What is a hard fork and how does it work?

Essentially, a hard fork splits a blockchain into two, with a change in the blockchain’s code meaning there are now two versions. A hard fork creates two versions of the blockchain which are not compatible with each other.

What is a hard fork in blockchain?

What Is a Hard Fork? A hard fork (or hardfork), as it relates to blockchain technology, is a radical change to a network's protocol that makes previously invalid blocks and transactions valid, or vice-versa. A hard fork requires all nodes or users to upgrade to the latest version of the protocol software.

What is a soft fork?

A soft fork is similar to a software update in that it improves the network and is backward compatible with the existing pre-fork blocks. This means everyone, not just the people who use the newer software, see all of these new blocks and accepted transactions as valid.

Are soft forks backward compatible?

Soft forks are backward compatible. During a hard fork, software implementing bitcoin and its mining procedures is upgraded; once a user upgrades their software, that version rejects all transactions from older software, effectively creating a new branch of the blockchain.