FYI the segwit2x fork this post was probably mainly motivated by appears to have been called off: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-segwit2x...
Until it's on again. Didn't they fork a few months ago too (Bitcoin Cash)?
What is a Bitcoin fork?
21–30 of 119 posts
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#22This is an interesting paradox because the whole point of the system was that it was decentralized, and once set in motion the rules could not be changed. Or so they can? And who decides? Because these forks can have considerably favourable or negative outcomes for specific stakeholders, it's nary impossible to make the decision 'fairly' and this rather undermines the whole thing, no? And yes, I do understand that 'v…
Saying the rules can be changed is like saying that your eyes changed color if you have a child with different color eyes. A fork is not the same chain as the original.
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#23FYI the segwit2x fork this post was probably mainly motivated by appears to have been called off: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-segwit2x...
Until it's on again. Didn't they fork a few months ago too (Bitcoin Cash)?
Different camps, different forks, pushing different kind of agenda
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#24That helped but I do not understand the economic compatibility of a fork. How do they not wreak havoc and chaos on that coin's economy? Do I get coins for each of the new coins or do I have to pick? It all feels really risky and that risk feels foisted upon me. Can I cash out before the fork?
Realistically, the value of the chain pre-fork should equal the value of the two chains post fork. However, this is not always the case - due to people thinking they can get 'free coins' from the other chain (price goes up), people being afraid of a fork (price goes down), etc
When a fork occurs, you do not simply split the assets and community in two, you form 2 better-aligned independent groups pursuing currency success under two different sets of operative rules. Therefore new value is potentially created both in alignment and in the greater chance of one of these currencies hitting upon the set of rules that is ultimately successful in the space. Obviously this has limits - eg when the rules are already being exhaustively explored, there are no takers for the new currency, or developer attention is already the limiting factor.
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#25Do a little searching on the people pushing the "2x" Fork - Here's one example, CEO of OP's link Coinbase.com:
>Coinbase CEO Owns More Ether Than Bitcoin - Coinjournal
>Coinbase CEO Armstrong: Ethereum Scaling Better Than Bitcoin
Another example, The head coder on the "2x" fork has announced his own coin to ICO soon,
> Jeff Garzik, ... has seen its shortcomings firsthand. So he decided to create a better digital currency.
All the people pushing the 2x fork are very heavily invested in coins competing with Bitcoin. It's odd.
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#26FYI the segwit2x fork this post was probably mainly motivated by appears to have been called off: https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-segwit2x...
Until it's on again. Didn't they fork a few months ago too (Bitcoin Cash)?
Coinbase didn't sign the notice calling off segwit2x[0] even tho they were an NYA signatory - but rather said they were "monitoring"[1] the situation
I sense some uncertainty from Coinbase on what they want to do next.
edit: also interesting that the price for segwit2x futures has increased today to ~$380 after a low of $198[2]
[0] https://lists.linuxfoundation.org/pipermail/bitcoin-segwit2x...
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#27A bitcoin fork is a political decision on the currency, like the ones central banks make. There are going to be a lot of forks in the future.
> There are going to be a lot of forks in the future.
I tend to agree. The problem, then, is what happens after 3 forks? 4? 10? We're going to keep increasing the number of crypto currencies we own and then we figure to figure out who supports what version of the currency we have to figure out how to cash out...
The entire idea of a fork sounds like an absolute nightmare. This is why I'm not putting any serious amount of money in crypto currencies.
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#28Do a little searching on the people pushing the "2x" Fork - Here's one example, CEO of OP's link Coinbase.com: >Coinbase CEO Owns More Ether Than Bitcoin - Coinjournal >Coinbase CEO Armstrong: Ethereum Scaling Better Than Bitcoin Another example, The head coder on the "2x" fork has announced his own coin to ICO soon, > Jeff Garzik, ... has seen its shortcomings firsthand. So he decided to create a better digital curr…
-Sees the flaws in bitcoin
--Wants to fix it with a hardfork
--Wants to fix it with a new coin
I think the reason for your observation is pretty obvious
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#29That helped but I do not understand the economic compatibility of a fork. How do they not wreak havoc and chaos on that coin's economy? Do I get coins for each of the new coins or do I have to pick? It all feels really risky and that risk feels foisted upon me. Can I cash out before the fork?
I don't either. Fiat currencies don't fork - you can simply exchange one for another. Another close comparison is a traded equity having a 2:1 split, except shareholders technically lose nothing. Another case would be stock dilution - though, I have never heard of a public stock diluting to 50% value... that seems unlikely. If a specific commodity were to suddenly decide it had an unreported surplus on the order of 1…
> Fiat currencies don't fork
There was an interesting situation after the fall of the Soviet Union. Because most of the states didn't have economies strong enough to support their own currency, they remained a unified currency union as part of the CIS
The only problem was that each state then started printing the money like mad and then sending it to other states to be sold / traded. Some of the states then introduced what was a quasi two-currency system - to buy local currency or to exchange it, you required both the old Soviet Ruble and a new "permission" note from the state to exchange.
In theory this placed a cap on the inflation but the result was almost like a currency fork. A lot of these states ended up establishing their own currencies but still had problems with "swaps" from the old currency - so they were constantly reissuing new notes and new coins that needed to be exchanged - but many of the old notes or permission slips would have value on the black market
Re: What is a Bitcoin fork?
#30That helped but I do not understand the economic compatibility of a fork. How do they not wreak havoc and chaos on that coin's economy? Do I get coins for each of the new coins or do I have to pick? It all feels really risky and that risk feels foisted upon me. Can I cash out before the fork?
When a chain splits, your full previous balance exists now on both child chains. The price of each chain's coins is set by supply and demand.
Typically people prefer to hold on to both coins after a split. So there's not actually that much sell pressure, meaning both coins can tend to exist together.