According to Mihir (@RhythmicAnalyst), a soft fork in cryptocurrency protocols allows miners to continue operating on older versions of the software even after an update goes live, which can impact network consensus and block validation. For traders, this means that potential discrepancies in miner participation could lead to temporary network slowdowns or splits, affecting transaction speeds and market liquidity until consensus stabilizes (source: twitter.com/RhythmicAnalyst/status/1919354395608613163). Monitoring miner response to soft forks is critical for anticipating short-term volatility in crypto asset prices.