List of bitcoin forks

Main article: Fork (blockchain)

Bitcoin forks are defined variantly as changes in the protocol of the Bitcoin network or as the situations that occur "when two or more blocks have the same block height". A fork influences the validity of the rules. Forks are typically conducted in order to add new features to a blockchain, to reverse the effects of hacking or catastrophic bugs. Forks require consensus to be resolved or else a permanent split emerges.

According to BIP-123 specifications, there are 3 main categories of Bitcoin forks:

  • Soft Forks within Bitcoin: These don't split the network. These are consensus rule changes where some previously-valid blocks are now invalid.
  • Hard Forks within Bitcoin: These cause a permanent chain split between the 2 versions. These are consensus rule changes where some previously-invalid blocks are now valid.
  • Hard Forks that created alternative blockchains and cryptocurrencies.

There is also another subcategory of consensus rule changes that had a chance to cause a hard fork and chain split. However, because they were never exploited, they technically never resulted in a hard fork.

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