At the introduction of cryptocurrency into the world of finance, Bitcoin was designed to function as a circulated digital substitute to cash.
Over time, more cryptocurrencies like Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XPR) were created, however many of them didn’t just come into existence but were most likely birthed from a Fork.
Furthermore, a fork is simply a change in blockchain’s arrangement used by the software to judge if the transaction is sustainable or not.
This simply implies that almost any branching in blockchain technology is as a fork.
However, a fork happens when the developers or group of developers concludes that something essential about a cryptocurrency is in need of a change.
In addition, Bitcoin is a popular cryptocurrency launched in the year 2009, it is regarded as the first decentralized digital currency as it acted in place of actual coins, but does not require banks to hold them.
Bitcoin forks are the changes made in the arrangements in the bitcoin network as well as the acts that occur when two or more blocks have similar block heights.
However, this simply means that more versions of Bitcoin can exist simultaneously alongside the original Bitcoin.
It will please you to know that there are two major types of Bitcoin forks, however, they have different but significant effects on the crypto market.
Bitcoin Soft Fork
Bitcoin Software fork happens when a developer or group of developers take source code meant for bitcoin, which is already open source then proposes changes to the arrangements.
However, a soft fork is usually called a backward-compatible software update, which means that the users operating the initial software will still recognize the blocks created by computers that chose to update theirs, and vice versa.
It is soft because both groups of users will continue to mine for new blocks but only that it will be on the same blockchain
In this Bitcoin fork, there is no strong line separating them and this will never bring about the fresh formation of a new cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin Hard Fork
Bitcoin hard Fork happens when there is a change in the code which renders all existing arrangements invalid.
Hard forks, however, create a totally new Bitcoin currency and then rejects all transactions from the original version and this makes it incompatible with the initial blockchain.
This fork is not backward compatible, which in simple words means that the users operating the original software will not recognize new blocks that are created by those operating the new software, and vice versa.
After all, you must know that the first major Bitcoin fork occurred in the year 2017 as well as the first fork was Bitcoin cash and it is faster, due to an increase in the block size.
Some other Bitcoin Forks are:
Super Bitcoin (SBTC)
This is a hard fork that has an extra capacity of the coin; it is pre-mined as well as held in Super Bitcoin Foundation.
It was made to encourage early developers and make the market busy.
It offers support for smart contracts and it is built with no knowledge proofs to protect privacy.
This fork permits bigger blocks, flexibility and aids faster transactions on the moderate network.
Bitcoin Diamond (BTD)
This is also a hard fork created in the year 2017 to resolve an observed lack of privacy.
Created to eradicate suspected delays in transaction confirmation speed and it does not require a new blockchain.
Segregated Witness (SegWit)
Segwit was initially a soft fork which means it did not develop a new currency.
However, since it reduced the size of all individual transactions, it became a Bitcoin hard fork and this was because of the announcement of the creation of a new currency by the developers.
Finally, some other announced Bitcoin forks are:
- Bitcoin World (BTW)
- AbitCoin (ABTC)
- Bitcoin Oil (OBTC)
- Bitcoin Faith (BCF)
- Bitcoin Hot (BTH)
- Bitcoin God (GOD)
- Bitcoin Stake (BTCS)
NB: One major thing you will benefit from Bitcoin Fork is that you can get free coins.
Don’t miss important articles during the week. Subscribe to techbuild.africa/blockchain weekly digest for updates.
