After the BCH hard fork, we compiled a Bitcoin "fork list" for you
Editor's Note: This article comes fromChain News ChainNews (ID: chainnewscom)Editor's Note: This article comes from
Chain News ChainNews (ID: chainnewscom)
Chain News ChainNews (ID: chainnewscom)
, Author: Bitcoin Magazine, Translation: BitcoinM, published with permission.
On the evening of November 15th, the hard fork of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) was successfully completed, and two chains, BCHA and BCHN, were born. In fact, Bitcoin Cash itself is a chain forked from the original Bitcoin, but how many forks does Bitcoin, the "king of cryptocurrencies", have? Next, let Lianwen review it with everyone.
First of all, we need to understand a concept, namely: what is the so-called fork?
The word "fork" can be a bit confusing, but in fact, there are many different types of "forks" in the cryptocurrency and blockchain world, and they have different meanings, including:
codebase fork
A code base fork is a "code copy" of a software implementation, and a code base fork usually refers to an adjustment to the original code base. In Bitcoin, a codebase fork can be fully compatible with the Bitcoin protocol, or it can result in an accidental blockchain fork, or create an entirely new cryptocurrency.
Blockchain Fork
A blockchain fork occurs when the blockchain is split into two versions of transaction history. This can happen for a number of reasons, some expected, some unexpected, depending on the circumstances depends. A blockchain fork can have multiple outcomes, ranging from a single orphaned block to an entirely new cryptocurrency.
A hard fork is a protocol upgrade, and some protocol rules may be relaxed or deleted after the hard fork. If all users upgrade, then the hard fork will not cause the blockchain to split. Especially in the case of Bitcoin, it has been argued that unless all users upgrade, the "upgraded" protocol should not be called a hard fork at all, but rather a "new cryptocurrency" or "fork". currency".
gray area
Soft Fork
A soft fork is also a protocol upgrade whose main function is to strengthen or add protocol rules. A soft fork upgrade can cause the blockchain to fork, but the party with the majority of computing power will enforce the soft fork, thereby ensuring that the network follows the same transaction history. Generally speaking, miner-activated soft forks (MASF) are triggered by computing power, and user-activated soft forks (UASF) are triggered by users.
gray area
Although the above four fork terms and definitions cover the existing "fork" types in the cryptocurrency market, the real environment is actually very complicated. For example, the distinction between hard forks and soft forks does not seem to be clear, and the crypto community sometimes does not even know which fork should be considered a protocol upgrade. Not only that, but in some cases industry experts have different opinions on the type of "fork", some are politically motivated, and some want to rewrite transaction history, which makes Bitcoin fork even more confusing.
Next, let's get to the point and see how many forks there are in Bitcoin?
Satoshi Nakamoto released the first version of the Bitcoin codebase in 2009, officially launching Bitcoin. Bitcoin was then called "Bitcoin" (or rather, the first version of Bitcoin should have been called "Bitcoin 0.1.0"). Descendants of this codebase were renamed "Bitcoin Core" and sometimes referred to as "Satoshi Client".
Regular Bitcoin Blockchain Fork
When two or more miners find a valid block at the same time, the Bitcoin blockchain will fork into two branches. By Bitcoin fork design, these blockchain branches are resolved as soon as one branch becomes longer, at which point the shorter branch is abandoned (“orphaned”). This happens quite often even today.
Bitcoin's First Soft Fork
Bitcoin's first soft fork protocol upgrade disabled the protocol function OP_RETURN. Technically speaking, this is a user-activated soft fork, namely UASF. But in the early stage of Bitcoin, only Satoshi Nakamoto "actually controlled" the rules of the Bitcoin protocol, so this upgrade did not cause a blockchain fork.
Bitcoin's First Hard Fork
Bitcoin Knots
The first hard fork protocol upgrade of Bitcoin added a new function OP_NOP. This fork was actually decided by Satoshi Nakamoto himself. However, not everyone sees the upgrade as a true hard fork, as it did not result in a blockchain split.
Libbitcoin
Bitcoin blockchain unintentionally forked
An unintentional 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 a software bug or other technical issue and is one of the biggest short-term glitches Bitcoin can experience. Fortunately, unintentional forks of the blockchain have only occurred two or three times in the history of Bitcoin, and each time they were successfully resolved through community coordination without causing too much loss.
Bitcoin Knots is the first typical example of a fork in the Bitcoin core codebase, a software-implemented "code copy" that does not cause a blockchain split. In fact, Bitcoin Knots is fully compatible with Bitcoin Core - the former just provides different functionality.
Libbitcoin is an example of a fork that fully reproduces the Bitcoin protocol in a different codebase. It is not a fork of the Bitcoin Core codebase, but is also fully compatible with Bitcoin Core.
The first miner-activated soft fork (MASF) in Bitcoin history
Bitcoin ABC
The P2SH upgrade can be said to be the first miner-activated soft fork (MASF) in Bitcoin history. Although the later miner-activated soft fork used a purer, computing power-based upgrade mechanism, none of them caused blockchain fork.
BIP148 client
Another example of a fork in the Bitcoin Core codebase is the BIP148 client, which enforced a user-activated soft fork in order to activate the "Segregated Witness" protocol upgrade, which may have been integrated with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients. Not compatible anymore.
BTC1
Bitcoin ABC is another example of a fork of the Bitcoin Core codebase, but Bitcoin ABC made some degree of fork adjustments to ensure incompatibility with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients at some point in time.
Bitcoin ABC officially breaks away from Bitcoin to create "Bitcoin Cash"
On August 1, 2017, Bitcoin ABC was no longer compatible with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients. Since then, Bitcoin ABC has created a brand new cryptocurrency called "Bitcoin Cash", that is, Bitcoin Cash (Chain News Note: Bitcoin Cash has also experienced several forks since then, including the split on November 15, 2020. Forked BCHN and BCHA two chains).
BTC1 is also a codebase fork of Bitcoin Core which is also incompatible with Bitcoin Core and other Bitcoin clients. But BTC1 has a specific purpose of deploying a hard fork upgrade for the new Bitcoin protocol "Segwit2x". (In other words, the goal of BTC1 is to get all Bitcoin users to switch to the Segwit2x protocol and see it as the so-called "true Bitcoin.")
Bitcoin Clashic
Bitcoin's first user-activated soft fork (UASF)
Bitcoin Core Sq
The BIP148 client fork did not actually gain enough community support, because it wanted to break away from Bitcoin to create a new cryptocurrency, but in the end there were only a handful of miners who upgraded to the corresponding system, so the BIP148 client is still incompatible with other Bitcoins. Client compatible. The protocol upgrade is considered by many to be the first "real" user-activated soft fork (UASF)
, because the fork was not decided by the developers, but was conceived from a grassroots user movement.
Bitcoin Clashic is a brand new version of Bitcoin ABC designed to be a hard fork upgrade to the Bitcoin Cash protocol. In fact, most Bitcoin Cash users have already upgraded and accepted the new protocol name "Bitcoin Cash". However, there are still a small number of users who choose to continue using the first version of the Bitcoin Cash protocol (the mainstream encryption community has always regarded it as a joke), and this part of users named this forked cryptocurrency: "Bitcoin Clashic".
In early 2018, the majority of the Bitcoin Clashic community adopted a codebase fork of the Bitcoin Clashic client, called Bitcoin Core Sq, which was incompatible with the existing Bitcoin Clashic client, again resulting in the creation of an entirely new cryptocurrency , but the Bitcoin Clashic community deliberately named it "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. After being around for a while, Bitcoin Clashic is now completely deprecated (largely because the community still supports Bitcoin Core).
Segwit2x has failed
Bitcoin SV
Due to a variety of reasons, almost no one in the encryption community adopted BTC1. As a result, BTC1 not only failed to "upgrade" the Bitcoin protocol, but even failed to continue to exist as a new cryptocurrency in the market.
Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Diamond, dozens of other Bitcoin forks
After Bitcoin ABC successfully created Bitcoin Cash through a blockchain fork, the crypto community saw a precedent for success, and many Bitcoin "forked coins" began to appear. In fact, the reason why Bitcoin Cash was able to fork successfully was mainly because of the long-term disagreement in the Bitcoin community, but most of the "forked coins" that appeared later were forked for the sake of forking, and they just thought that the fork was to create another A "good way" for a new cryptocurrency, nothing more.
Bitcoin Dark
Bitcoin Satoshi's Vision (Bitcoin SV) is a codebase fork of Bitcoin ABC, but the cryptocurrency made adjustments to the protocol designed to ensure that it will be incompatible with the Bitcoin Cash protocol at some point in the future.
