Quote from: HabBear on December 19, 2017, 06:44:11 AM

Quote from: Whatacoin22 on December 19, 2017, 06:13:21 AM

What exactly is a fork when it comes to bitcoin? Will other coins also Fork? Will Bitcoin continue to Fork later on down the line?

When developers want to make a change to the the code or rules that govern a crypto-currency's blockchain (and because blockchain networks are decentralized) they need to propose that new change to all the node owners. They way they do that is by declaring a date and time to enact the new code and then allow each node owner to select if they want to adopt the new code or not. This action creates a fork of the existing blockchain (like a fork in a road). Some node owners may choose the new path (the fork) and some may not. The blockchain that majority of node owners select technically is the winner, but the forked version can remain in existence if node owners keep it going.

To keep owners of the original cryptocurrency interested in trying the newly created/forked cryptocurrency, the developers give an amount of the newly created cryptocurrency that each wallet owner holds of the existing target cryptocurrency. This action is called the "airdrop", because you're granted coins for nothing - you don't have to buy them, you don't have to work for them.

There will continue to be forks as long as developers keep proposing alterations to an existing cryptocurrency.

That's pretty much it. If you have questions, there are a lot of people that can answer them.

This is a very clear answer! But it raises the following question: who are those developers (location, how many, etc.)? Who pays them? From your answer it seems like they can award coins by their will.

AlexR12

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