Chia is a cryptocurrency where mining (or in chiasphere, farming) is based on the amount of hard disk storage space devoted to it rather than processing power as with

Proof of work Proof of work (PoW) is a form of cryptographic proof in which one party (the ''prover'') proves to others (the ''verifiers'') that a certain amount of a specific computational effort has been expended. Verifiers can subsequently confirm this expe ...

cryptocurrencies such as

Bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

. The platform was created by a California based company called Chia Network Inc. The Chia Network was founded in 2017 by American computer programmer

Bram Cohen Bram Cohen is an American computer programmer, best known as the author of the peer-to-peer (P2P) BitTorrent protocol in 2001, as well as the first file sharing program to use the protocol, also known as BitTorrent. He is also the co-founder of ...

, the author of the BitTorrent protocol. In May 2021, Chia Network raised a $61 million investment, valuing the company at about $500 million. The same month, the company announced plans to conduct an

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

before the end of 2021, however as of March 2022, the IPO has not yet occurred.

Computer data storage shortages

In China, stockpiling ahead of the May 2021 launch led to shortages and an increase in the price of

hard disk drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

s (HDD) and

solid-state drive A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is a ...

s (SSD). Shortages were also reported in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Hard drive manufacturer Seagate said in May 2021 that the company was experiencing strong orders and that staff were working to "adjust to market demand". In May 2021 Gene Hoffman, the president of Chia Network, admitted that "we’ve kind of destroyed the short-term supply chain" for hard disks. Concerns have also been raised about the prerequisite plotting process destroying drives' lifetime.

References

{{Cryptocurrencies, state=expanded Cryptocurrency projects 2017 establishments