Is it possible for there to be two chains after a hard fork?



Summary:

A debate was sparked on the bitcoin-dev mailing list regarding the feasibility of a hard fork. Gavin Andresen expressed his doubts and concerns, stating that he failed to see how it would work if a majority of miners went against a stubborn 5% who refused to go along with the new rules. For example, if an exchange decided to support the 5%, people could trade coins from that fork, which would result in a huge free-fall in price as everyone rushes to get some free money. The confirmation times would be enormously long (~3 hours), there would be a huge transaction backlog, and a massive price drop for coins on the 5% fork. In conclusion, Andresen questioned whether anyone would stick to the 5% fork in the face of these issues.


Updated on: 2023-06-10T23:26:54.388323+00:00