Chia network not so green? CPU mining reportedly destroys SSD in weeks
Chia Network (CHIA), which emerged onto the cryptocurrency scene with the promise of cleaning up the environmental mess left by Bitcoin (BTC) miners, may not be as green as it seems.
Unlike Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) and others, Chia Network mines coins using an alternative to the energy-intensive Proof-of-Work (PoW). Chia coins are produced using only hard drive storage, and don’t require specialized ASIC hardware, or GPUs.
But reports coming out of China point suggest that saving the environment isn’t as easy as it sounds when it comes to crypto. According to local outlet Fast Technology, the shelf-life of a standard 512GB SSD would be worn out after just 40 days of continuous CHIA mining, based on a data write volume of 256TB in that time period.
A 1TB hard drive would last around 80 days, while a 2TB hard drive would be expected to last around 160 days. Under normal conditions, such pieces of hardware would be expected to last the average customer around a decade.
