Guide to Forks_ Everything You Need to Know About Forks, Hard Fork and Soft Fork
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Guide to Forks: Everything You Need to 
Know About Forks, Hard Fork and Soft 
Fork
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What does Fork Mean? How 
many types of Forks in are 
there in Cryptocurrency? 
What’s the difference 
between Soft Fork and Hard 
Fork? If you are also looking 
answers for all these 
questions, then you’ve come 
to the right place.
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● Each software requires updates to keep them up to date with the changing 
dynamics and to enhance their offering. In the dictionary of Crypto, it is 
termed as “forks”. 
● As you have heard already, Soft Fork and Hard Fork are two types of forks. If 
put in simple words, the only difference between the two forks is that Soft 
Fork also supports the prior version of the software whereas Hard Fork is a 
permanent alteration which is not compatible with the earlier version.
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What Is Fork And How Many Types Are There?
● The crypto community is one big family, and each member of the chain is 
known as a node. To co-exist, each node needs to align by a bunch of rules 
called “protocols”. The basic rules of the protocol are decided by its creator. 
The blockchain size, the mining rewards, etc., are selected for the 
community, and they all then work together.
● So, Fork is a sort of upgrade or update in the program code of the blockchain 
that modifies the working principle of the intact blockchain. Now, the 
question is what is Soft fork and Hard fork in blockchain? These are two 
types of Forks, one of which can be reversed, i.e. Soft Fork and the other is 
backwards-incompatible, i.e. hard Fork.
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● A soft fork indicates the minuscule modifications made to the chain, whereas 
as the name goes, hard fork changes are usually more substantial and radical.
● Contrary to popular belief, a forking is possible in all blockchain-based 
platform and not just bitcoin. This is by virtue of the fact that all 
cryptocurrencies are primarily based on the blockchain technology only. Each 
particular block can be perceived as a crypto key which helps in pushing the 
block memory further forward.
● Now, let’s know both the forks separately with past examples in the crypto 
industry.
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1. What is Soft Fork In Crypto?
● The backwards-compatible upgrade to the protocol is called Soft 
Fork, which signifies that even after the Fork that resulted in the 
formation of a new chain, the earlier nodes can still process 
transactions. However, the older blocks should follow the new rules.
● For instance, if according to the Fork, the block size of more than 
3MB could no longer be processed, previous nodes would still be 
able to push blocks that are less than 3MB in size.
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● Since the earlier nodes were not as capable as the latest, it 
encourages it to update to the new protocol. But if a user is not 
interested in using the advanced version, he can still continue using 
the previous version but without the latest features.
● To perform a Soft Fork, the approval of the majority of members in the 
chain is required.
● Some of the examples of Soft Fork that happened in the crypto 
industry in the past are BIP (Bitcoin Improvement Proposal) and 
P2SH.
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2. Hard Fork/Hard Fork In 
Bitcoin
● Hard Fork is rather complicated than a soft fork as it implements 
significant alterations to the protocol. These changes are so extreme 
that it results in two distinct cryptocurrencies, one of which stays 
unchanged and the other is an entirely new altered version.
● After the division, the transactions occurring the former blockchain 
would not be identified by the new chain. This is why Hard Fork is 
followed by many controversies and uncertainty in the community.
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● Hard Fork forces the community to pick sides which is one of the 
reasons that it is implemented very rarely. However, if done correctly, 
it can result in an efficient upgraded network with enhanced immunity.
● One of the well-recognized examples of the Hard Fork in Bitcoin is 
Bitcoin Cash, (the split between Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash) and the 
split between Ethereum Classic and Ethereum, i.e. Ethereum Classic 
Hard Fork.
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Types Of Hard 
●FWohrilke mostly, Hard Forks brings controversies, it can also be planned 
by the consent of the majority of members and developers in the 
community. Hard Forksare of various types among which the two 
most popular are Contentious Hard Fork and Planned Hard Fork.
● 1. Planned Hard Fork: The Fork which has been prepared from the 
very starting of the project and is agreed upon by the majority of 
developers with the consent of the community is called planned hard 
Fork. Planned Hard Fork brings in a much better version of the 
existing coin with enhanced chain abilities and features. In 2017, 
Monero went through a hard fork which brought aRing Confidential 
Transactions (RingCT), a new privacy feature to the chain.
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● Some other examples of planned hard Fork happened previously in 
the crypto industry includes Ethereum Byzantium and Segregated 
Witnesses (Segwit).
2. Contentious Hard Fork: A contentious hard fork occurs when there is 
conflict within the space regarding the Fork that results in two different 
chains, one unchanged and another, the better version of the original. 
One of the major Hard Fork of Bitcoin performed in the past is Bitcoin 
Cash. Crypto community had faced such controversies in the history 
regarding extending the block size of Bitcoin to 8MB from 1MB, which 
was deemed to make the transactions faster. Eventually, the 
disagreement emerged as the hard Fork of the chain.
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Difference Between Soft Fork And Hard Fork
Both Soft Fork or hard Fork are implemented to upgrade the security and 
enhance the features of the chain. Where soft Fork applies minor 
changes to the blockchain, Hard Fork alters the protocol entirely, which 
then cannot be reversed. It is the reason Hard Fork is not readily 
accepted by the community, which becomes the reason for 
controversies. Now that you know what is Fork, let’s see the d
ifference between Soft fork and Hard Fork.
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Conclusion
Cryptocurrency forks, whether soft Fork or hard Fork, planned or 
Contentious is a topic of discussion. Forking can also also be seen as one 
of the core values of any-open source Cryptocurrency because it further 
enhances the security of the blockchain. Fork also provides the investors 
as well as miners with a voice in case of disagreement with the 
developers of the coin.
                                              
                                                 Sources
https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/news/guide-to-forks-everything-
you-need-to-know-about-forks-hard-fork-and-soft-fork
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