Quote from: squatter on November 04, 2017, 07:07:07 AM

Quote from: HabBear on November 04, 2017, 03:30:39 AM

Are hard forks the poor developer's ICO?

Two attempts since August to hard fork bitcoin, two more ahead of us. These developers just want lay claim to the best cryptocurrency and instead of creating it from scratch they feel they need to hijack bitcoin - why?

Developers who pursue hard forks really are trying to get something for nothing. And they give us something for nothing (in the airdrop) to try to get us to subscribe to their sheisty intentions.

It's obvious that they are trying to leverage the biggest cryptocurrency network to bootstrap their own. Bitcoin Cash definitely started a trend and I don't see it stopping anytime soon.

Old timers should appreciate the fact that noobs will be fleeced into buying "the next Bitcoin." Most people I've talked to, when they first entered this space, bought into altcoins because "Bitcoin was too expensive." This time around, we as BTC holders get to profit because people are buying into hard forks w/ airdrops instead of newly launched coins. It feels a little dirty taking peoples' money like that, but what are we supposed to do? Tongue

Thats an interesting point. Piggy-backing on an a "notable" cryptocurrency network gives hard-forkers an advantage in terms of existing users and brand awareness. But these are marketing reasons.

My question is, from a technology perspective, why do these projects need to fork the bitcoin blockchain and why dont they just start a new one, with their own consensus and other rules? What is the technological benefit in staying on / forking the bitcoin blockchain?