Technology Hard Drive and SSD Shortages Could Be Imminent If New Cryptocurrency Blooms

tom_mai78101

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With the emergence of the Chia cryptocurrency, miners in China are reportedly frantically snatching up every hard drive and SSD they can find. Unlike other cryptocurrencies, you don't mine Chia with a processor, graphics card or ASIC miner. Instead, you farm Chia with storage space, which is where hard drives or SSDs come in. Chia isn't officially available for trading yet, therefore, it's too early to start hoarding hard drives or SSDs.

Unlike Bitcoin, which is based on proof of work, Chia utilizes a proof of space and time model. Chia reportedly arrives as an eco-friendly cryptocurrency. Bram Cohen, who's best known as the inventor of BitTorrent, created Chia to leverage the free space on storage devices. The basis behind Chia is that hard drives and SSDs use less power, are easier to come by and cheaper to purchase. By comparison, mining Ethereum or Bitcoin on a mass scale contributes to the electricity waste.

According to HKEPC's report, miners are mass purchasing hard drives that span from 4TB to 18TB in capacity. The panic buying will ultimately lead to a hard drive shortage and price hikes. In Hong Kong, hard drive and SSD pricing is expected to increase between 200 HKD to $600 HKD (~$26 to $77). Due to the constant read and write operations, consumer SSDs aren't the first choice for farming Chia. Nothing is safe from miners though when a profit is there to be made though.

 
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The Helper

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I bet they did not know as well as you Ghan LOL! Crypto is new to a lot of people and they are not all getting it exactly right.
 
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