Understanding Bitcoin Fork

[Whatacoin22]

I am very sorry for asking this, but I would like I don't seem to find anything on the Forum specifically for this question. What exactly is a fork when it comes to bitcoin? Will other coins also Fork? Will Bitcoin continue to Fork later on down the line?

[TaKlarPH]

Well a bitcoin fork is splitting option I would say. For example a bitcoin is spilts into 2 in which bitcoin is the same while the other one that comes from bitcoin is not the same value.

Bitcoin is the same and one example is bitcoin lite which is a coin that is starting from bottom not like bitcoin today but the bitcoin value from before where it started.

[HabBear]

Well a bitcoin fork is splitting option I would say. For example a bitcoin is spilts into 2 in which bitcoin is the same while the other one that comes from bitcoin is not the same value.  

Not quite.

What exactly is a fork when it comes to bitcoin? Will other coins also Fork? Will Bitcoin continue to Fork later on down the line?

When developers want to make a change to the the code or rules that govern a crypto-currency's blockchain (and because blockchain networks are decentralized) they need to propose that new change to all the node owners. They way they do that is by declaring a date and time to enact the new code and then allow each node owner to select if they want to adopt the new code or not. This action creates a fork of the existing blockchain (like a fork in a road). Some node owners may choose the new path (the fork) and some may not. The blockchain that majority of node owners select technically is the winner, but the forked version can remain in existence if node owners keep it going.

To keep owners of the original cryptocurrency interested in trying the newly created/forked cryptocurrency, the developers give an amount of the newly created cryptocurrency that each wallet owner holds of the existing target cryptocurrency. This action is called the "airdrop", because you're granted coins for nothing - you don't have to buy them, you don't have to work for them.

There will continue to be forks as long as developers keep proposing alterations to an existing cryptocurrency.

That's pretty much it. If you have questions, there are a lot of people that can answer them.

[AlexR12]

What exactly is a fork when it comes to bitcoin? Will other coins also Fork? Will Bitcoin continue to Fork later on down the line?

When developers want to make a change to the the code or rules that govern a crypto-currency's blockchain (and because blockchain networks are decentralized) they need to propose that new change to all the node owners. They way they do that is by declaring a date and time to enact the new code and then allow each node owner to select if they want to adopt the new code or not. This action creates a fork of the existing blockchain (like a fork in a road). Some node owners may choose the new path (the fork) and some may not. The blockchain that majority of node owners select technically is the winner, but the forked version can remain in existence if node owners keep it going.

To keep owners of the original cryptocurrency interested in trying the newly created/forked cryptocurrency, the developers give an amount of the newly created cryptocurrency that each wallet owner holds of the existing target cryptocurrency. This action is called the "airdrop", because you're granted coins for nothing - you don't have to buy them, you don't have to work for them.

There will continue to be forks as long as developers keep proposing alterations to an existing cryptocurrency.

That's pretty much it. If you have questions, there are a lot of people that can answer them.

This is a very clear answer! But it raises the following question: who are those developers (location, how many, etc.)? Who pays them? From your answer it seems like they can award coins by their will.

[coinholder500]

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[aiannejacob]

Well a bitcoin fork is splitting option I would say. For example a bitcoin is spilts into 2 in which bitcoin is the same while the other one that comes from bitcoin is not the same value.  

Not quite.

What exactly is a fork when it comes to bitcoin? Will other coins also Fork? Will Bitcoin continue to Fork later on down the line?

When developers want to make a change to the the code or rules that govern a crypto-currency's blockchain (and because blockchain networks are decentralized) they need to propose that new change to all the node owners. They way they do that is by declaring a date and time to enact the new code and then allow each node owner to select if they want to adopt the new code or not. This action creates a fork of the existing blockchain (like a fork in a road). Some node owners may choose the new path (the fork) and some may not. The blockchain that majority of node owners select technically is the winner, but the forked version can remain in existence if node owners keep it going.

To keep owners of the original cryptocurrency interested in trying the newly created/forked cryptocurrency, the developers give an amount of the newly created cryptocurrency that each wallet owner holds of the existing target cryptocurrency. This action is called the "airdrop", because you're granted coins for nothing - you don't have to buy them, you don't have to work for them.

There will continue to be forks as long as developers keep proposing alterations to an existing cryptocurrency.

That's pretty much it. If you have questions, there are a lot of people that can answer them.

very informative answer. I also don't know the meaning of fork thanks for explaining it in a nice way. How often the changes of the networks happened?.

[AdolfinWolf]

What exactly is a fork when it comes to bitcoin? Will other coins also Fork? Will Bitcoin continue to Fork later on down the line?

-snip-

This is a very clear answer! But it raises the following question: who are those developers (location, how many, etc.)? Who pays them? From your answer it seems like they can award coins by their will.

They can, and there are several forks who basically pre-mined their own fork to then sell those coins for a profit. Pretty shady if you ask me.

One of the larger forks that did this was Bitcoin Gold.
They explained it themselves here, https://bitcoingold.org/premine-endowment/

Our premine accumulation of 100,000 coins was about 0.6% of the total number of outstanding coins (which was about 16.6 million Bitcoin Gold coins after the premine), so it’s a tiny fraction – and is even tinier compared to true pre-mines. The rest of the Bitcoin Gold (BTG) coins are in the hands of whoever held the corresponding Bitcoin wallets before the fork – which includes many thousands of individuals and organizations all around the world.

I believe that there also was another fork that credited themselves with all coins that satoshi is said to have mined, but i can't remember which one that was from the top of my head.