What is soft fork? Soft fork is a blockchain upgrade that’s backward-compatible. This means nodes that don’t update can still run smoothly and validate new blocks, as long as those blocks follow the new rules. Soft forks are often used for smaller changes, such as bug fixes, security patches, or optimizations. In contrast, a hard fork introduces non-compatible rules. In other words, all nodes within the network must update to the new version to validate new transactions. If some nodes fail to upgrade, a permanent split, or “fork,” occurs in the blockchain. This split typically results in the creation of a new cryptocurrency. That’s a soft fork. Simple.

Have you ever wondered what Ethereum block production actually looks like? A practical example makes it easier to understand:

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