At 15:00 UTC on Wednesday, the much-anticipated Zhejiang testnet for staking withdrawal went live on Ethereum’s Beacon chain. Zhejiang will enable the testing of the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4895 which allows for staking withdrawals. This is in preparation for the network’s next major update, the Shanghai hard fork slated to launch sometime in March. Users Can Make Simulated Withdrawals with Zhejiang In a tweet yesterday, DevOps engineer at Ethereum foundation Barnabas Busa gave details about the Zhejiang testnet slated…
What is a Crypto Chain Split?
A chain split, also known as a fork, occurs in a blockchain network when the community of users and developers disagree on the rules that govern the network. This disagreement can lead to a split in the chain, creating two separate versions of the blockchain with different sets of rules.
One common example of a fork is a hard fork, which occurs when a blockchain’s protocol is changed so that it is no longer compatible with the previous version. This can happen when the community of users and developers cannot reach a consensus on a particular issue, such as the proposed introduction of a new feature or a change in how transactions are processed. As a result, the blockchain splits into two separate chains: one that follows the new protocol and another that continues to use the old protocol.
A more specific example of a hard fork was the one on the Ethereum network in 2016. The goal of this hard fork was to return the funds stolen from The DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization), a smart contract running on top of ethereum. As a result, this hard fork created two separate versions of the Ethereum blockchain: Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).
Another type of fork is a soft fork, which is a backward-compatible change to the protocol. This means that although the new version of the protocol is not compatible with the old version, nodes running the old version of the protocol can still participate in the network but with certain restrictions.
A good example of a soft fork was the one on the Bitcoin network, known as the Segregated Witness (SegWit) soft fork. It was meant to increase the limit of transactions processed on the Bitcoin network by changing how data is stored within a block. This soft fork was implemented on August 1st, 2017, and nodes running the new version of the protocol were able to process more transactions per block than those running the old version of the protocol. However, all the nodes can still participate in the network.
Crypto Fork vs. Chain Split
A fork and a chain split are related but distinct concepts in blockchain technology.
A fork refers to a change in the blockchain network’s software. This change can be a modification to the protocol or the introduction of new features. If most of the network’s users and miners adopt and start using the new software, it will continue to function as normal. However, a chain split will occur if some of the network’s users and miners do not adopt the new software and continue using the old version.
A chain split results from a fork where the community of users and miners cannot reach a consensus on the new changes, and the blockchain splits into two separate chains with different sets of rules. As explained previously, these chains can be either a hard fork or a soft fork. The hard fork chain creates two new distinct blockchains, while the soft fork chain maintains the old one but with reduced functionality.
In summary, a fork is a proposed change to the protocol or software, while a chain split is an outcome if the community cannot reach a consensus.
Popular Chain Splits
here are a few examples of chain splits that have occurred in the past:
- The Ethereum hard fork in 2016: As mentioned before, this fork resulted from a hack on the Ethereum blockchain, where an attacker exploited a vulnerability in a smart contract called The DAO and stole a large amount of Ether. The Ethereum community decided to fork the blockchain hard to return the stolen funds to their rightful owners, creating two separate blockchains: Ethereum (ETH) and Ethereum Classic (ETC).
- The Bitcoin Cash hard fork in 2017: This fork occurred due to a disagreement within the Bitcoin community over how to scale the Bitcoin network to handle more transactions. The group that wanted to increase the block size limit forked the Bitcoin blockchain to create Bitcoin Cash (BCH), which has a larger block size limit than Bitcoin (BTC).
- The Bitcoin SV hard fork in 2018: This fork resulted from a disagreement within the Bitcoin Cash community over the project’s future direction. It created two separate versions of the blockchain: Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin SV (BSV).
- The Zcash hard fork in 2020: Resulted from disagreement in the Zcash community about how to fund development and improve the network. As a result, Zcash (ZEC) split into two new chains: Zcash and Ycash (YEC)
- The Monero hard fork in 2021: the Monero community decided to fork the Monero blockchain hard to implement a change called “Monero Cryptonight-R” which will prevent the use of special-purpose hardware, such as ASICs, which can make the network more centralized.
These are just a few examples, but many other chain splits have occurred in the past and will likely continue to occur as the blockchain community continues to evolve and grow.