Soft Fork (Blockchain)
| A soft fork is a modification to a blockchain that adds or removes functionality without initiating any fundamental structural changes. Forks can be categorized as either hard or soft. A hard fork is a radical change to the protocol that makes previously invalid blocks/transactions valid (or vice-versa). This requires all nodes or users to upgrade to the new version of the protocol software. A soft fork is a change to the software protocol where only previously valid blocks/transactions are made invalid. Since old nodes will recognize the new blocks as valid, a soft fork can be implemented without requiring a fork. |
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