Hard forks represent a permanent divergence from the previous version of a blockchainA blockchain is a distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network. Read More. This divergence leads to a separation of the blockchainA digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by..., as some nodes no longer meet consensusConsensus is what allows a distributed system (like the blockchain) to function as a decentralized peer-to-peer system without the need... Read More, and two different versions of the network run simultaneously. At this point, a forkWhen a blockchain’s users make changes to its rules. These changes to the protocol of a blockchain often result in two... Read More on the blockchain occurs where one path continues with the current set of rules while the other follows a new set of rules. Hard forks introduce a new set of rules that are not backward compatible with the old, resulting in a permanent split between those who choose to follow each chainA chain is a linear sequence of data blocks. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block and... Read More, respectively.
