computer science

List of bitcoin forks

List of bitcoin forks is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of bitcoin forks rather than just read about it. In short: Bitcoin forks are defined variantly as changes in the protocol of the Bitcoin network or as the situations that occur "when two or more blocks have the same block height". A fork influences the validity of the rules.

Key takeaways

List of bitcoin forks belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of bitcoin forks to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of bitcoin forks from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Bitcoin forks are defined variantly as changes in the protocol of the Bitcoin network or as the situations that occur "when two or more blocks have the same block height". A fork influences the validity of the rules. Forks are typically conducted in order to add new features to a blockchain, to reverse the effects of hacking or catastrophic bugs. Forks require consensus to be resolved or else a permanent split emerges. According to BIP 123 specifications, there are 3 main categories of Bitcoin forks:

Soft Forks within Bitcoin: These don't split the network. These are consensus rule changes where some previously-valid blocks are now invalid. Hard Forks within Bitcoin: These cause a permanent chain split between the 2 versions. These are consensus rule changes where some previously-invalid blocks are now valid. Hard Forks that created alternative blockchains and cryptocurrencies. There is also another subcategory of consensus rule changes that had a chance to cause a hard fork and chain split. However, because they were never exploited, they technically never resulted in a hard fork.

Soft Forks within Bitcoin These are consensus rule changes that did not cause a split in the network. These are the result of consensus rule changes where previously-valid blocks are now invalid in newer clients. Client nodes both with and without the update can still build on the same chain. Two of the most well-known Bitcoin soft forks are Segwit and Taproot.

Segwit

Taproot Taproot is an agreed soft fork in the transaction format. The fork adds support for Schnorr signatures, and improves functionality of smart contracts and the Lightning Network. The fork was installed in November 2021. The upgrade adds privacy features. Taproot includes BIP numbers 340, 341, 342. Advantages:

Complex transactions, such as those requiring multiple signatures or those with delayed release, are indistinguishable from simple transactions in terms of on-chain data. Reduced transaction costs: The data size of complex Bitcoin transactions is reduced, which leads to lower transaction fees. Support for more complicated conditions for a transaction via Schnorr signatures. Benefits for the Lightning Network: More flexibility, privacy enhancement, lower costs.

Hard Forks within Bitcoin These are Hard Forks within Bitcoin that caused a chain split but did not create an alternative network or cryptocurrency. These are consensus rule changes where some previously-invalid blocks are now valid in newer clients.

v0.3.6: The addition of OP_NOP functions eventually caused a chain split. Clients prior to 0.3.6 can no longer sync with the current Bitcoin blockchain after block 163,685. March 2013 Chain Fork. The migration from BerkeleyDB to LevelDB in v0.8 caused a chain split. Miners reorged 24-blocks by switching back to v0.7.2. At least one double-spend occurred during this event. This bug was later fixed in v0.8.1.

Hard Forks that created alternative blockchains and cryptocurrencies These are Hard Forks created via consensus rule changes that created an alternative blockchain and cryptocurrency. They share a transaction history with Bitcoin up to a certain time and date. The first hard fork splitting bitcoin happened on 1 August 2017, resulting in the creation of Bitcoin Cash. The following is a list of notable hard forks splitting bitcoin by date and/or block:

Bitcoin Cash: Forked at block 478558, 1 August 2017, for each bitcoin (BTC), an owner got 1 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Bitcoin Gold: Forked at block 491407, 24 October 2017, for each bitcoin (BTC), an owner got 1 Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Bitcoin Satoshi Vision: Forked at block 556766, 15 November 2018, for each Bitcoin Cash (BCH), an owner got 1 Bitcoin SV (BSV). eCash: Forked at block 661648, 15 November 2020, for each Bitcoin Cash (BCH), an owner got 1,000,000 eCash (XEC). Bitcoin Classic In its first 8 months, Bitcoin Classic promoted a single increase of the maximum block size from one megabyte to two megabytes. In November 2016 this changed and the project moved to a solution that moved the limit out of the software rules into the hands of the miners and nodes. Bitcoin Unlimited All three software clients attempt to increase transaction capacity of the network. None achieved a majority of the hash power.

Software forks of Bitcoin Core without a blockchain The following are proposed software forks of the Bitcoin Core software client that did not successfully launch a blockchain:

Bitcoin XT A fork initiated by Mike Hearn. The current reference implementation for bitcoin contains a computational bottleneck. The actual fork was preceded by Mike Hearn publishing BIP 64 on June 10, 2014, calling for the addition of "a small P2P protocol extension that performs UTXO lookups given a set of outpoints." On December 27, 2014 Hearn released version 0.10 of the forked client XT, with the BIP 64 changes. It achieved significant attention within the bitcoin community in mid-2015 amid a contentious debate among core developers over increasing the block size cap. On June 22, 2015, Gavin Andresen published BIP 101 calling for an increase in the maximum block size. The changes would activate a fork allowing eight MB blocks (doubling in size every two years) once 75% of a stretch of 1,000 mined blocks is achieved after the beginning of 2016. The new maximum transaction rate under XT would have been 24 transactions per second. On August 6, 2015 Andresen's BIP 101 proposal was merged into the XT codebase. BIP 101 was reverted and the 2-MB block size bump of Bitcoin Classic was applied instead. The August 2015 release of XT received widespread media coverage. The Guardian wrote that "bitcoin is facing civil war". Wired wrote that "Bitcoin XT exposes the extremely social—extremely democratic—underpinnings of the open source idea, an approach that makes open source so much more powerful than technology controlled by any one person or organization." Developer Adam Back was critical of the 75% activation threshold being too low and that some of the changes were insecure. On August 25, 2017, Bitcoin XT published Release G, which was a Bitcoin Cash client by default. Subsequently, Release H was published, which supported the November 2017 Bitcoin Cash protocol upgrade, followed by Release I, which supported the May 2018 Bitcoin Cash protocol upgrade.

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Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of bitcoin forks

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of bitcoin forks claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of bitcoin forks before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of bitcoin forks ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of bitcoin forks

In research: List of bitcoin forks appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of bitcoin forks in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of bitcoin forks is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bitcoin clients, Clients (computing), Computing-related lists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of bitcoin forks outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of bitcoin forks in 20 minutes

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Frequently asked questions

What is List of bitcoin forks in simple terms?

Why does List of bitcoin forks matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of bitcoin forks?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of bitcoin forks.