Why does adding new opcodes to Kaspa require a hard fork?

Adding new opcodes to Kaspa's scripting language requires a hard fork because every node on the network must understand the new instructions — nodes that haven't upgraded would reject blocks that use them. A hard fork means the protocol rules change in a way that is not backward-compatible, so all participants must upgrade together or the network splits. The activation is tied to a specific DAA (Difficulty Adjustment Algorithm) score, which is Kaspa's way of measuring time on-chain, giving the community a clear and predictable deadline to upgrade. For a beginner, this matters because it shows that even seemingly small technical additions to Kaspa require network-wide coordination, and missing the upgrade window means a node falls out of consensus.