
What is Chia (XCH)? How to Farm It With a Hard Drive
Instead of Bitcoin's proof of work consensus mechanism, Chia uses a novel "proof of space" model that uses storage space on hard drives.

Instead of Bitcoin's proof of work consensus mechanism, Chia uses a novel "proof of space" model that uses storage space on hard drives.
Gaming
The Web3 game industry is growing on blockchain networks like Avalanche, Solana, Polygon, and even the newly-launched Sui. One platform you don't find on that list is Chia, the novel storage-based blockchain network—but that may soon change. Last week, Chia Network—which recently signaled plans to go public—launched what it’s calling the Chia Open Digital Economy (CODE) framework, which is infrastructure and tooling designed to power an open metaverse of games and applications that use interoper...
Coins
Chia (XCH)—a layer-1 blockchain developed by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen—is soaring after the Chia Network signaled its intention to become a publicly listed company. “Chia Network, Inc. today announced that it has confidentially submitted a draft registration statement on Form S-1 to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the 'SEC') relating to the proposed initial public offering of its common stock,” said the company in a press release on Friday. Chia Network, Inc. is the company beh...
NFTs
Ethereum currently rules the NFT market in both trading volume and high-value projects, with rising rival Solana trailing behind on both markers. But there’s an incoming entrant that aims to deliver where it claims that both competing blockchain platforms fall short: Chia. Chia turned heads in the crypto space in the spring of last year, delivering a new kind of storage-based alternative to blockchain security and mining that it claimed made it a “green” alternative to Bitcoin and Ethereum. Now...
Technology
Recently-launched cryptocurrency Chia uses storage space, rather than processing power, to secure its network. The problem is most standard hard drives can't handle the wear and tear. Now, the first solid-state drives (SSDs) that are certified for "farming" Chia have been launched by U.S. computer hardware manufacturer PNY. The PNY LX2030 and LX3030 M.2 NVMe SSDs are "ultra high endurance" models that offer endurance ratings of up to 54,000 terabytes written (TBW). That's important, because Chia...
Business
Proof of space cryptocurrency Chia caused a run on hard drives in Southeast Asia ahead of its launch. Now sales of hard drives are soaring in Europe, according to a report by research firm Context—and Chia is the main culprit. "For sure it is Chia," Gurvan Meyer, an analyst at Context, told IT publication The Register. According to Context's report on the European computer storage market, sales of enterprise-grade storage drives over 10TB grew to 200,000 in April 2021, increasing 240% compared...
The Projects
Cryptocurrency mining has been making headlines—and not the good kind. An increasing focus has been placed on the environmental impact of crypto mining, particularly the energy-intensive "proof of work" (PoW) mining employed by Bitcoin and (for the time being) by Ethereum. Chia aims to change all that, with a novel "proof of space and time" consensus mechanism that uses storage, rather than processing power, to secure the network. Its creators claim that it's more secure, more distributed, and l...
Business
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 a...
Business
Novel "proof-of-space" cryptocurrency Chia sparked a shortage of hard drives across Southeast Asia in the run-up to its launch last month. It's proved to be a boon for hard drive manufacturers, which are now seeing their stock prices spike amid the demand for their hardware. Shares in hard drive manufacturers Western Digital and Seagate have increased since Chia launched earlier this month. Seagate shares are now trading at $98.47, up from $88.48 at the start of May, an increase of 11%. Western...
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