Major German cloud hosting provider Hetzner has barred users from mining crypto on its servers following the recent launch of Chia, a new token that utilizes storage space to produce new blocks.
“Yes, it's true, we have expanded the terms and conditions and banned crypto mining. We have received many orders for our large hard drive servers. For this, however, large Storage Boxes [storage servers] are increasingly being rented,” the company tweeted yesterday (in text translated by Decrypt using an auto translator).
Ja es stimmt, wir haben die AGBs erweitert und Krypto-Mining verboten. Wir haben viele Bestellungen für unsere Server mit großen Festplatten erhalten. Dafür werden aber auch zunehmend große Storage-Boxen angemietet. Bei Storage-Boxen führt das zu Problemen 1/2
— Hetzner Online GmbH (@Hetzner_Online) May 19, 2021
The firm explained that it has been seeing a surge in user demand for storage servers, known as Storage Boxes, following the launch of Chia in early May. Apart from an increase in bandwidth load, Hetzner is also concerned that continuous usage of its storage drives for mining could lead to premature breakdowns.
Because of this, the updated service agreement now says that “In order for us to operate a high-performing and reliable network for our customers, the operation of applications for mining cryptocurrencies is prohibited.”
Seed and farm at home
BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen created Chia. Unlike computationally and energy-intensive proof-of-work blockchains—such as Bitcoin or Ethereum—Chia "farmers" use storage space to mine Chia.
Chia uses a so-called “Proof of Space and Time” consensus algorithm and is heavily reliant on fast writing speeds. Thus, users would ideally need solid-state drives (SSDs) to “seed” unused space and then “farm” the tokens on slower, but larger hard disk drives (HDDs).
Chia "farmers" reportedly caused shortages of hard drives in Southeast Asia as they raced to snap up suitable hardware ahead of its launch; stocks in hard drive manufacturers have subsequently seen an uptick.
Miners planning to transact in a "proof of space" crypto intended as an eco-friendly alternative to Bitcoin have sparked a run on hard drives in Southeast Asia.
Chia (XCH), a cryptocurrency that can be mined with a high-capacity storage device, will start trading on May 3 at 10 am PST, the startup’s chief of operations Gene Hoffman told Decrypt. Trading platform Hotbit started trading XCH IOUs and futures on Tuesday.
But already Chia, created by BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen as a greener alter...
While Chia mining systems may include both high-speed SSDs and slower HDDs, some recent reports have suggested that constant and extensive write load could result in drives breaking down in a matter of two to three months. Some reports peg breakdown to just a few weeks.
SSDs, in particular, are known for their limited lifespans since they are designed to last only for a certain number of write cycles. Under “normal” conditions, this could be at least several years, but their life expectancy becomes much shorter under extreme loads.
For some odd reason the 'Chia burns out hard drives!' is getting repeated as the fashionable fud. This is odd, because for the most part it's just plain wrong (thread)
Still, Cohen himself recently argued that the “Chia burns out hard drives!” narrative is nothing more than a “fashionable FUD.”
“If you plot with a plain old HD or an enterprise-class SSD, then your drive will survive no problem. Plotting on hard drives, including the one which you'll probably leave your plot on, works fine. It's a bit slower and requires more headroom, but works fine,” Cohen said.
Bitcoin miner Bitdeer in May minted 196 BTC, an increase of over 18% from April—the latest monthly gain registered by a publicly traded miner as the industry slowly recovers from headwinds caused by a dip in the leading cryptocurrency's price and rising difficulty.
Nasdaq-listed Bitdeer (BTDR) reported Wednesday that it also increased its hashrate to 13.6 exahash per second from 12.4 the previous month, due to new mining machinery. Exahash is a measurement of computational power.
Data from Far...
Video game retailer GameStop said on Wednesday that it plans to offer $1.75 billion worth of convertible senior notes to investors, according to a company press release.
The notes, which are not expected to bear interest, will mature in 2032, the company said, adding that the offering’s conversion price will be determined at a later date. Convertible notes allow a buyer to convert the debt into common stock under certain conditions.
Although GameStop purchased 4,710 Bitcoin last month, the compa...
Invesco, which manages $1.8 trillion in assets, has appointed JP Morgan Chase blockchain veteran Kathleen Wrynn to lead its more than billion dollar digital asset portfolio, a move underscoring financial institutions growing interest in cryptocurrencies.
Wrynn will serve as Invesco’s global head of digital assets—a newly created role that entails overseeing the management of various tokenized assets and cryptocurrency investments.
Wrynn will also be in charge of initiatives such as tokenizing...
