What Is the Difference between a Hard Fork and a Soft Fork in Cryptocurrency?
A hard fork is a radical software upgrade that is not backward-compatible, meaning all users must upgrade to the new version to continue participating in the network. This creates a permanent split in the blockchain, resulting in two separate cryptocurrencies.
A soft fork, in contrast, is a backward-compatible upgrade, allowing both upgraded and non-upgraded nodes to interact on the same blockchain. Soft forks tighten the rules without creating a new coin, acting more like a software update than a fundamental split.