A hard fork is a software upgrade that has to be implemented by a blockchain. The enhancements that come with the hard fork’s new protocol are often incompatible with the existing blockchain protocol, resulting in two parts — one that follows the previous protocol and the other that follows the new one.

Forks are often initiated by crypto community members or developers who want advanced functionalities that the current network protocol failed to meet. At times, users leverage hard forks as a way to crowdsource for building new technology projects.