OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures | Episode 7: What Does Blockchain Fork Mean?
"OKX Blockchain 60 Lectures" is a blockchain educational animation video co-produced by OKX and Sina Tech, targeting users with zero blockchain foundation. Through series articles, educational animations, and other forms, it explains blockchain concepts vividly from the perspectives of concepts, technology, and applications, covering 5 major sections and 60 knowledge points. The content of this episode was completed under the guidance of Austrian School economist Bu'erfeimo.
The so-called blockchain fork can be said to be a unique version upgrade method in blockchain networks. Like the "WeChat, Taobao" apps we use in daily life, these are actually centralized applications. Every period of time, the creators of these applications like Tencent and Alibaba need to upgrade the programs to add new features or fix some bugs.
When these apps are upgraded, centralized teams like Alibaba and Tencent will complete the code and deploy it in the backend, upgrading the servers first, and then we users can upgrade the product on the terminal (client). But in the end, the upgrade content of these centralized internet products is consistent, determined by centralized companies, and users upgrade uniformly.
As for the blockchain system, we know that it is a database that everyone can participate in. Its code is open, and the entire network is decentralized. This means there is no centralized company to make upgrade decisions or formulate version upgrade content, and there isn't even a server.
Therefore, when blockchain performs version upgrades, it needs a completely different upgrade method from centralized products. Thus, forks came into being.
Although blockchain has no centralized company to maintain it and no central server, everyone can participate. This means that when blockchain performs version upgrades, the upgrade content will be decided together by participating miners on how to modify it. It's even possible for multiple versions to arise due to disagreements among miners. Unlike the internet where one company dominates and there's no room for choice.
In addition, it also has terminals, and each terminal connects to this large distributed database of blockchain. Data is packaged into blocks and linked together to form a chain structure.
Its principle is this: when blockchain performs version upgrades, it actually starts with terminal upgrades. Everyone can download, install, and perform upgrades in their respective communities. The upgraded terminals then access the blockchain network to perform data processing and share data.
During the upgrade process, there will inevitably be a period when new and old versions coexist. When two versions access data, the existing blockchain will split. Starting from a certain block, it connects to blocks processed by two different versions, and then each block connects to new blocks, thus forming two chains. It's like tree branches, where everyone shares the same trunk and shares the data before the split.
In addition, it also has terminals, and each terminal connects to this large distributed database of blockchain. Data is packaged into blocks and linked together to form a chain structure.
Its principle is this: when blockchain performs version upgrades, it actually starts with terminal upgrades. Everyone can download, install, and perform upgrades in their respective communities. The upgraded terminals then access the blockchain network to perform data processing and share data.
During the upgrade process, there will inevitably be a period when new and old versions coexist. When two versions access data, the existing blockchain will split. Starting from a certain block, it connects to blocks processed by two different versions, and then each block connects to new blocks, thus forming two chains. It's like tree branches, where everyone shares the same trunk and shares the data before the split.
Thanks to Teacher Bu'erfeimo for his help and guidance with this episode's content.
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