Bitcoin fork december

To understand blockchain forks, it is helpful to first discuss the structure and function of blockchains. Cryptocurrencies are built on a revolutionary technology, called blockchain , which functions as a decentralized, public ledger of transactions. Then, one by one, new blocks are processed, or verified, and added to the blockchain sequence — creating a chain of blocks.

On the blockchain, the governing authority is instead decentralized. Network participants, called nodes , must individually verify new blocks of transactions and come to a network consensus about the new distribution of funds. Nodes play an important role in verifying new transactions and ensuring that funds end up where they are supposed to without being spent twice, also known as double-spending. In other words, the Bitcoin network is the sum total of all the decentralized nodes that carry out the Bitcoin protocol.

When a protocol is updated, the individual nodes upgrade and accept the new changes. If some of the nodes reject the changes, then a crypto fork takes place. The optional type of fork is known as a soft fork, and the mandatory type of fork is known as a hard fork.

What Is a Bitcoin Fork? Network scalability problems provide an excellent opportunity to illustrate the difference between a Bitcoin soft fork and a Bitcoin hard fork. Around , Bitcoin encountered trouble in scaling its transaction capacity to match the rapid growth of its user base.

As more users began exchanging bitcoin BTC , the network got bogged down with increasingly large transaction volumes, which ultimately slowed the overall processing time. The concern was that eventually, if nothing was done to speed up the process Bitcoin transactions might take days or weeks to clear. This network slowness could also require users to pay higher fees to accelerate transactions.

One of the proposed solutions to the scalability problem was called Segregated Witness SegWit. SegWit functions by uncoupling signature data — proof of ownership of a specific cryptocurrency — from Bitcoin transactions and rearranging that data in each block more efficiently, thus increasing transaction speed. SegWit is what is known as a soft fork, rather than a hard fork. Because a soft fork involves a non-mandatory update, each node in the network can choose whether or not to update their individual copy of the protocol, and in either case, all of the nodes in the network can keep interacting with each other.

Nodes that accepted the SegWit protocol update are still running Bitcoin software that is compatible with nodes that did not. A soft fork is backwards compatible. Well, unfortunately, the majority of Bitcoin users didn't want to make the change, so they had to create a whole new blockchain. The Bitcoin Cash blockchain was officially launched on 1st August Just like Bitcoin, the Bitcoin Cash supply is limited to 21 million coins and each block takes 10 minutes before it is confirmed.

On the other hand, as the maximum block size was increased by eight times, it allowed the Bitcoin Cash blockchain or Bitcoin fork to scale more transactions. Scalability or scaling is the maximum amount of transactions that a particular blockchain can process every second. Bitcoin is very limited in this sense as it can only process an average of 7 transactions per second. This is one of the things that are currently letting Bitcoin down — if it is going to be used as a global payment system, it must improve its scalability performance.

Source: cointelegraph Due to the changes that were implemented after this Bitcoin split, Bitcoin Cash can process about 61 transactions per second. What this means is that if you held 0. Since this Bitcoin fork was launched, it has been a very successful project. In fact, at the time of writing in June , it is the fourth most valuable cryptocurrency in the industry. The main person behind the Bitcoin Cash project is a well-known cryptocurrency investor called Roger Ver. Ver, often referred to as "Bitcoin Jesus", believes that Bitcoin Cash is actually the "Real Bitcoin", and he thinks it will overtake Bitcoin as the number one cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is the most important invention in the history of the world since the internet. While Bitcoin Cash was concerned with reducing transaction fees, the people behind Bitcoin Gold wanted to make Bitcoin more "decentralized". This is because the vast majority of Bitcoin mining is controlled by just a few pools in China. Once the Bitcoin reward is won, it is divided between the pool, based on how much each person has invested. Ultimately, this gives the people running the mining pool lots of power and influence over the network, which is why some believe that this Bitcoin fork has become too centralized.

In the early days before mining pools became dominant, it was possible to mine Bitcoin by using a basic CPU or GPU, meaning that anybody could do it in the comfort of their own home. Those days are now long gone if you want a chance of winning the reward — not only do you need to be part of a mining pool, but you also need to own really expensive ASIC hardware.

But guess who manufacturers a lot of the mining hardware? One of the largest mining pools in the industry! In response, Bitcoin Gold installed a new mining process that makes sure that specialized and expensive hardware cannot be used to increase somebody's chances of winning the mining reward. Think about it like this: If a Ferrari raced 10 Mini Cooper's, which car do you think would win?

Well, obviously the Ferrari as it has the most powerful engine! However, Bitcoin Gold changes things so that instead of a Ferrari being in the race, there are just 10 Mini Coopers, giving everybody a fair chance of winning. However, instead of taking 10 minutes like Bitcoin, Bitcoin Gold can confirm a transaction in just 2.

The other major difference is the way that miners verify transactions. Just like the Bitcoin Cash fork, anyone holding Bitcoin at the time of the launch received identical amounts in Bitcoin Gold. Since it was launched, Bitcoin Gold has also performed really well. This attack is actually quite ironic because the whole point of Bitcoin Gold was to prevent centralized miners from gaining too much control. ZClassic was forked from a blockchain called ZCash.

ZCash was forked from the original Bitcoin.

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These splits create new versions of Bitcoin currency and are natural results of the structure of the blockchain system, which operates without a central authority. Because a new rule, or fork, is introduced, the users mining that particular Bitcoin blockchain can choose to follow one set of rules or another, similar to a fork in the road.

On a basic level, these forks arise out of different perspectives on transaction history, which can happen due to delays in the system. As Bitcoin became more and more popular, the blockchain technology it was built on slowed down, resulting in the entire system becoming unreliable and the transaction fees getting more expensive.

Because of this slowdown, Bitcoin needed to create a solution that would scale as more users bought and sold the product. Forks allow for a different development structure and experimentation within the Bitcoin platform without compromising the original product. The original Bitcoin was developed on 1-megabyte blocks, which was limiting as the cryptocurrency scaled and became more popular.

These forks can be developed on larger blocks and result in a brand-new currency. Note Buying and selling either original Bitcoin or any of its forks is highly speculative at this point, and you can lose a lot of money quickly. Spend only what you can afford to lose. Soft Forks A soft fork is a change to the Bitcoin protocol rather than a change to the end product. The big difference between a soft fork and a hard fork is that a soft fork is backward-compatible, which means that the new protocol will be recognized by old nodes within the system.

It also means that there is not a new product being launched, Hard Forks Hard forks are new versions of Bitcoin that are completely split from the original version. There are no transactions or communications between the two types of Bitcoin after a hard fork. Bitcoin Cash remains the most successful Bitcoin hard fork, and it is backed by many in the cryptocurrency community. Because anyone can become a BitCore miner, it is impossible to centralise mining power.

BitCore also has a 10 MB Segwit-enabled block that allows it to handle Bitcoin Gold is a hard fork that occurred shortly after Bitcoin Cash. The creators implemented this hard fork to restore mining functionality using basic graphics processing unit GPU because they felt mining had become too specialised. The Bitcoin Gold hard fork featured a pre-mining of the Bitcoin Gold crypto. Pre-mining is when the development team creates the coin from the start.

Developers said that these pre-mined coins will be used to grow the Bitcoin Gold ecosystem and pay developers. Bitcoin Diamond is a fork of the original Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin Diamond was created only two weeks after the Bitcoin Gold fork. However, the first major Bitcoin hard fork, Bitcoin Cash, can process transactions per second through its increased block size. Although these cryptocurrencies may not be the same, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Diamond are very similar.

Some investors wonder if Bitcoin Diamond was a necessary hard fork. It is a fork from the Bitcoin Cash blockchain. BSV is designed to provide stability and scalability while keeping Bitcoin a peer-to-peer electronic money system. It also aims to become a distributed data network that can support enterprise-level advanced blockchain applications. It has also removed artificial block sizes limits, re-enabled script commands, and other technical capabilities that had been previously disabled or restricted by protocol developers on the BTC blockchain.

The network can process thousands of transactions per second while keeping transaction fees low for micropayments. It also offers advanced capabilities like tokens, smart contracts and other use cases. The block size of Bitcoin SV can go up to 2Gb and can process over 10, transactions per second. BSV reached over BSV is unmatched in its ability to scale on-chain without any restrictions while being closer to the original Bitcoin design than any other blockchain.

They proposed an update to the Bitcoin Cash network. With this relaunch, the team also announced their plans to integrate the proof-of-stake consensus layer Avalanche, which introduces great improvements to the network. Beware of Bitcoin Forks Scams You should also bear in mind that some Bitcoin forks were created as a scam.

Other scams, such as the fake Bitcoin Gold wallet, were created to steal your real funds. At the same time, you should be aware that some developers just want to make quick money. While some Bitcoin forks seem to be similar, the primary reason for their creation is more marketing buzz. Many developers are looking for free coins, and Bitcoin forks have become the new ICOs.

The team creates the fork only to sell the coins on crypto exchanges as soon as it starts trading. To reduce your chances of losing any Bitcoin, you have to move your Bitcoin to a new wallet before claiming any coins. How to safely claim coins from a fork Before attempting to claim any Bitcoin fork coins, you should research the new project and the team of developers behind it to establish its legitimacy.

They should also provide a clear and accurate roadmap for the project they want to build. For instance, a Bitcoin fork coin should implement replay protection, to allow the new network to separate from its original. Depending on the specific Bitcoin fork, you might need to perform certain risk actions such as exposing your Bitcoin wallet private keys, installing specific software or validating your identity on centralised crypto exchanges.

One of the easiest ways to claim Bitcoin fork coins is to use wallets that support them. Bitcoin forks can have various aspects to consider: Coin ratio. Fork height. The Bitcoin block height at the time that the Bitcoin Fork took place. Bitcoin wallets that received BTC after that date are not eligible for the Bitcoin fork claim.

Crypto exchange availability. Minor and less successful Bitcoin fork coins will not be supported by a lot of crypto exchanges. Before attempting to claim any Bitcoin fork coins, you should go through these simple but effective against theft steps. Step 1. You should never share the keys of an active wallet. By doing this, you eliminate any possibility of having your Bitcoin stolen.

If you still have a Legacy Bitcoin wallet with addresses beginning with 1, claiming these forks can be a great motivation to move your coins to a SegWit account. This will lower your transaction fees and allow you to use Lightning Network. Step 2. Export private keys Firstly, you will need to export your private key from the wallet that was used to hold the Bitcoin funds at the time of the fork.

Most wallets are able to export a file containing all the addresses and private keys. You can import only private keys that have funds to save time. Step 3. Check Bitcoin wallet address for available claims Using your Bitcoin wallet address, you can check if your address is entitled to a Bitcoin fork claim on Findmycoins.

All valid addresses and private key combinations should be recorded in a spreadsheet or text file that allows you to copy, paste, or replace text. The recording format should include a private key followed by the address. Each entry should be numbered and the amount of Bitcoin they contain at the time of the first fork. It will be helpful to number each key pair for ordering purposes. It may be useful to note the sizes.

You can, for example, use the address with the smaller amount to test the process. Step 4. Claim the Bitcoin fork coin using a crypto wallet There are several secure crypto wallets that can help you claim some of the most popular Bitcoin forks, such as: Coinomi.

Find the guide on how to claim Bitcoin forks on their support page. These are two distinct mobile app Bitcoin wallets. BitPie is used to claim the coins, and then Bither can be used to sell them. While the BitPie and Bither wallets are the most common solution you can find on the web these days to claim your Bitcoin forks, the wallets do not support BTC fork claiming anymore. We tried this option without any success. How to use Coinomi for Bitcoin fork claims Step 1. Install and create a Coinomi wallet Firstly, make sure you have the latest version of Coinomi on your mobile device.

Afterwards, create a new wallet, and make sure to write down its seed phrase to recover your funds later, in case something happens to the mobile device. You will also be asked to set up a password for this specific wallet and device. Select the coins you want to add Before claiming the Bitcoin forks in the Coinomi wallet, you need to select the specific coins as balances in your Coinomi wallet. Click on the bottom-right plus sign and select Add coins.

Select the Bitcoin forks you will be adding e. After you get all the transaction details The amount of Bitcoin fork coins you will receive, the value in USD, the transaction fee , review all the details and tap Confirm. You will then see the updated balance for the Bitcoin fork coins. Repeat this step for every address with a balance of the forked coin. The Ymgve is open-source. It is available on GitHub , along with all the information about how to use the script.

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Because a new rule, or fork, is introduced, the users mining that particular Bitcoin blockchain can choose to follow one set of rules or another, similar to a fork in the road. On a basic level, these forks arise out of different perspectives on transaction history, which can happen due to delays in the system. As Bitcoin became more and more popular, the blockchain technology it was built on slowed down, resulting in the entire system becoming unreliable and the transaction fees getting more expensive.

Because of this slowdown, Bitcoin needed to create a solution that would scale as more users bought and sold the product. Forks allow for a different development structure and experimentation within the Bitcoin platform without compromising the original product. The original Bitcoin was developed on 1-megabyte blocks, which was limiting as the cryptocurrency scaled and became more popular.

These forks can be developed on larger blocks and result in a brand-new currency. Note Buying and selling either original Bitcoin or any of its forks is highly speculative at this point, and you can lose a lot of money quickly. Spend only what you can afford to lose. Soft Forks A soft fork is a change to the Bitcoin protocol rather than a change to the end product. The big difference between a soft fork and a hard fork is that a soft fork is backward-compatible, which means that the new protocol will be recognized by old nodes within the system.

It also means that there is not a new product being launched, Hard Forks Hard forks are new versions of Bitcoin that are completely split from the original version. There are no transactions or communications between the two types of Bitcoin after a hard fork. They are separate from each other, and the change is permanent.

This is how various digital currencies, similar names to Bitcoin, have been created. These include Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Gold. While not many investors know, anyone who owns Bitcoin, during a hard fork, is entitled to the new cryptocurrency. Bitcoin Forks History Bitcoin has over forks, but not all projects were further developed, and only a few remain functional today.

You can find the complete list of Bitcoin forks on forkdrop. Bitcoin XT is the first known Bitcoin hard fork. Mike Hearn incorporated some of his ideas into the Bitcoin blockchain and launched Bitcoin XT in late It is said that Hearn is one of the few to have contacted Satoshi Nakamoto via email. Bitcoin XT was designed to allow 24 transactions per second.

The previous version of Bitcoin could only handle seven transactions per second. It proposed to increase the block size from 1 megabyte to 8 megabytes. Initially, Bitcoin XT was a success. In , it had more than 1, nodes running the software. But, just a few short months later, investors lost interest, and the project was abandoned. Bitcoin XT has been removed from the internet, and its website is not functional anymore.

Bitcoin Classic, like Bitcoin XT, saw a lot of initial interest. In , there were approximately 2, nodes in use. The BXC coin still exists, but it seems that the community has moved on. The website is no longer live.

Bitcoin Unlimited has remained a mystery since its initial release in Bitcoin Unlimited is unique because it allows miners to choose the size of their blocks. Nodes and miners can limit the number of blocks they accept up to 16 megabytes. The community behind Bitcoin Unlimited believes in market-driven decision making, emergent consensus, and giving their users choices. Despite some initial interest, Bitcoin Unlimited has not been widely accepted.

Only a few nodes are still online. SegWit is a project that aims to decrease the size of Bitcoin transactions, thus allowing for more transactions to occur simultaneously. Technically, SegWit is a soft fork. In response to SegWit, some Bitcoin developers and users decided to initiate a hard fork to avoid the protocol updates it brought about. Bitcoin Cash was the result of this hard fork.

It split off from the main blockchain in August , when Bitcoin Cash wallets rejected Bitcoin transactions and blocks. Bitcoin Cash allows blocks of eight megabytes and does not accept the SegWit protocol. Bitcoin Cash remains the most successful Bitcoin hard fork, and it is backed by many in the cryptocurrency community.

Because anyone can become a BitCore miner, it is impossible to centralise mining power. BitCore also has a 10 MB Segwit-enabled block that allows it to handle Bitcoin Gold is a hard fork that occurred shortly after Bitcoin Cash. The creators implemented this hard fork to restore mining functionality using basic graphics processing unit GPU because they felt mining had become too specialised. The Bitcoin Gold hard fork featured a pre-mining of the Bitcoin Gold crypto.

Pre-mining is when the development team creates the coin from the start. Developers said that these pre-mined coins will be used to grow the Bitcoin Gold ecosystem and pay developers. Bitcoin Diamond is a fork of the original Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin Diamond was created only two weeks after the Bitcoin Gold fork.

However, the first major Bitcoin hard fork, Bitcoin Cash, can process transactions per second through its increased block size. Although these cryptocurrencies may not be the same, Bitcoin Cash and Bitcoin Diamond are very similar. Some investors wonder if Bitcoin Diamond was a necessary hard fork. It is a fork from the Bitcoin Cash blockchain.

BSV is designed to provide stability and scalability while keeping Bitcoin a peer-to-peer electronic money system. It also aims to become a distributed data network that can support enterprise-level advanced blockchain applications. It has also removed artificial block sizes limits, re-enabled script commands, and other technical capabilities that had been previously disabled or restricted by protocol developers on the BTC blockchain.

The network can process thousands of transactions per second while keeping transaction fees low for micropayments. It also offers advanced capabilities like tokens, smart contracts and other use cases. The block size of Bitcoin SV can go up to 2Gb and can process over 10, transactions per second. BSV reached over BSV is unmatched in its ability to scale on-chain without any restrictions while being closer to the original Bitcoin design than any other blockchain.

They proposed an update to the Bitcoin Cash network. With this relaunch, the team also announced their plans to integrate the proof-of-stake consensus layer Avalanche, which introduces great improvements to the network. Beware of Bitcoin Forks Scams You should also bear in mind that some Bitcoin forks were created as a scam. Other scams, such as the fake Bitcoin Gold wallet, were created to steal your real funds. At the same time, you should be aware that some developers just want to make quick money.

While some Bitcoin forks seem to be similar, the primary reason for their creation is more marketing buzz. Many developers are looking for free coins, and Bitcoin forks have become the new ICOs. The team creates the fork only to sell the coins on crypto exchanges as soon as it starts trading.

To reduce your chances of losing any Bitcoin, you have to move your Bitcoin to a new wallet before claiming any coins. How to safely claim coins from a fork Before attempting to claim any Bitcoin fork coins, you should research the new project and the team of developers behind it to establish its legitimacy. They should also provide a clear and accurate roadmap for the project they want to build. For instance, a Bitcoin fork coin should implement replay protection, to allow the new network to separate from its original.

Depending on the specific Bitcoin fork, you might need to perform certain risk actions such as exposing your Bitcoin wallet private keys, installing specific software or validating your identity on centralised crypto exchanges. One of the easiest ways to claim Bitcoin fork coins is to use wallets that support them.

Bitcoin forks can have various aspects to consider: Coin ratio. Fork height. The Bitcoin block height at the time that the Bitcoin Fork took place. Bitcoin wallets that received BTC after that date are not eligible for the Bitcoin fork claim. Crypto exchange availability. Minor and less successful Bitcoin fork coins will not be supported by a lot of crypto exchanges.

Before attempting to claim any Bitcoin fork coins, you should go through these simple but effective against theft steps. Step 1. You should never share the keys of an active wallet. By doing this, you eliminate any possibility of having your Bitcoin stolen. If you still have a Legacy Bitcoin wallet with addresses beginning with 1, claiming these forks can be a great motivation to move your coins to a SegWit account. This will lower your transaction fees and allow you to use Lightning Network.