What Is a “Contentious Hard Fork” versus a “Planned Hard Fork”?
A planned hard fork is a scheduled, non-controversial upgrade where the community and developers are in agreement, ensuring a smooth transition. A contentious hard fork results from an irreconcilable governance dispute, leading to two competing chains and a community split.
The contentious fork carries high financial and network risk, while the planned fork is a routine technical update.
Glossar
Fork
Chain ⎊ A fork, within cryptocurrency contexts, represents a divergence in the blockchain's history, resulting from a change in the underlying protocol rules.
Contentious Hard Fork
Fork ⎊ A contentious hard fork represents a permanent divergence in a cryptocurrency's blockchain, resulting in two separate chains where consensus breaks down regarding protocol changes.
Planned Hard Fork
Event ⎊ Planned Hard Fork is a pre-announced, non-backward-compatible upgrade to a blockchain protocol that requires all participants to transition to the new software version by a specific block height.
Contentious Fork
Division ⎊ A Contentious Fork represents a non-unanimous protocol upgrade where a significant minority of network participants refuse to adopt the new rules, resulting in a permanent split of the blockchain into two distinct, competing chains.