Hard Fork | Latest News on Bitcoin and Ethereum by Cointelegraph

During a hard fork, blockchain networks split into two different chains. A cryptocurrency hard fork results in two blockchains, in addition to two separate assets: the original and the forked asset. Cryptocurrency hard forks can be a benign, consensual upgrade spearheaded by the community, or the culmination of bitter debates that split a community into two separate chains and assets.

Multiple notable contentious hard forks have occurred over the years. In 2016, as the result of a hard fork, Ethereum (ETH) split in two, resulting in Ethereum and Ethereum Classic (ETC). And in 2017, due to another hard fork, Bitcoin (BTC) split into Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH). Developers may cooperatively implement hard forks based on consensus from multiple parties. Communities may choose to hard fork cryptocurrency for a number of reasons, such as improving network speed.