Soft Fork
Blockchain FundamentalsUpdated: October 15, 2025
Also known as: Soft Fork, Backward-Compatible Fork
Browse all Blockchain Fundamentals terms
A blockchain update that is backward-compatible
A blockchain update that is backward-compatible.
Soft forks tighten or add rules without creating a permanent chain split. Nodes running old software can still validate new blocks, though they may not understand new features. SegWit was a notable Bitcoin soft fork.