The price of Chia collapsed by 85%. Miners began to sell off hard drives at a loss
The rate of the cryptocurrency Chia plummeted by 85% in four months and initiated the mass sale of HDD and SSD, used for its mining. This was reported by VNExpress.
The publication drew attention to the large number of ads for hard drives and SSDs in one of the profile Facebook groups.
The fluctuating prices of Chia have prompted investors to sell their equipment at a loss, as there are more sellers than buyers, said community administrator Hoang Cheung.
In mid-May, Chia was worth $1,551, according to CoinGecko. By the end of the month, it had already lost half of its value. As of this writing, the coin is trading at $243.
On a wave of hype, the cost of 6TB HDDs soared to almost $300. Now miners are selling these devices for $110. And, judging by the dynamics, prices will continue to decline.
The situation is more complicated for owners of solid-state drives, because Chia mining significantly accelerates their wear and tear.
Experts estimate that Chia mining reduces the life of a 512GB SSD from five years to two months.
Recall that Chia Network, created by BitTorrent protocol author Bram Cohen, uses Proof-of-Space and Proof-of-Time consensus algorithms. In April, due to a surge in interest in the coin, miners created a local shortage of HDDs and SSDs in China.
The coin was positioned by its creators as an environmentally friendly cryptocurrency. They explained this by the fact that hard drives and SSDs are easier to find and consume much less energy.
At the moment, according to Chia Explorer, the coin occupies a volume of disk space equal to 41.3 exabytes - more than 2.5 million HDDs with a capacity of 16 TB.