Chia, a new cryptocurrency created by BitTorrent founder Bram Cohen is driving up the demand for hard disk drives(HDD). The currency has been making headlines in the crypto sphere for its claim of being a greener alternative to Bitcoin. But for now, it seems that Chia is causing a shortage of storage devices across the world with miners stocking up on as much space as possible.

With its storage needs drawing attention, some members of the Chia community are shifting to existing functional hardware. It remains to be seen if this shift can reduce Chia’s new storage demands and lead to less wastage.   

Chia Cryptocurrency is Built Around Energy Conservation

Unlike Bitcoin, which is based on proof of work consensus, Chia is designed on the proof of space and time model. Due to this approach, Chia does not require massive amounts of processing power like Bitcoin for mining. Instead, the currency relies on storage space where data is deleted and plots are computed for writing Chia to them. These plots remain inactive till they find matching plots in the network, and when that happens a Chia coin is generated.

Chia mining has caused a shortage of HDDs in Asian markets, with storage device maker Seagate upping its revenue forecast for the quarter. However, the overall impact of this development signifies a better outcome for the environment. This is because the Chia community believes people wouldn’t opt for new hardware for Chia mining in the long term. A key factor behind this is the presence of underutilized storage options in the world.

How Chia Mining Works and Why It Will Help With Waste Management?

Typically, Chia plots are created using SDDs since they’re faster at the task. The generated plots are later shifted to HDD for farming. One plot consumes up to 7 hours for plowing and plotting. As plot generation can take a toll on consumer-grade SSDs, miners are advised to select enterprise-level SSDs for the process. As for HDDs, Chia coins are mostly farmed with high-capacity consumer-grade storage devices.

Each plot needs 101.4 gigabytes of space on a drive, which means a 10TB HDD can hold up to 90 Chia plots. 

While Chia’s cryptographic technique has temporarily spiked the demand for high-capacity HDDs, it is expected that this demand will simmer down as miners shift to functional hardware that is usually discarded by governments and organizations. If these devices could be utilized for Chia farming after data erasure then that would lead to a reduction in electronic waste. Also, it’s more feasible to repurpose storage hardware rather than destroying it completely.

Chia is currently inviting companies to use its platform to build projects. Developers of the network are hoping that many applications would leverage the platform in the upcoming months.