What Is a Fork?
Adekunle Joshua
A fork in a blockchain occurs when the governing community decides to modify the regulations or protocol
Forks are designed to adapt the network to fit community preferences or technological demands, resulting in hard and soft forks
Hard forks create new independent blockchains with tweaked features, while soft forks make minor upgrades to an existing blockchain
Well-known cryptocurrencies like BSV (Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision) and BCH (Bitcoin Cash) emerged from the discontent within the early Bitcoin community, resulting in new chains
Every bitcoin holder received BSV and BCH equal to the amount of bitcoin they held during the fork
Forks in blockchain networks require community consensus and approval from core members such as miners or validators
If changes are accepted, the network upgrades and continues, but if consensus isn't reached, a split may occur, leading to the emergence of a new blockchain network with a different history.