Byzantium Fork

The Byzantium hard fork was one of the most significant updates implemented to the Ethereum Blockchain. Getting in line with the 9 Ethereum Improvement Protocols (EIP), the Byzantium hard fork brings forth stability, confidentiality as well as resilience to Ethereum. The term ‘fork’ is often used in the Blockchain ecosystem where fundamental modifications are made to the software protocol.

‘Soft forks’ offer backward compatibility, ensuring updates made to the majority of the nodes allow the network to remain intact. On the other hand, ‘Hard forks’ are incompatible with older versions of software. Unless the entire system is updated to the latest version, the Blockchain gets divided into two distinct pathways.

The sole purpose behind the Byzantium fork is to make Ethereum and other smart contracts easily accessible and widely used. In response to the implementation of the Byzantium fork, the cryptocurrency market skyrocketed. Since then, the total transactions on the ETH have far surpassed BTC, supporting its broad usage.