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After BCH hard forks, we've put together a bitcoin "fork list" for you

2020-11-16 14:15

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According to Bitcoin Magazine

BitcoinM

On the evening of November 15, the hard fork of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was successfully completed, giving birth to two chains, BCHA and BCHN. In fact, bitcoin cash itself is a chain that diverges from the original bitcoin, so how many forks does the "king of cryptocurrencies" have? Now, let the chain smell and everyone together to review it.

First, we need to understand the concept: what is the so-called bifurcation?

The word "fork" can get a little confusing. In fact, many different types of "fork" in the cryptocurrency and blockchain worlds have different meanings, including:

Codebase fork

A code base fork is a "copy of code" of a software implementation. A code base fork is usually an adjustment to the original code base. In Bitcoin, the code base fork could be fully compatible with the Bitcoin protocol, or it could lead to an unexpected blockchain fork or the creation of an entirely new cryptocurrency.

Blockchain Fork

Blockchain bifurcations occur when the blockchain is split into two versions of its trading history, which can happen for a variety of reasons, either expected or unexpected, depending on the circumstances. A blockchain fork could lead to a variety of outcomes, from a single isolated block to a whole new cryptocurrency.

Hard Fork

A hard fork is a protocol upgrade, and some protocol rules may be relaxed or deleted after a hard fork. If all users upgrade, a hard fork will not lead to a blockchain split. In the case of Bitcoin in particular, some argue that unless all users upgrade, an "upgraded" protocol should not be called a hard fork at all, but a "new cryptocurrency" or "fork currency."

Soft Fork

Soft fork is also a protocol upgrade whose main function is to enforce or add protocol rules. Soft fork upgrades can lead to blockchain bifurcations, but the party with most of the computing power will enforce the soft fork, ensuring that the network follows the same trading history. In general, miner activated soft fork (MASF) is triggered by computational force, and user activated soft fork (UASF) is triggered by user.

Grey area

While the four fork terms and definitions above cover the existing "fork" types in the cryptocurrency market today, the reality is quite complex. For example, the difference between a hard fork and a soft fork doesn't seem obvious, and the encryption community sometimes doesn't even know which fork should be considered a protocol upgrade. Not only that, but in some cases industry experts disagree about the type of "fork", which can be more confusing because of political motives or a desire to rewrite transaction history.

BCH 硬分叉后，我们为你整理了一份比特币「分叉清单」

So let's get down to business. How many forks do bitcoin actually have?

Satoshi Nakamoto officially launched Bitcoin in 2009 when he released the first version of the codebase. Bitcoin is then referred to as "Bitcoin" (or rather, the first version of a Bitcoin should be called "Bitcoin 0.1.0"). The descendants of the code base have been renamed "Bitcoin Core" and are sometimes referred to as the "Satoshi client".

The conventional bitcoin blockchain forks

When two or more miners simultaneously find a valid block, the bitcoin blockchain forks into two branches. In bitcoin's bifurcated design, these blockchain branches are resolved as soon as one becomes longer, at which point the shorter one is abandoned (" isolated "). Even today, this often happens.

Bitcoin has its first soft fork

Bitcoin's first soft fork protocol upgrade disabled the protocol feature OP_RETURN, which is technically a user-activated soft fork known as UASF. But in the early days of Bitcoin, only Satoshi Nakamoto "actually controlled" the rules of the bitcoin protocol, so the upgrade did not lead to a blockchain fork.

Bitcoin has its first hard fork

Bitcoin's first hard fork protocol upgrade adds a new feature, OP_NOP, and this fork was actually decided by Nakamoto himself. However, not everyone is convinced that the upgrade is a true hard fork, as the fork does not lead to a blockchain split.

The Bitcoin blockchain has no intention of branching off

An unintended blockchain fork occurs when different parts of the bitcoin network see different transaction histories and the situation cannot be resolved automatically. This type of blockchain fork is usually caused by software errors or other technical problems, and is one of the biggest short-term failures bitcoin can encounter. Fortunately, the unintended fork in the blockchain has only happened two or three times in Bitcoin's history, and each time it was resolved smoothly through community coordination without much loss.

Bitcoin Knots

Bitcoin Director of Director of Communications is the first typical example of a bifurcation of Bitcoin's core codebar, a type of software implementation known as a "copy of the code" that does not lead to blockchain splitting. In fact, the director of Communications is completely compatible with Bitcoin Core -- the former just offers different functions.

Libbitcoin

Libbitcoin is an example of a fork that completely recreates the Bitcoin protocol in different codebase. It is not a fork in the Bitcoin Core codebase, but it is also fully compatible with Bitcoin Core.

The first miner activated Soft Fork (MASF) in Bitcoin history

P2SH upgrade can be said to be the first miner activated soft fork (MASF) in the history of Bitcoin. Although the miner activated soft fork later used a purer, computer-based upgrade mechanism, none of them caused the blockchain bifurcation.

BIP148 client

The BIP148 client is another example of the fork in the Bitcoin Core codbase. The BIP148 client has enforced a user-activated soft fork in order to activate the "quarantine witness" protocol upgrade and may now be incompatible with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients.

Bitcoin ABC

Bitcoin ABC is another example of the bifurcation of Bitcoin's Core codebase, but the Bitcoin ABC has been bifurcated to a degree to ensure that it is incompatible with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin customers at some point in time.

Bitcoin ABC has officially separated from Bitcoin to create Bitcoin Cash

On August 1, 2017, Bitcoin ABC, Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients ceased to be compatible. Since then, Bitcoin ABC has created a new cryptocurrency called Bitcoin Cash, or Bitcoin Cash. (Bitcoin Cash has since split several times, including the BCHN and BCHA split on November 15, 2020.)

BTC1

BTC1 is also a codbase fork of Bitcoin Core, which is also incompatible with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients. But BTC1 has a specific purpose: to deploy a hard fork upgrade to the new Bitcoin protocol, Segwit2x. (In other words, BTC1's goal is for all Bitcoin users to switch to the Segwit2x protocol and treat it as the so-called "real Bitcoin.")

The first user-activated Soft fork (UASF) in Bitcoin's history

The BIP148 fork doesn't actually have enough community support because it wants to create new cryptocurrencies outside of Bitcoin, but only a handful of miners have been able to upgrade to the system, so the BIP148 client remains compatible with other Bitcoin clients. Many consider this protocol upgrade to be the first "true" user-activated soft fork (UASF)

", because the fork is not decided by the developer, but grows out of the grassroots user movement.

Bitcoin Clashic

Bitcoin Clashic is a new version of Bitcoin ABC designed to be upgraded to the Bitcoin Cash protocol via a hard fork. In fact, most Bitcoin Cash users have upgraded and accepted the new protocol name "Bitcoin Cash". However, a small minority of users, who have chosen to stick with the first version of the Bitcoin Cash protocol (long considered a joke by the mainstream cryptography community), have named the fork in the cryptocurrency "Bitcoin Clashic".

Bitcoin Core Sq

In early 2018, the majority of the Bitcoin Clashic community adopted a codebase fork on the Bitcoin Clashic client, known as Bitcoin Core Sq, which is incompatible with the existing Bitcoin Clashic client, resulting in the creation of a new cryptocurrency, which the Bitcoin Clashic community intentionally named "Bitcoin Core". It should be noted that Bitcoin Core Sq and/or the real Bitcoin Core software client, and/or the real Bitcoin Core cryptocurrency, and/or the real Bitcoin protocol are not compatible. Bitcoin Clashic has been around for a while and is now completely obsolete (largely because the community still supports Bitcoin Core).

Segwit2x has failed

For a variety of reasons, BTC1 has been adopted by almost no one in the cryptocurrency community, resulting in BTC1 not only being unable to "upgrade" the Bitcoin protocol, but also unable to continue to exist in the market as a new cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Diamond, and dozens of other Bitcoin bifurcations

After Bitcoin ABC successfully created Bitcoin cash by bifurcating the blockchain, the cryptographic community saw a successful precedent, and many Bitcoin "bifurcated COINS" began appearing. In fact, bitcoin cash's success in bifurcating is largely a result of the bitcoin community's long history of disagreement, but most of the "bifurcated COINS" that have since emerged have bifurcated for the sake of bifurcating, simply believing that bifurcating is a "good way" to create another new cryptocurrency, and nothing more.

Bitcoin SV

Bitcoin Satoshi "s Vision (Bitcoin SV) is a fork in the codebase of Bitcoin ABC, but the cryptocurrency has tweaked the protocol to ensure that at some point in the future it will not be compatible with the Bitcoin Cash agreement.

Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV went their separate ways

In 2018, Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV decided to separate from their existing Bitcoin cash agreements due to growing divisions within the Bitcoin cash community. Although sometimes referred to as "Bitcoin Cash ABC", Bitcoin ABC is superior to Bitcoin SV in almost every respect, so that what is now referred to as Bitcoin Cash by the cryptographic community is actually Bitcoin ABC, and Bitcoin SV during the fork has since been referred to as Bitcoin SV by the cryptographic community.

Bitcoin Dark

Bitcoin Dark is a codebase of Bitcoin Core, which has launched a cryptocurrency of the same name: Bitcoin Dark. Like Litecoin and many other counterfeits, Bitcoin Dark has from the outset tweaked its codbase to be completely incompatible with the Bitcoin protocol. As a result, Bitcoin Dark is a new kind of cryptocurrency. It's not exactly a bifurcation of the blockchain, but the name of the cryptocurrency happens to include Bitcoin. Nowadays, it seems that Bitcoin Dark is no longer there.