Steemit Crypto Academy [Beginners’ Level] | Season 3 Week 4 | Blockchain Forks, for the Cryptoprofesor @awesononso by @kaydee009
It’s amazing to be part of this week’s steemit crypto academy. This week’s lesson was really interesting knowing that we could developed others cryptocurrencies from the same blockchain. The lecturer @awesononso did very well elaborating and the two types of forks occur.
What is a Fork? (In your own Words)
In order to bring about sustainability of a product then there should be an improvement of the product to make it suitable to the current environment. In cryptocurrency, when a blockchain is developed and as times goes on when any new development is to be added to the old blockchain it requires a fork in order to add the changes; since cryptocurrency involves lots of miners, any new changes have to be agreed before it can be made. So basically fork alters the existing code while maintaining the old code or developing a new version.
Forks are done to improve the security of the blockchain, to upgrade the functionality of the coin and also create a new cryptocurrency.
When a cryptocurrency undergoes fork, based on the miners agreement the developers
could create a softfork or hard fork.
Explain in details what a Hard Fork is with examples (Can be of any blockchain).
When miners in a community agree that the rules governing a cryptocurrency have to be changed, new rules are set which leads branching away from the previous protocol or rules this action is known as hardfork.
During hardfrok, there is divergence from the the previous rules creating a two path; some users of the cryptocurrency uses the old path while others use the new path created.
- edited in PowerPoint
Popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin have undergone several hardfork. The Bitcoin hardfork is the divergence old blockchain rules that has led to the creation of a new version. Bitcoin led to the creation of Bitcoin cash, Bitcoin gold and others.
Bitcoin cash was the first Bitcoin fork to be developed on 1st August 2017. Bitcoin developers on July 2017 proposed an idea about an upgrade in the blockchain known as Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP). The proposal was that some users wanted to blocks to be small and other wanted the blocks to be larger. This led to the development of the Bitcoin cash which had a larger block size.
The Ethereum hardfork was one of the controversial hardfork that went through. It’s led the the creation of the ethereum classic. In 2016 ethereum had some failures in their system so it created the chance for some fraudsters to drain some huge some of the ethereum in to their account. So it was proposed that a new version has to developed and improve security in order to retrieve the lost ethereum. Some members agree to the proposal and others didn’t. Eventually the fork went through; the old blockchain was named ethereum classic.
Explain in details what a Soft Fork is with examples (Can be of any blockchain).
The softfork unlike the hardfork brings about an upgrade on the blockchain to improve security and enhance transactions without splitting. In softfork majority of users agree to the new rules since it’s follows the same old rules which makes it easy to implement. Unlike hardfork, when a softfork is made users who do not upgrade can still perform transactions without any problems since both the old and new rules are followed.
Example of softfork in Bitcoin occurred in 2015 were Bitcoin wanted a way to increase the speed of transactions on the blockchain. A Segwit was developed to create space in the the block so that it can be use to hold more space of transactions. The development of Segwit did not bring about divergence hence not creating any new coin.
Edited in PowerPoint
What are the differences between Hard Forks and Soft Forks?
Hardfork is when there’s a divergence in the blockchain creating a old version and a new version. In this case the old node and new node are both valid but they don’t have anything doing with each other making them a separate body.
In softfork the original version of the cryptocurrency is maintained where there’s is modification of the old version. The old nodes can still interact with each other since it maintains the same path.
| Hardfork | Softfork |
|---|---|
| hardfork leads to the creation of a new cryptocurrency | Softfork does not lead to the creation of a new cryptocurrency |
| Hardfork creates a new path | softfork maintains the old path |
| separate agreement brings about hardfork | Softfork is agreed by a simple majority |
| block heights in hardfork repeats | Softfork block heights in softfork does not repeat |
Explain the following Bitcoin Forks and explore the blockchain where necessary. Indicate if they are hard forks or soft forks;
Bitcoin Cash
Segregated Witnesses
BITCOIN CASH
It’s always a great idea to bring about upgrades on the things we use but the big question is, will all the users be happy with it?Bitcoin cash is one of the hardforks of Bitcoin. Some miners in Bitcoin wanted an increase in size of the block so that transactions can be faster due to the increase in number of it users. Some miners disagree with that. So the miners who wanted to increase the size of the blockchain diverged from the original version and and created a new version known as the Bitcoin cash. The people who agreed that Bitcoin cash should be developed wanted
- a system where they can have a quick transaction
- A system where lots of transactions can be performed at the same time
- An increase in block
I also went to Bitcoin explorer find out the transactions Id for both Bitcoin and Bitcoin cash and i realize they are the same from the screenshots.
The above screenshot is the Genesis block of Bitcoin Cash
The above is the Genesis block of Bitcoin.
From the two screenshots it can be noted that the two cryptocurrency has the same chainwork , same timestamp, and same age this indicates the Bitcoin Cash is a hardfork of Bitcoin.
Segregated Witnesses
The major reason why Bitcoin holders felt that transactions was slow and wanted a hardfork was because the developers wanted to make the system more faster by clearing out some space in the blocks a process called SegWit. Some miners did not agree to it and wanted a hardfork. SegWit was the first softfork that occurred on Bitcoin in 2015. The SegWit freed up space in some blocks making the system a bit faster without the creation of a new cryptocurrency. Some miners felt it was still slow and opted for the hardfork.
Write on the Steem and Hive Hard fork and show similarities in their Genesis Blocks(Provide screenshots).
Steem and Hive looks very alike since hardfork of steem resulted in the development of the hive. Steem is a decentralized social network which has its own token known as the SBD and STEEM. The hardfork of steem came about when an investor wanted to CEO of TRX wanted a collaboration between the two cryptocurrency. Some miners disagree with the idea and it led to the hardfork which brought Hive. A hive is a decentralized social network which also awards it users with token like HBD and HIVE it’s also has it own power which is the (HIVEPOWER). The two crypto community are very similar and I’ll show some details in my screenshot below.
This is the page of the Hive blog
And here is the steemit page
I also checked on the Genesis block of hive and steem
To access the Genesis block of Hive
Search hive block
Type 1 on the search bar and click on search
The details then appears
Click on show raw virtual op data for more details
From the two block we can see that they have the same block Id, same timestamp and same witness or producer @initminer.
An upgrade brings improvements on what ever we do but how the upgrade will be might interest others or may not. The forks have brought about creation and upgrade of cryptocurrency due to the understanding of the miners. I really enjoyed this week lesson from @awesononso. It was an interesting topic.