A specific form of a fork which accidentally occurs when two miners or more generate a block at the same time. This implies a temporary disruption in the network that can expose stored assets to a high degree of risk.

A fork is the event arising from a blockchain diverging into two potential paths forward, reflecting a change in protocol at the junction. A fork happens when a community alters the blockchain’s protocol, or basic set of rules. This leads to a split in the chain— producing a second blockchain (the new path or route) that shares all of its history with the original chain, but it takes a new direction.

Coding errors may arise when newer versions of newly created blocks are not fully compatible with older ones. The splitting usually happens due to a fundamental disagreement between participants with respect to the rules and direction of the network. An accidental fork can also occur when a certain number of miners create a block almost simultaneously. This also leads to a divergence of the two forked blockchains.

The blockchain may also accidentally split due to errors/ bugs or other technical problems. Accidental forks materialize when a new version of the software is released while certain users continue to use the old version, leading to creation of two separate chains. These forks can be disruptive to the chain and can cause a loss of data or funds if not managed timely. Splitting of the chain implies a divergence of the transaction history of the blockchain due to the errors. This gives rise to different versions of the blockchain by the nodes. Network disruption continues until until the network reaches consensus on the correct version of the blockchain that will be running on all the nodes.

Prevention measures for accidental forks may be taken to ensure the same version of the software is used and that the software is not released unless completely tested and verified. Today, accidental forks do not occur frequently. Multiple layers of protocols and measures are deployed to prevent these accidental forks.