New cryptocurrency causing disk drive shortage

[tServo]

Great. This is just what we need on top of a cpu/gpu chip shortage.
Someone has developed a new cryptocurrency named Chia ( sounds like those goofy clay figures with tiny plants for hair ) that uses disk storage instead of cpu power for proof.
And, of course, despite the fact that it hasn't even officially started yet, people are buying and hoarding SSDs and traditional rotating drives with resulting price increases.

https://appleinsider.com/articles/21...cryptocurrency

Look up "Chia Pet" in google images for examples of the goofy clay figures.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by tServo

Great. This is just what we need on top of a cpu/gpu chip shortage.

Sigh...

I read this article last night, and I just had to shake my head...

[M344587487]

I don't believe HDD mining is an actual problem. There was a coin years ago that rewarded nodes for providing HDD space, think ad-hoc distributed encrypted storage in exchange for the coin, and that fizzled AFAIK. From a two minute search Chia looks to be a rare recent ICO (the ICO gold rush is mostly a distant memory), running on hype-fueled speculation like all the other trash coins. If there is any pressure on storage demand from this coin, which I doubt, it'll be short-lived.

[mackerel]

During the last bubble a couple of years ago, Burst was the disk based "proof of capacity" crypto. Didn't seem to go anywhere since. The link in OP makes this new one sound more intensive in disk demands, which will be interesting it dig into at a deeper technical level to understand why.

Burst operated on the theory that you could fetch data from a disk array faster than you can compute it on demand, but beyond that I don't really understood what it was trying to do other than prove you had the disk capacity you said you have. So disk performance wasn't a problem. A SSD would be no better than a HD. A performance based storage crypto sounds like it would need more power.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Sigh...

I read this article last night, and I just had to shake my head...

Unbelievable! An entire power generating plant restarted for the sole purpose of running a crypto mining farm.

This is a bit off-topic: I read a short article a few days ago where the CEO of some little-known coin was writing about Bitcoin. He states that Bitcoin mining alone consumes 113 TWh (Tera-watt hours) of electricity per year. Also, that power generating stations are releasing 63 million tons of CO₂ a year to keep up with the demand.

I would think running some type of drive-based crypto process would make for very brief lives for these devices. This may be the basis for the hoarding. A strange coincidence: Two weeks ago, I ordered a Samsung SSD for my HP from Amazon. The order was lost by the USPS and I was given a refund. The originating location was Kent, WA. It was moved to Seattle. There were no more updates. In light of this topic, I am thinking my order may have been quietly cancelled to possibly fulfill a bulk order from another buyer.

[storm5510]

We seem to be going off-topic from mass storage devices, so I will make this short:

Some are beginning to suggest that Bitcoin move away from its proof-of-work system. This would end Bitcoin mining, period. Another popular coin, Ethereum, is in the process of switching to proof-of-stake. This is more like typical investment. The higher the stake, the more profit one would earn, in theory. New coin generation is in the mix somewhere. Ethereum mining should cease before the end of this year. It was only 2nd to Bitcoin in terms of resource use.

[LaurV]

Originally Posted by storm5510

This would end Bitcoin mining, period.

It will not. People who have a very low or no understanding of the system see "mining" like the process of creating new coins. Which is wrong. That is only the reward, to stimulate you to mine. It is the payment you get because you do the mining. Mining is the process of certifying the transactions, and confirming that the people have the money they say they have. It is what the banks and payment networks (visa, mastercard, etc) are doing, with the "real life money". And that has to be done, regardless of the method of proof you have, it may take computing resources, or time, or storage space, or lots of intermediary memory to kill the asic miners, or all together, but somebody has to do the "proof". No mining, no coins. I don't mean "no coins for you". I mean no bitcoin, no ethereum, no crypto-coin SYSTEM at all !

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by LaurV

It will not. People who have a very low or no understanding of the system see "mining" like the process of creating new coins. Which is wrong. That is only the reward, to stimulate you to mine. It is the payment you get because you do the mining. Mining is the process of certifying the transactions, and confirming that the people have the money they say they have. It is what the banks and payment networks (visa, mastercard, etc) are doing, with the "real life money". And that has to be done, regardless of the method of proof you have, it may take computing resources, or time, or storage space, or lots of intermediary memory to kill the asic miners, or all together, but somebody has to do the "proof". No mining, no coins. I don't mean "no coins for you". I mean no bitcoin, no ethereum, no crypto-coin SYSTEM at all !

I understand your points. About all I can add is that the status-quo cannot hold indefinitely. A tipping-point will come along which will lock this one way or another, I believe. Everyone has their own theory as to how all this works with no two being exactly alike. Those of us who do not "mess" with such things will have to endure the hardware shortages now, and the foreseeable future.

[tServo]

JayZ two cents has just posted a rant on Youtube detailing Nvidia's next video card, the RTX 3080 TI. The title of the post is "Has Nvidia lost its mind?" which sums it up pretty well. The evidence, shown in his post, is a pallet of video boards seen in China ready to be shipped with the contents clearly marked.
So Nvidia is coming out with another video card which will be impossible to get and will sell for double or more the msrp.
In your face, pathetic little consumers; here is another unobtainable gizmo you will lust for.

[storm5510]

Originally Posted by tServo

JayZ two cents has just posted a rant on Youtube detailing Nvidia's next video card, the RTX 3080 TI. The title of the post is "Has Nvidia lost its mind?" which sums it up pretty well. The evidence, shown in his post, is a pallet of video boards seen in China ready to be shipped with the contents clearly marked.
So Nvidia is coming out with another video card which will be impossible to get and will sell for double or more the msrp.
In your face, pathetic little consumers; here is another unobtainable gizmo you will lust for.

Unobtainable, here is another: Nvidia's RTX A6000. 10,000+ CUDA cores and 48GB of RAM. PCIe 4.0. Anticipated MSRP is close to $7,000 USD. They are saying this is for AI development and advanced graphics. My gut tells me this is Nvidia's attempt to compete with ASICS for what I jokingly refer to as "coal-mining." These are due to hit the market in August. Nowadays, a top-end Bitmain can cost $10K and requires 240 VAC to run. I can see mining farms aplenty starting up with Nvidia's coming gadget because it is less expensive and runs on standard house current, at least in the U.S.

[tServo]

Originally Posted by storm5510

Unobtainable, here is another: Nvidia's RTX A6000. 10,000+ CUDA cores and 48GB of RAM. PCIe 4.0. Anticipated MSRP is close to $7,000 USD. They are saying this is for AI development and advanced graphics. My gut tells me this is Nvidia's attempt to compete with ASICS for what I jokingly refer to as "coal-mining." These are due to hit the market in August. Nowadays, a top-end Bitmain can cost $10K and requires 240 VAC to run. I can see mining farms aplenty starting up with Nvidia's coming gadget because it is less expensive and runs on standard house current, at least in the U.S.

I don't think so. This looks to me to be their Ampere top-of-the-line "Quadro" model. It has gobs of memory with extensive graphics capabilities, 2 things which drive up its price and miners really don't need. This is the product that architects and "pixel shops" like Pixar use. We'll have to see if their "CMP" based products offer a better value for miners.