Forking is easy. Maintenance can be extremely hard. Since Satoshi left, Bitcoin has evolved dramatically in terms of security and functionality. Thanks to the

Forking is easy. Maintenance can be extremely hard. Since Satoshi left, Bitcoin has evolved dramatically in terms of security and functionality. Thanks to the core developers and the whole community. Aside from the core Bitcoin system, peripheral infrastructures like exchanges, end-user software clients, and online wallet services, etc., have been and will be created and improved. None of these is easy work. There are many forks of Bitcoin as of now and will probably be more, but it could be hard for all of them to survive in the long run.