Hard Fork

A hard fork occurs when a blockchain “splits” into two independent blockchains that run in parallel, each having its own set of settings from the previous chain.

The hard forking destroys crypto-asset forward compatibility. As a result, even if the transaction history and parameters are identical before the hard fork, the history of both networks separates after the event, and any subsequent activity beyond the fork will not affect the other. Hard forks can happen by mistake owing to defects or errors in the blockchain, or they can be done on purpose (due to disagreements in the cryptocurrency community).

Hard forks are important occurrences that are typically announced in advance to a cryptocurrency community. They’ve sparked a lot of debate and discussion in the crypto world.

For example, in 2017, a proposal to hard fork Bitcoin to raise its block size from 1 MB to 8 MB in order to allow for faster and more transactions was received with strong opposition from the majority of the community. As a result, a segment of the Bitcoin community separated, forming Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Since then, the cryptocurrency has gone through two hard forks: one that produced Bitcoin Cash ABC (BTCA) and Bitcoin SV (BSV), and the most recent fork in 2020, which saw a new chain named Bitcoin Cash Node (BCHN) replace BTCA as the “official” BCH.