In case you haven’t heard of it, the Chia Network is a new cryptocurrency building a better blockchain and smart transactions. It’s more decentralized, more efficient and more secure. Unlike Bitcoin, Chia relies on storage instead of energy-intensive computations to secure transactions. Proofs of space and time replace proof of work for a more sustainable cryptocurrency solution.
Chia farming (the network’s version of “mining”) does, however, require the ability to store ever-increasing quantities of data. Polycloud is the natural storage solution to complement Chia farming. Polycloud storage offers:
- The ability to rapidly scale up capacity
- Affordable price point
- Fast, easy access to stored data
- A vision of a greener future — not unlike Chia
Scale Up Capacity Quickly
Like most new blockchain offerings, Chia started out small. But its growing popularity has driven network increases that make it almost impossible for a new farmer to earn Chia without the use of expensive enterprise-grade equipment.
“An average consumer SSD typically ships with a 600TBW rating, and for basic everyday use, that should provide years of reliable functionality. However, Chia farming may result in significantly increased strain on your storage, potentially trashing a typical SSD in a fraction of the time.”
— Andrew Hayward, technology and crypto expert
Chia founder Bram Cohen famously proclaimed that Chia farming “involves completely normal hardware rather than super custom and expensive stuff. Most people have some amount of unused storage space they can do it with already.”
As the network grows, more and more people are using data center space to farm Chia. But traditional space is costly and can take time to acquire and set up. Polycloud, an object storage solution, can easily scale to fit the needs of Chia farmers — set up can be completed in as little as an hour and storage space is available immediately.
Spend a Little to Make a Lot
The other issue with traditional storage is the price point. The best way to improve your odds of winning Chia is to increase the number of plots you farm. But data center storage solutions don’t often come cheap — and prices for hard drives are climbing. Keeping your investment low is critical to make Chia farming worthwhile. At just $4/TB per month, Polycloud offers cloud storage space that is accessible to anyone interested in farming Chia.
Pro Tip: Think you’ve found cheap cloud storage? Make sure to read the fine print for egress and operation fees, which can add up quickly when farming Chia.
Rapid Data Access for Chia Checks
Once you’ve created Chia plots and deployed them in your cloud space, rapid access to the data living in those plots is critical. The maximum time you have to respond to Chia checks to win currency is 30 seconds, so cloud storage that takes hours — or even minutes — to reach is not a viable solution.
Polycloud storage ensures your data is always rapidly and easily accessible, eliminating one of the barriers that stops many Chia farmers from winning with cloud-based plots.
Unbeatable Speed: Here at CrowdStorage, we set up a parallel plotting system on Polycloud and using a free PR tool, we were able to get our response time down to just two seconds.
Different Problems, the Same Goals
Chia Network founders are touting the cryptocurrency as the green alternative to platforms like Bitcoin and Ethereum. CrowdStorage’s goal is ultimately the same — we want to create a more efficient, durable, available solution than traditional data centers can provide. Both Chia and CrowdStorage are looking to use surplus disk space to create something new and better.
Polycloud’s Distributed Storage Model
Our goal at CrowdStorage is to create a distributed network of cloud storage using surplus storage and bandwidth that already exists, eliminating the need to continually manufacture new hardware or build and maintain energy-intensive data centers. Our model repurposes unused storage space of any size — from networked drives to maybe in the future even extra space on your smartphone.
What are the benefits of distributed storage?
- Increased durability: Data is encrypted and split into pieces over a wide geographical area
- Superior availability: Spreading data across multiple locations reduces the risk of outages and disruptions
- Affordability: Dramatically lowers equipment and energy costs and savings are passed on to users
- Sustainability: Use of existing hardware and connections limits environment footprint
Get Started with Polycloud Now
Polycloud’s affordable, accessible cloud storage isn’t just for Chia farmers. Our reliable service and low price point make Polycloud the perfect cloud solution for everyone. If you’d like to learn more about how to get started with Polycloud, reach out to our team for more information — or sign up today.
