a block to be valid as in a soft fork the update is tightening the set of rules required for a block to be valid.

2.In any situation that the solution needs to be a definite split.

  1. The technical risk is less hash power, lowering the amount of nodes verifying each TX, in the long term it may lower the trust and confuse the uninvolved end user.
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#1109
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    Hard fork - An update that makes previously invalid blocks valid.
    Soft fork - An update that makes previously valid block invalid.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    Makes a higher number of transactions in blocks valid - increasing space.
    Makes a new cryptocurrency, changes in vision.
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    Split chain -> split a community -> hash power split -> weaker blockchain.
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#1110
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?
    A: A Soft fork makes previously valid blocks invalid and does not require all nodes to update. Whereas An Hard fork makes previously invalid blocks valid and require all nodes to update the software or there will be a fork in the chain.
  2. What are some of the reasons why you would do a hardfork?
    A: To update the chain and implement new rule sets
  3. What are some of the risks with performing a hardfork?
    A: With a hard fork 100% of the network nodes will need to update. If all do not update a reduction of nodes is created.
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#1111

A hardfork is an expansion of the ruleset (meaning previous invalid blocks become valid) and a softfork is a contraction of the ruleset meaning previous valid blocks become invalid.

You may wish to do a hardfork because you may want to change something like increase the speed of the network by increasing the block size.

if whole network doesn’t update then a permanent fork will occur which will reduce hash power and increased security vulnerabilities and may result in infighting and adventually a totally new and different currency may be the result.

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#1112
  1. What is the difference between a softfork and a hardfork?

A softfork is a contraction of the consensus algorithm
Older transaction will all fit within the new consensus

A hardfork is a expansion of the consensus algorithm
New blocks will not be supported by the older version

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

Security updates
Adding new functionality / change the structure
Intentionally split the community to create a new coin

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

The community can be unintentionally split

The chains can be split

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#1113
  1. A hardfork is an expansion of rule set while a soft fork is a contraction of rule set.
  2. To split the chain when you don’t agree with set of rules and can work on a chain that aligns with what you want.
  3. Community splits thus creates a loss of hashing power from the original chain which makes the network less secure.
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#1114
  1. A hard fork makes an addition to the rules that validate the blockchain & allows previously invalid blocks to be valid. When this happens the blockchain is divided into two separate chains with two different currencies or use cases. A soft fork is a rule set agreed upon within the community to make previously valid blocks invalid.
  2. A hard fork is basically a last resort if the community cannot agree upon a new rule set or change to the protocol. For example if the part of the community wanted to increase the block size and the other part didn’t it might result in a hard fork.
  3. Hard forks can present several risks to a block chain. The first risk is that when the community is divided it will result in the miners having to decide which chain to mine for and verify transactions. This will split the hash power between the two chains. This also splits the liquidity between the two separate parts of the block chain, & forces people to decide which chain to follow.
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#1115

  1. Softfork involves an update that makes previously valid blocks invalid and a contraction of actual set of rules, while with hardforks, an update in the network’s protocol makes previously invalid blocks valid and there is an expansion of rule set.

  2. Reason for hardfork: When there’s a split in opinion by the community and miners don’t agree with the current protocol, they will want to change the rules or enhance certain features to create a new blockchain by instigating a hardfork, resulting in an entirely new cryptocurrency, such as the case in Bitcoin with Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin, BTC Gold, among others.

  3. The risk with performing a hardfork is that they create confusion, division, instability, and chaos in the community network. It is also a double-edged sword, esp. since it can be very hard to reach full consensus on solutions to resolve issues. Further, with a Hash Power Split where two separate chains have formed, some miners leaving the main chain for updated chain would reduce security of blockchain, which is of great concern in blockchain technology.

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#1116

  1. A soft fork is a change in the rules that still fits the previous block criteria, whereas a hard fork introduces a rule that doesn’t fit the previous rules.

  2. A hard fork would be introduced when a change in rules needs to be made but is not compatible with previous blocks. This can be either improvement or creating a new currency from existing one.

  3. Some nodes stay on the old chain while others migrate over, this is not instant and the network experiences a decrease in security due to lower miner count. If creating a new currency, some participants will not migrate over, which causes a split in the community.

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#1117
  1. A hard fork is an expansion of the concensus rules. It allows block that were previously invalid to be valid. A soft fork is the opposite, its a contraction of the concensus rules. Soft forks make previously valid blocks invalid.
  2. A hard fork can be used to do an upgrade, but it requires that 100% of the nodes update to avoid a fork in the chain. It could also be used by part of the community to deliberately split off a new chain. For example to increase the data size of each block.
  3. If a hardfork results in a split in the community the hashpower is split over the original and the new chain, in effect lowering the security of both. Also with the communities split they could waste effort fighting eachother rather than the banks, which are the real threat.
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#1118

  1. a hard fork expands the rule set ; makes previously invalid blocks vaild, a soft fork conracts the rule set; makes previously valid blocks invalid.

  2. to make a change to the consensus protocol.

  3. it split the chain and thus the community further by spliting mining (hash) power it reduces the blockchain security.

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#1119

  1. A soft fork makes previously valid blocks invalid, and a hard fork makes previously invalid blocks, valid.

  2. Hard forks provide clear updates and expansions of the consensus rules.

  3. Some risks to hard fork updates: a split in the community, and a split in the blockchain resulting in reduced hashing power and arguably security of the network.

:slight_smile:

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#1120

  1. A hard fork is an update that makes previously invalid blocks valid and expands the consensus rule set, a soft fork is an update that makes previously valid blocks invalid and contracts the consensus rule set.

  2. It is clear, obvious and democratic. Less confusing than a soft fork.

  3. It can divide or split the community and can reduce the security on the network due to decreased hashing power.

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#1121

A hard fork may or may not split the community/chain. That’s why we say that performing a hardfork is risky. If everyone accepts everything will be good. If not, its gonna be bad. :smiley:

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#1122

I am not exactly sure what you meat. We would want to perform a hard fork in case we wanted to expand the network rules. A simple example would be to make the block size larger. :smiley:

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#1123

Technically, every hard fork will create a new currency. If everyone agrees with the update the coin name will stay the same. If we have a chain split due to some accepting the update and some not, we will have 2 currencies. I hope that make sense. :slight_smile:

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#1124

Hard forks are not a bad thing. They don’t necessarily happen because a community is in a disagreement. A hard fork is simply put, an update to the network that needs to be accepted by everyone in order to avoid a community and a blockchain split.

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#1125

I would say that a hard fork is more confusing than the soft fork. When we have a soft fork update, you don’t really have to know much, as either way you will still be the part of the same chain, even if you don’t accept it. In a hard fork you must choose your side, so you must be aware of what the update does. Can you give an example where a hard fork update would be needed?

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#1126

Ok that makes sense, thanks! If we wanted to expand the network rules or increase the block size we would do a hard fork right?

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