Chia Network

Apart from the recent upheaval created by Ether crypto hitting record values, the internet is now gazing upon another new cryptocurrency that has been anticipated to overtake Bitcoin. This new crypto called Chia (XCH) was designed by Bram Cohen, founder of BitTorrent, as an eco-friendly alternative for Bitcoin. DigitalCoin estimates that Chia will cross USD5000 in the future and can be a profitable investment.  Chia does not need systems with high computing capacities or graphics cards to mine it. Instead, it can be mined using hard drive storage space. 

The Chia Network Recently released a whitepaper stating the company operations, market overview, and other key features. 

Bitcoin uses ‘proof of work’, a process that uses high computing capabilities, single-use hardware, and other specialized hardware for mining the cryptocurrency. This has made a centralized group that owns and operates these mining hardware that becomes really expensive for the users. The whitepaper says, “Our coins use a refined version of Bitcoin’s unspent transaction outputs (UTXO) model. Chia is the first new Nakamoto consensus since Bitcoin and utilizes many of Satoshi’s previously un-articulated insights like the fact that natural log governs key blockchain constants related to work difficulty resets.”Chia Network calls its algorithm ‘Proof of Space and Time’ that utilizes the over-provisioned exabytes of disk space and renames the mining process as ‘Farming’. Chialisp is the smart transaction programming language of the Chia network, that combines both Bitcoin’s UTXO models and Ethereum’s Solidity model. 

Chia network’s blockchain is revealed to be an open-source, decentralized network with a payment settlement system, that is secure, efficient, and easy to use. Chia farming is said to be less energy and resource-intensive that uses unused storage space. Chia uses very little energy unlike other cryptos like Ethereum and Bitcoin. Chia has a sustainable model compared to other digital currencies and hence is branded as green and eco-friendly, with fewer emissions and energy use. Amazon Web Services recently revealed that Chia can be mined on the AWS cloud computing platform. The ability to integrate Chia into the cloud will further reduce energy consumption to zero. 

According to reports, if Chia mining becomes popular, the hard drive suppliers and memory storage manufacturers might come under great pressure due to the high demand for enterprise-grade hard drives and SSDs. This surge in demand might also lead to an increase in the prices of HDDs and SDDs. 

 Instead of having a hard cap on the total number of Chia coins on its blockchain, prefers predictable inflation. The whitepaper mentions “Chia Network intends to list the equity of the Company on a major stock exchange to strengthen the credibility and regulatory certainty of its open-source software support business with governments, financial institutions, and enterprises.” The network has also listed some of its investors, which includes Slow Ventures, Breyer Capital, IDEO Colab, Cygni Capital, True Ventures, and more. The Co-founder, Chairman, and former CEO of AngelList, Naval Ravikant is also a potential investor in the Chia Networks. The data from CoinMarketCap says that the current market price of Chia is USD1,012.43. 

With a smaller carbon footprint and convenient mining properties, Chia is sure to gain more popularity in the coming days and it will become a significant addition to the world of cryptocurrency. However, the volatile crypto market is unpredictable and hence, it might be exciting to see its growth in the coming years, where blockchain is being increasingly deployed across the industries.