The point of a fork

[alizay]

Why do forks happen? What are they useful for and how should you manage your coins during a fork?
I also noticed that the word "replay protection" was often used when talking about forks. What kind of protection are we dealing with?

[1714800515]

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[1714800515]

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[olehgol260]

There are 2 types of forks: soft and hard. A hard fork is when a single cryptocurrency splits in two. It occurs when a cryptocurrency’s existing code is changed, resulting in both an old and new version. Meanwhile a soft fork is essentially the same thing, but the idea is that only one blockchain (and thus one coin) will remain valid. So both forks create a split, but a hard fork is meant to create two blockchain/coins and a soft fork is meant to result in one.

[OmegaStarScream]

Why do forks happen? What are they useful for and how should you manage your coins during a fork?
I also noticed that the word "replay protection" was often used when talking about forks. What kind of protection are we dealing with?

If we are speaking about forks like BitcoinCash, SegWit2x etc. then in my opinion, these are made only as a attempt to destroy bitcoin but usually, a fork like SegWit for example is made to improve bitcoin. In this kind of (sofk forks) nothing much you need do however when there is a hard fork and a chain split then you should have full control over your private keys and here is a good explanation of replay protection.

[xCRYPTO]

Why do forks happen? What are they useful for and how should you manage your coins during a fork?
I also noticed that the word "replay protection" was often used when talking about forks. What kind of protection are we dealing with?

If we are speaking about forks like BitcoinCash, SegWit2x etc. then in my opinion, these are made only as a attempt to destroy bitcoin but usually, a fork like SegWit for example is made to improve bitcoin. In this kind of (sofk forks) nothing much you need do however when there is a hard fork and a chain split then you should have full control over your private keys and here is a good explanation of replay protection.

This is what i want to know. Well, thank you for the informations. Now i understand.

[dillpicklechips]

Why do forks happen? What are they useful for and how should you manage your coins during a fork?
I also noticed that the word "replay protection" was often used when talking about forks. What kind of protection are we dealing with?

If we are speaking about forks like BitcoinCash, SegWit2x etc. then in my opinion, these are made only as a attempt to destroy bitcoin but usually, a fork like SegWit for example is made to improve bitcoin. In this kind of (sofk forks) nothing much you need do however when there is a hard fork and a chain split then you should have full control over your private keys and here is a good explanation of replay protection.

In other words, it simply means, forks happen due to opposing beliefs about a certain proposal to improve the system (or other reasons) which, as a side effect, could weaken the "original" (or whatever you may call it) system. That's hardfork. Softfork, on the other hand, is about adding new rules which needs approval of the majoriy of the miners.

Like a game. Adding new rules is called softfork while creating a new game inspired by the original one but works differently if compared to is called hardfork.

[ChainSmoker]

Why do forks happen? What are they useful for and how should you manage your coins during a fork?
I also noticed that the word "replay protection" was often used when talking about forks. What kind of protection are we dealing with?

Forks happen when certain group of people do not agree with present rules of bitcoin so they want to create their own version of that coin(in this case bitcoin) so instead of creating a totally different coin they fork the original chain and create different chain following new rules for their new coin.This is hard fork.Soft fork is different in that case the chain remains the same and everyone agrees to new rules.Average joe don't have do anything during the fork,keep holding on to your coins in the wallet in which you have access to private key.

[mk4]

I wouldn't automatically assume that hardforks (BCH/S2X) are made to destroy bitcoin, but instead, it is simply just a last choice for people who disagree with bitcoin core's vision of bitcoin. This is to be expected in a decentralized economy, there's definitely going to be lots of disagreements(hence probably lots more hardforks in the future) as there is no sort of authoritative entity to decide upon what's best for the future of bitcoin.

[alizay]

Why do forks happen? What are they useful for and how should you manage your coins during a fork?
I also noticed that the word "replay protection" was often used when talking about forks. What kind of protection are we dealing with?

If we are speaking about forks like BitcoinCash, SegWit2x etc. then in my opinion, these are made only as a attempt to destroy bitcoin but usually, a fork like SegWit for example is made to improve bitcoin. In this kind of (sofk forks) nothing much you need do however when there is a hard fork and a chain split then you should have full control over your private keys and here is a good explanation of replay protection.

In other words, it simply means, forks happen due to opposing beliefs about a certain proposal to improve the system (or other reasons) which, as a side effect, could weaken the "original" (or whatever you may call it) system. That's hardfork. Softfork, on the other hand, is about adding new rules which needs approval of the majoriy of the miners.

Like a game. Adding new rules is called softfork while creating a new game inspired by the original one but works differently if compared to is called hardfork.

Thank you all for the explanation. Perfectly clear with the metaphor
Still, what are the implications in terms of volatily? If I understand well, SegWit helped Bitcoin to improve so the coin raised its value (able to deal faster with a higher number of transaction) while BitcoinCash would like to crush Bitcoin (whose value would plummet)?

[pooya87]

~
In other words, it simply means, forks happen due to opposing beliefs about a certain proposal to improve the system (or other reasons) which, as a side effect, could weaken the "original" (or whatever you may call it) system. That's hardfork. Softfork, on the other hand, is about adding new rules which needs approval of the majoriy of the miners.

Like a game. Adding new rules is called softfork while creating a new game inspired by the original one but works differently if compared to is called hardfork.

all wrong. you are explaining a split but using the word "fork".

a fork is simply an upgrade to the code. some addition or deletion of rules for example. that is all. the split happens if the fork doesn't have enough support. and it doesn't happen if it has the support of the majority.

your definition of the soft and hard fork are also wrong. although there is not a clear definition that everyone agrees, but generally a soft fork is when the software remains backward compatible and a hard fork is when it doesn't. both can add new rules.

Still, what are the implications in terms of volatily?

volatility and price are speculation related. they have nothing to do with the forks. they are more like the reaction of the market to some news.

If I understand well, SegWit helped Bitcoin to improve so the coin raised its value (able to deal faster with a higher number of transaction)

SegWit didn't "improve value" the market did. SegWit improved bitcoin and added new functionality and that plus the end of scaling debate led to price rise.

while BitcoinCash would like to crush Bitcoin (whose value would plummet)?

that is politically correct not technically