PulseHawk

Hard fork and network upgrade monitoring

A hard fork changes the rules a network runs on. Hard fork monitoring shows whether the change did what it set out to do. We measure block time, difficulty and orphaned blocks ourselves, before and after the upgrade.

What do we compare before and after the upgrade?

  • Block time. The distribution with median, p90, p99 and the longest gap between two blocks.
  • Difficulty. How fast it follows a change in hashrate.
  • Stale and orphaned blocks. How many valid blocks did not make the main chain.
  • Propagation. The delay until a block reaches all of our measurement points.
  • Load. Transactions per minute and fees.

Every network upgrade before and after comparison uses two windows of the same length, both in UTC.

How does ongoing measurement work?

  1. Baseline. Our measurement runs weeks before activation and records the old rules.
  2. Activation. We follow the upgrade height block by block, on testnet and mainnet.
  3. Monthly report. Each month you get a dated report with charts and the CSV.
  4. Publication. Results are published as measured, after you have seen them.

What does it cost?

Ongoing measurement
from 1,500 € ($1,750) per month

Prices as of October 2026, net, plus VAT where it applies. Invoices in euro. A single upgrade without ongoing work is priced like a launch measurement.

Is it the right fit?

Best for

  • Core teams shipping a hard fork
  • Foundations and grant committees that track a network over time
  • Mining pools and exchanges that plan around an upgrade

Not for

  • Teams that need their code reviewed
  • A one day snapshot
  • Questions about price or market

Questions we get asked

How long before the upgrade should measurement start?

Four weeks before activation gives a clean baseline. Shorter works too, the report then says how long the baseline was.

Do you cover the testnet activation as well?

Yes, and it is often the better test, because problems show there first. Many teams book both.

Where can we see upcoming hard forks?

In our network upgrade calendar. Every entry links to its source.

See a sample report

Request a measurement