The crypto ecosystem and technology which is always progressing in innovation actually creates a lot of foreign terminology or terms in the world of blockchain, especially cryptocurrency, which often makes us confused, one of which we often hear is the fork method.
Read this article until the end to understand the concept of hard forks, and why forks in a protocol are very necessary but also subject to much debate.
What is a Hard Fork?
A hard fork is a condition where the basic protocol on a blockchain undergoes changes or updates so that the crypto unit is divided into two.
Existing units will be copied and modified to produce the latest version but they will be separate, operating independently and incompatible with each other. The main project or protocol will remain alive, but will have a different direction, features, and goals.
Even though they are divided, the records on each transaction on each chain will remain the same as before the fork occurred, because basically the records on the blockchain ledger are permanent and cannot be changed.
Difference between Hard Fork and Soft Fork
Even though the names are similar and ultimately achieve the same goal of improving the software on a crypto asset, hard forks and soft forks are very different.
Soft fork is a term for small improvements to a protocol that become a safer alternative option to make it more compatible compared to the previous version. In other words, nodes that disagree with the fork decision and do not upgrade to a newer version will still consider the chain valid.
Both still create separation, but a hard fork will produce two blockchains while a soft fork only creates one block. Therefore, when a fork occurs, it is very mandatory for coin enthusiasts to know the type or type. Because, a crypto miner must continue to ensure that the software used is the correct version.
Why is a Fork Done?
In some cases, the reason for forking is to fix security risks in the old version, requiring a complete overhaul of the existing code. This is similar to a new generation of video game that is not compatible with the previous version of the game, has features or sometimes even different goals and concepts.
Not all forks are done intentionally. Considering that the blockchain is open-source, forks can occur due to some nodes not replicating the same information or colliding. However, incidents like this can be corrected and identified properly.
In fact, most forks in crypto assets actually occur because of conflicts with aspects of certain cryptocurrency protocols. As recently happened in the Terra tragedy. Where the algorithm that supports UST is downgraded from US$1 causing Luna to lose value.
In this event, Terra founder Do Kwon proposed a Hard Fork to create a new initial blockchain in order to save the original ideas and goals of the existing protocol but without throwing away the previous version.
Other examples of cryptocurrencies that experienced hard forks are Bitcoin which gave rise to Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV), all of which have similarities to previous blockchains.
The results of hard forks such as Ethereum Classic which is a fraction of Ethereum will continue to live and operate. This is believed to occur because of the role of the community or developer figures who opposed the previous hard fork and therefore preferred to maintain the old version of a blockchain protocol rather than moving to the latest version.