The Ethereum Constantinople fork is coming soon, and many of you have been asking what that means and if you’ll have to do anything to prepare.
TL;DR: If you’re simply an owner of ETH, you do not need to do anything to prepare for this update.
What is a fork?
Most simply, a fork is an update to the network. It is very similar to how you update your computer or your applications to be more secure or have new features.
Have you ever tried to open a Word document or other file and it looked all wonky because it was created in a newer version of Word? Perhaps comments were lost or displayed in a weird font? A hard fork is similar to that. If people are running the old software and the new software and try to talk to each other, things may be missing or get wonky.
This is because the blockchain is decentralized and running on a ton of computers simultaneously. Instead of emailing that Word document from one person to another, everyone can access the most up-to-date “Word document” (aka the blockchain) simultaneously.
So, to make sure things don’t get wonky, everyone running a the blockchain software (aka a “node”) must update. That way everyone has the same new features and security features and is playing by the same rules.
The Ethereum Constantinople fork is coming soon, and many of you have been asking what that means and if you’ll have to do anything to prepare.
TL;DR: If you’re simply an owner of ETH, you do not need to do anything to prepare for this update.
What is a fork?
Most simply, a fork is an update to the network. It is very similar to how you update your computer or your applications to be more secure or have new features.
Have you ever tried to open a Word document or other file and it looked all wonky because it was created in a newer version of Word? Perhaps comments were lost or displayed in a weird font? A hard fork is similar to that. If people are running the old software and the new software and try to talk to each other, things may be missing or get wonky.
This is because the blockchain is decentralized and running on a ton of computers simultaneously. Instead of emailing that Word document from one person to another, everyone can access the most up-to-date “Word document” (aka the blockchain) simultaneously.
So, to make sure things don’t get wonky, everyone running a the blockchain software (aka a “node”) must update. That way everyone has the same new features and security features and is playing by the same rules.
Why is it called a fork?
It’s referred to as a fork because, similar to a fork in the road, a single chain of blocks splits into two chains separate of blocks. One path, or chain, is the people playing by the old rules. The second chain the people playing by the new rules.
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