hard fork
noun1
Business, Cryptocurrencies, Cryptocurrency, Finance A rule change of a blockchain such that the software validating according to the old rules will see the blocks produced according to the new rules as invalid; the new blockchain resulting from such a split.
- Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin.
- Some are pushing for a “hard fork” of Ethereum, which would undo the damage by effectively asking 51% of the currency’s users to agree to pretend that it had never happened in the first place.2017 November 8, Alex Hern, “'$300m in cryptocurrency' accidentally lost forever due to bug”, in The Guardian:
1 more example
- As it pertains to blockchain technology, a hard fork is an upgrade to mining software that makes a change to the network that requires the participation of all miners.2020, Lorne Lantz, Daniel Cawrey, Mastering Blockchain, O'Reilly, →ISBN, page 61: