Good morning,
Tonight, I’m discussing two network-wide upgrades, also called “forks,” scheduled for activation on Bitcoin over the next two months. Below, I explain what Bitcoin users can expect from both the eCash hard fork and the BIP-110 soft fork, which are expected to activate in August and September, respectively.
Regarding Bitcoin Core development, neither of these forks is expected to affect Core or the broader Bitcoin network, as the changes introduced by these upgrades lack broad community support. For additional updates on Core, refer to the linked posts at the bottom of today’s newsletter.
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Let’s get into it.
Yours truly,
Christine D. Kim
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Over the next two months, Bitcoin is expected to undergo two network-wide upgrades, also called “forks.”
Upgrades that restrict Bitcoin’s ruleset so that older versions of Bitcoin software can still validate new blocks are called “soft” forks, while upgrades that expand the protocol’s ruleset and introduce new functionalities that prior versions of Bitcoin software cannot support are called “hard” forks.
Between August and September, Bitcoin will undergo both a hard fork and a soft fork. However, due to the lack of broad consensus for the protocol changes introduced by either of these forks, it is unlikely that either will succeed in changing Bitcoin. Both network-wide upgrades will likely result in an extended chain split and two new competing versions of the Bitcoin protocol.
