Fork, Accidental Fork
This definition comes from the technical glossary.
Definition
When two or more blocks have the same block height, forking the block chain. Typically occurs when two or more miners find blocks at nearly the same time. Can also happen as part of an attack.
Synonyms
- Fork
Not To Be Confused With
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Hard fork (a change in consensus rules that breaks security for nodes that don’t upgrade)
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Soft fork (a change in consensus rules that weakens security for nodes that don’t upgrade)
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Software fork (when one or more developers permanently develops a codebase separately from other developers)
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Git fork (when one or more developers temporarily develops a codebase separately from other developers)
Links
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Fork — Bitcoin Developer Guide
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What is the longest block chain fork that has been made stale so far? — Bitcoin StackExchange