By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
Currently, Chinese crypto miners are reportedly purchasing HDDs and SSDs with capacities between 4TB and 18TB in bulk. The prices for HDD and SSD are rocketing, and their buying is becoming harder.
On March 24, US-based blockchain startup Chia Network Inc launched its revolutionary eco-friendly blockchain and its new digital currency CHIA (XCH). In addition, the company introduced Chialisp, a smart transaction on-chain programming language. After Chia Network revealed that its crypto uses a hard drive or SSD instead of a CPU, GPU, or ASIC, Chinese miners have started buying every HDD or SSD they can find. As a result, HDD and SSD shortage seems to be inevitable.
Currently, Chinese crypto miners are reportedly purchasing HDDs and SSDs with capacities between 4TB and 18TB in bulk. According to Jiahe Jinwei, Chinese biggest SSD manufacturer, it has sold out all of its Gloway and Asgard high-performance 1TB and 2TB NVMe M.2 SSDs. As a result of this rush, HDD and SSD prices are now spiking, and their buying is becoming much harder.
It seems unbelievable that Chia Network alone could provoke such a demand for HDD and SSD. Let us see how its crypto functions and why it has caused such an effect.
What Is Chia Network?
Chia Network is a US-based startup that focuses on building a better blockchain. It aims to provide a more decentralized, more efficient, and more secure smart transaction platform. Chia Network also wants to reinvent the world of digital currencies, and some analysts agree that it has the potential to become a new Bitcoin (BTC).
Bram Cohen, the founder of BitTorrent Inc, founded Chia Network back in 2017. Gene Hoffman, the former founder and CEO of eMusic.com and Vindicia, and Mitch Edwards, the former acting-CEO of Overstock.com, are also a part of Chia Network’s Team.
The initial vision was to help improve Bitcoin’s functioning and deliver on the promises of this “magic internet money”. According to the company’s business whitepaper, Chia Network is “doubling down on Bitcoin” as well as “adopting and helping Bitcoin adopt new technologies”.
Positioning itself as a “green blockchain for the digital work”, Chia Network relies upon a new Nakamoto consensus algorithm called Proof of Space and Proof of Time (PoST). The algorithm allows network participants to prove that they have spent a “spacetime” resource, meaning that they have allocated storage capacity to the network over a period of time. As mentioned above, to mine Chia, you need HDD or SSD, which means you farm Chia with storage space.
In addition, due to its Chialisp programming language, Chia blockchain is more transparent, easy to use, better optimized for transactions as well as more decentralized than Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin (BTC), or XRP. In the last 24 hours, it has around 2,000 full nodes, as well as 12,500 full nodes after launch.
As for the coin supply, the mainnet of the Chia Network launched with 21 million XCH in circulation. It will take another 21 years to double the current supply of tokens.
