Chia Network recently entered the cryptocurrency market and quickly piqued the interest of many miners and investors. There are several reasons for this: First, the Chia blockchain works with the new Proof of Space and Time (PoST) protocol, which means that a Proof of Space is needed and time is needed for the mission to increase cryptocurrency.

Second, according to the currency’s creators, Chia (XCH) is an environmentally friendly coin and is not mined but grown using a protocol that requires little energy to produce the coin.

Gene Hoffman, President and CEO of Chia Network, told Cointelegraph that the creator of the project, Bram Cohen, wanted to bring eco-friendliness to the crypto world.

In the case of Chia, unused hard disk space (HDD) or solid state drive (SSD) storage space can be replaced by hash power. Krzysztof Pietrzak, who is also working on the PoST protocol, said the original model behind Chia was flawed. Hoffman added, “It started with Bram suggesting potential solutions and Krzysztof proving them wrong, until Bram suggesting a solution that, as Krzysztof tried to prove mathematically, proved it to be correct.”

What is the Chia Network?

The main selling point of Chia Farming is that attendees do not need to use the GPUs and powerful processors that are required to mine Bitcoin (BTC). Chia can be equipped with an HDD or SSD, which is an attractive proposition for those who cannot afford the latest and greatest graphics cards. Hoffmann explains:

“It was designed from the ground up to be safer or more secure than proof of work and much more decentralized with 1000 to 10,000 times the energy consumption per security unit.”

To grow chia, you can start with a PC or laptop of any kind. All you need is a processor with a clock rate of 1.5 GHz, 2 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD or hard drive.

Next, users need to download the “Split Blockchain” client from the project’s official website or directly from GitHub. Then you create a wallet and save a private key, after which you can start the farming process by clicking the “Generate batch” button. Growing one block brings a reward of 64 chia tokens. And the speed of farming depends on the amount of disk space used.

It’s worth noting that currently only individual users can farm hia. Every single farmer generates blocks – meaning there is no need to join the pool to receive coins. According to the developers, this ensures that the Chia network is decentralized. However, the project team is currently working on creating a full-fledged joint protocol that will be released shortly. Regarding the upcoming release, Hoffman said:

“Can’t let a farmer cheat. Pools can only cheat if they don’t pay the agreed amount and a farmer can leave the pool after 30 minutes if he thinks he has been cheated. In addition, unlike most other cryptocurrencies with pooling, pools do not generate blocks – every single farmer creates blocks. This means that it is much more decentralized, on top of that, the Chia blockchain is the largest blockchain of all time, measured by the number of public nodes. “

If you don’t have the hardware and just want to buy chia, it can be done through some crypto exchanges. Remember that to buy chia you must first buy a stablecoin such as Tether (USDT) or Bitcoin and then exchange it for chia.

How to build a chia farm

The main question now is how to build a chia farm and how to choose the best components for a rig to maximize profits. Fortunately, the process is pretty simple and is similar to building a dedicated computer at home.

One processor

Any processor with four cores – like Intel’s Core i3, Core i5 or Core i7 or AMD equivalents – is suitable for chia mining. A good choice would be the Intel Core i5-11400 or Core i5-10400, which can be purchased for around $ 150 to $ 170; for even better productivity, consider opting for a processor with integrated graphics to hook up additional memory.

warehouse

The main hardware required to generate the Chia token is a storage drive, which can be an SSD or HDD that supports the SATA-III interface. To farm XCH it is accepted if only SSD is used; However, it is better to use a combination of SSD and HDD as SSD speeds up the graphics process while HDD stores graphics better.

In general, you’ll need at least 300GB of space, but more is an advantage. For example, 2TB would be enough to create six graphics at a time, while 10 graphics would require the purchase of a more spacious SSD or even several such devices. It is better to use a high-speed SSD that works through the M.2 slot. Farmers need to look for models with several terabytes of write capacity (TBW), and it is better to use multiple external hard drives as they are easier to swap out.

There are many HDD and SDD drives on the market in terms of price, and they are inexpensive. For example, a Western Digital Purple 1TB hard drive typically costs around $ 50. When choosing an SSD, keep in mind that at least 15% of the hard drive space should be free to increase durability and allow the drive to function properly. This should eliminate most of the downshifting problems during operation.

Hoffman also points out that people who buy equipment specifically for growing chia often rely on used equipment:

“For those buying specialty chia implements, recycled discs or used storage are the first choice as they are less expensive and suitable for chia growing, which does not store user data. . When people rushed to buy specialized hardware, they chose high capacity hard drives because they use less power per TB and have higher storage density. There are farmers out there who use SATA, SAS, and USB drives, and we can find a good mix of all of them. “

Motherboard

Preferably the motherboard should support SATA III and USB 3.0 ports. The same applies to PCI-e ports, must be version 3.0 or higher. With more ports, more drives can be used as part of the system. The board must have a network controller with 1,000 Mbit / s and two network ports, which would be an advantage. The faster the internet connection, the better. Unlimited wired internet connection of 100Mbps or more is the best option. Again, there are many options with many different prices. For example, the SuperMicro X9DR3_i-LN4F + is available for around $ 115.

power supply

Since SSDs and HDDs consume little power, up to 500 watts of power is sufficient. Of course, a 750 watt box can also be used, but is currently required. However, it is important to choose a power supply with multiple SATA, Mole, and PCI ports to connect additional drives. Such power supplies cost no more than $ 40.

R.A.M.

The minimum amount of RAM needed to feed chia is 2 GB, but using 4-8 GB of RAM is recommended. However, this ultimately made no difference in agricultural productivity.

A stand

A farming rack with several hard drives can be set up independently of one another in a mainframe housing. It is sufficient to remove the GPU card from the setup (if the processor has an integrated video chip) and insert as many hard drives with SATA III ports into the corresponding connectors on the board.

The future of the chia network

Chia Network is a relatively new venture, but its popularity has resulted in a shortage of hard drives and SDDs in some parts of the world. The two largest hard drive manufacturers Western Digital and Seagate are reporting increasing demand for their products. This can certainly lead to an increase in the cost of procuring XCH.

Another problem is how fragile the drives turn out to be from the Chia exploit. At the end of May, the German cloud hosting provider Hetzner banned users from farming chia on their servers. The company claims that the load on its device has increased significantly and that its hard drive has failed due to chia.

One report even claims that farming Chia can kill a 512GB SSD in less than two months and a 1TB hard drive in less than three months. Under normal conditions, the disc can last up to five years.

However, according to the developers of Chia Network, a solution to the problem is under development. They say that most of the Chia community use pre-owned SSDs purchased in data centers and that the company works with many of the leading storage providers to develop products specifically for Chia.

Even if the user decides to farm the chia and grapples with the problem of changing the platter regularly, it all depends on the price of the chia coin itself to determine how profitable the endeavor can be. After the mainnet launched in early May, the price of XCH skyrocketed to around $ 1,600, but fell to $ 230 in late June.

However, in late May, Chia Network was valued at half a billion dollars after raising $ 61 million in an earlier funding round.