Proof-of-space cryptocurrency Chia triggers HDD sales boom in Europe
- Reference: 1623151686
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/06/08/chia_cryptocurrency_creates_euro_hdd_boom/
- Source link:
Figures for April released by the analyst show just under 200,000 enterprise-grade nearline storage drives of 10TB capacity and above were sold to end users across the region, representing 240 per cent growth compared with the same month in 2020.
Meanwhile, NAS consumer-grade HDDs saw around 250,000 units sold, a year-on-year increase of 167 per cent.
[1]
Finally, surveillance disk drives sales were just shy of 200,000 units, up 116 per cent. These pieces of kit "should be used in surveillance but there has been no specific event in surveillance to cause that growth," senior enterprise analyst Gurvan Meyer told The Reg .
[2]
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The explosive growth in drives across the market was best explained by [4]the launch of cryptocurrency Chia , which relies on proof of space, as opposed to proof of work employed by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
"For sure it is Chia," Meyer told The Register . He said economies opening up and cloud providers beefing up their infrastrucure has als played a lesser role.
[5]
"It has taken everybody by surprise following the launch of Chia. Even Western Digital and Seagate were not expecting high demand like this." He said he expects the effect on the market to be long-lasting.
[6]Iran bans cryptocurrency mining for four months as the weather – and election campaigns – start to heat up
[7]China announces ‘crackdown’ on Bitcoin mining and trading
[8]Attack of the cryptidiots: One wants Bitcoin-flush hard drive he threw out in 2013 back, the other lost USB stick password
[9]Cache me if you can: HDD PC sales collapse in Europe as shoppers say yes siree to SSD
Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, have been criticised for relying on proof of computational work, which sucks up a [10]phenomenal amount of energy and [11]skews the market for GPUs .
The alternative proposed in the Chia model relies on "proof of space", in which the user sets aside a dedicated amount of storage on their computers and the software allocates a unique number to each section of that space.
When the currency network needs to validate a new transaction, it selects one of these unique numbers at random and the computer the segment belongs to then validates the transaction. The idea is that rather than using computing power in a race, it employs a lottery system.
Context said the model made Chia not only greener than proof-of-work systems in terms of power consumption, but also more accessible as most users have unused storage space on their devices.
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Chia launched in May after BitTorrent protocol author Bram Cohen founded the network in 2017.
"Proof of space is a relatively new consensus mechanism but any number of new currencies could also choose to use it," Meyer said. "Should the method gain popularity, the demand for storage could increase even further." ®
Get our [13]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YL@UJA7dst1xy1btdKqydgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YL@UJA7dst1xy1btdKqydgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YL@UJA7dst1xy1btdKqydgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://www.chia.net/faq/
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YL@UJA7dst1xy1btdKqydgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/27/iran_bans_cryptocurrency_mining/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/24/china_bitcoin_mining_and_trading_crackdown/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/14/attack_of_the_cryptidiots/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2020/02/14/no_more_laptops_sold_with_hdd/
[10] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56012952
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/01/nvidia_geforce_cryptocurrency/
[12] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/storage&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YL@UJA7dst1xy1btdKqydgAAAAQ&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[13] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
No, apparently a consumer grade SSD which would normally be good for about 10 years will wear out in 6 weeks if you use it for Chia mining.
Saying something doesn’t make it true
Plotting for Chia (the up-front and once-off process of preparing the data which is "farmed") generates a significant amount of disk writes. That's documented on the Chia website, and they warn against using consumer grade SSDs (because the wear tolerance for writes tends to be relatively low).
For farming Chia (the on-going, long-running process of looking for answers to keep the blockchain secured) only reads from the drive. Whether that be a traditional spindle or a modern SSD, it shouldn't affect the lifespan notably at all.
PNY directly blamed Chia farming for their decision to [1]cut their SSD endurance warranties
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/news/pny-admits-reducing-ssd-write-endurance-chia-coin-boom
I thought the warranty reduction was due to the chip shortages, switching from TLC to QLC?
>I thought the warranty reduction was due to the chip shortages, switching from TLC to QLC?
No it's because of these evil bankers miners - nothing to do with us cutting costs, we are the innocent victims here, poor us etc
Idiocracy
“I like money”
- Frito
I feel like this movie got so much about humanity down to a fucking tee, Mike Judge is a living prophet
Re: Idiocracy
Save yourself some time. Watch to the opening credits, there's not a lot to see after that.
So.
Conjuring even more funny money out of thin air, and not even secured by a nation state?
Re: So.
Everyone and his yapping dog is trying to jump on the Vapour Value bandwagon, forgetting that traditional money has been conjured out of thin air for decades and regardless of it's format, value is only arbitary and ultimately decided by governments, banks and rich speculators who manipulate the currencies to their best advantage.
I would not trust my pension to the alleged space in a server somewhere.
It will end in a lot of tears for many and profit for a few.
Re: So.
> value is only arbitary and ultimately decided by governments,
The difference is that governments can demand that you pay taxes in their made up magic beans, and they can send men with guns if you don't
Re: So.
The security is based on something far more reliable than a nationstate.
It's based on criminals extorting and laundering the proceeds of "cyber"crime.
Just great
"Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, have been criticised for relying on proof of computational work, which sucks up a phenomenal amount of energy and skews the market for GPUs."
But thanks to our savior Chia, now the HDD market is skewed too. Yaay.
Re: Just great
Plan A for low disk space: move one of the backup disks to the front line and put a big cheap host managed SMR in its place. Reality: cannot find HM-SMR anywhere and drive managed SMR is not cheap. (I assume it is just a firmware change but they can charge more if people think they are getting CMR.)
Plan B: I probably will not run out of space for a year. Wait for the prices to drop back to sanity. Reality: chia.
Plan C: ?
Can't crypto currencies just cut to the endgame already with a Proof of Stupidity model? There's an endless supply of that around it seems,
Re: Proof of stupidity
Nigerian 419'ers had some success monetising stupidity but now that politicians have learned how to harness it the supply has became constrained no matter how much more they make.
That would be the OneCoin, or, allegedly, Tether.
GPUs
> Cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin, have been criticised for relying on proof of computational work, which sucks up a phenomenal amount of energy and skews the market for GPUs
No one but a complete idiot uses a GPU to mine Bitcoin ( ~0.1 to ~3 Mhash/Joule) any more that ship has long sailed away. In terms of energy and time everyone uses ASIC's (~100 to ~3000Mhash/Joule). A bit like a race between a Snail and a Bugatti Veyron, you pretty much know who will win the prize before the race takes place unless the distance to the finish line is very very very very very very very very short.
Re: GPUs
See, that's the issue. Most of the folk jumping late on the BTC bandwagon are in fact idiots who believe they will get rich in a week if they grab an off the shelf mid-pack NVidia GPU and set it to mine 24/7. That's what driven their prices up.
Icon because I can't find a decently priced GPU for my son's new PC.
Re: GPUs
>idiots who believe they will get rich in a week if they grab an off the shelf mid-pack NVidia GPU
If it wasn't for idiot consumers we wouldn't have nice shiny toys - it's just a shame that short term it means I have to buy Quadra cards for no good reason.
Re: GPUs
Sadly there are a lot of complete idiots out there.
Even if you did buy the right kit, how long would it last before it is obsolete, and how many bitcoins would it produce in that time net of electricity costs?
Re: GPUs
If you buy ASICS and have cheap 3rd world power and hosting/labour costs it's worthwhile.
If not it's cheaper to buy some, use your media platform to hype it, then sell shorts and use you media platform to sink it.
Like the rest of industry - it's not worth actually making or mining anything when you can gamble on it.
I wonder if you could use a RAM disk, assuming you has sufficient ram at your disposal.
Unless it all goes to mining specific hardware (like custom Bitcoin ASIC / FPGA), it means that in ~5 years the market is going to be flooded with second hand GPUs and Hard Drives which is probably good.
The problem is that these hard drives can probably get away with being ridiculously slow if all they are for is "proof of space". This is less good and will simply fill up landfills once the crypto-fanatics are through with them.