​​#Useful_notes
What is hard fork and soft fork and why do we need them?

Modern cryptocurrencies, including the Bitcoin Protocol, are based on decentralized data accounting technology known as blockchain. Each block of the common blockchain chain contains information about several transactions, and each subsequent block depends on the previous one and refers to it. In the most General form, "fork" is a change in the cryptocurrency code, after which a new branch of the blockchain is formed. Varieties of forks are "hard work and soft work".

Hard fork called a radical change in the rules of the Protocol, which requires a software update. In fact, as a result of updates and branching of the chain occurs the new Protocol.

If users support the idea of software updates, the system starts working according to the new rules. If a group of people is opposed to making changes, there is a split of the pre-existing community of users. In this scenario, there is a split blockchain and a new cryptocurrency.

Soft fork called minor system update, which optimize the individual functions of the coin. It will be able to work as before, even if part of nodes refuses to accept the new rules.

Often, a "fork" is called a cryptocurrency created by analogy with another cryptocurrency. Technically, it should be based on a different Protocol. An example of a fork of Bitcoin is the Litecoin Protocol. Since historically the first cryptocurrency is bitcoin, It has the record for the number of forks.