Chain News published "Understanding Chia Network in Three Minutes: What are the characteristics of the self-proclaimed "compliant and environmentally friendly Bitcoin-like public chain"? After the article, a large number of readers asked questions about the project. In order to help readers better understand this project that has been launched on the mainnet at the end of March, I have selected some of the most important questions and answers in Chia's official Q&A and provided them to readers.
It must be pointed out that since the Chia Network involves the concept of hard disk mining, there have been a large number of teams selling the so-called "Chia computing power" on the market, and it is difficult to distinguish between true and false. The Chia team has repeatedly strengthened:
"Chia tokens are expected to be less volatile than other cryptocurrencies, so that financial institutions can use tokens and stocks to hedge."
Readers must clearly identify the investment risks of the project and related products.
What is Chia?
Chia was established in August 2017 to develop a platform that can optimize blockchain and smart transactions. We are building Chia Network to improve global financial and payment systems. Chia will become the first enterprise-level digital currency.
Chia is using a new Satoshi Nakamoto consensus algorithm called "Proof of Space and Time", which was created by Bram Cohen, the world's best network protocol engineer and inventor of BitTorrent.
Chialisp is Chia's new smart transaction programming language. It is powerful, easy to review and safe. The currently supported reference smart transactions include: atomic exchange, authorized payee, recoverable wallet, multi-signature wallet, and price-limited wallet.
What is proof of time and space?
Proof of space is an encryption technology where the prover will prove that they allocate unused hard drive space to storage space. However, if “Proof of Space” is to be used as a consensus mechanism, it must be linked to Proof of Time. Proof of Time can ensure that the time between blocks is consistent, thereby improving the overall security of the blockchain. .
How do space proof and time proof work?
Proof of space can be regarded as a way of "proving that you have reserved some unused storage on the hard drive." Chia blockchain users need to install software to take a snapshot of their unused space on the hard drive. This operation is also called "seed". This software stores a set of encrypted numbers on the disk in the "land plot". "(Plot), and those who perform these operations are called "farmers." When the blockchain broadcasts the next block challenge, farmers can scan their "lots" to find whether they have the hash value closest to the challenge. Chia will allocate the winning based on the size of the space owned by the farmers and the size of the entire network. The probability of a block.
Time proof requires a short period of time to be passed between blocks. Time proof is achieved through the Verifiable Delay Function (VDF: Verifiable Delay Function), which takes a certain amount of time to calculate, but the verification speed is actually very fast. The core idea of the verifiable delay function is sequential calculation. Since a large number of parallel devices will not generate any revenue, it can minimize power waste. The number of VDF servers ("Timelords") may be relatively small, because the VDF server with the fastest verification speed will always be at the top, and only a fast and fair Timelord on the network can complete a block The blockchain moves forward.
What is Chialisp?
Chia has a newly developed innovative blockchain programming language called Chialisp. This blockchain programming language is very powerful, easy to audit, and very secure. Chialisp is also an excellent on-chain smart transaction development environment that can release the security, transparency and ease of use promised by cryptocurrency.
What are the advantages of Chia?
Chia adopts the new Satoshi Nakamoto consensus algorithm, which can completely eliminate the energy consumption requirements of the blockchain system's proof of work. Compared with other cryptocurrencies, the Chia blockchain is more decentralized and its security has also been greatly improved. Chialisp is a new smart transaction programming language for the Chia blockchain. It is powerful, easy to audit and very secure, and can better release the security, transparency and ease of use promised by cryptocurrency.
In addition, Chia also uses more advanced encryption tools to implement rich intelligent transaction functions. Through an open, open source, and profitable development company, Chia is adopting a new advanced solution to build and support the blockchain and provide support to the block. Chia will use "pre-farm" (strategic reserve) to solve the problem of token volatility, aiming to reduce the impact of market bubbles or market crashes on Chia, and to further promote Chia's adoption.
Where can I learn about the technical details of the Chia consensus algorithm?
The Chia project has published many academic papers and speeches, which introduce in detail new consensus algorithms and blockchain software, such as:
In 2019, Chia released the project green paper, which outlines the space proof and time proof construction, and explains many of Chia's design choices.
Chia has updated the consensus algorithm, you can check our working paper and rate it.
Mariano Sorgente of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology also explained how to achieve the Satoshi Nakamoto consensus through spatial proof and VDF in a speech delivered in 2019.
Bram Cohen gave a lecture on Space Proof at Stanford University in February 2018.
Chia project consultants Dan Boneh, Benedikt Bünz and Ben Fisch also released a VDF special research report (VDF is a basic technology proven by time).
Lipa Long published an explanation of the category group based on time proof.
At the BPASE'18 conference in January 2018, Bram introduced the application of Beyond Hellman's time-memory trade-off and space proof based on Hamza Abusalah's academic paper and PPT.
Based on academic papers and Hamza Abusalah's slides, Bram showed the application of Beyond Hellman's time memory trade-off and space proof on BPASE 18 in January 2018.
Ben Fisch gave a talk about verifiable delay functions at the BPASE 2018 conference in January 2018.
Bram Cohen gave a speech about Chia at the Blockchain at Berkeley event in March 2018 (the specific content starts from the 20th minute of the video).
Bram Cohen delivered a speech on the use of space proof and time proof to eliminate waste at the BPASE 2017 conference in January 2017. The content of the speech can be downloaded at this link.
Bram Cohen gave a speech about expanding the data structure of Bitcoin at the Bitcoin Devs Seminar. (Related PPT and Merkle Set codes).
Bram Cohen gave a speech on eliminating waste of cryptocurrency at the SF Bitcoin Devs Seminar.
What is Chia's development strategy?
We believe that the blockchain industry is still led by developers. When they intend to deploy new applications and services, we hope that Chia will be the blockchain of choice for these developers and become a stable currency linked to sovereign currency and other applications. The safety of the program is the first choice.
The Chia Network business will be the first for-profit company to manage pre-farm, and we intend to become the first publicly tradable "ETF-like" cryptocurrency.
Since Redhat and MySQL AB are the driving forces behind the adoption of Linux and mysql by enterprises-we believe that when sovereign countries, financial institutions and enterprises begin to use cryptocurrency in their daily transactions, Chia can provide support and training.
Finally, we believe that Chia will be able to use the storage ecosystem to drive adoption by enterprises and end users, because hard drive manufacturers and storage server sellers are likely to bundle "space farming" into their products.
What is the difference between Chia's farming and traditional mining (Mining)?
Mining requires expensive disposable hardware equipment, which tends to consume a lot of electricity. We hope to solve this problem through a fair, environmentally friendly and better-quality blockchain. The Chia blockchain uses "farming" to make full use of the existing empty hard disk space distributed on global nodes.
"Farming" is decentralized, because anyone who has installed Chia software and owns a "Plot" can win the next block. Two conditions are required for mining: first, to customize expensive one-time mining hardware; second, to obtain electricity supply at a wholesale price or lower. Therefore, only professional mining companies can afford these costs. "Farming" is more fragmented because it relies on free hard disk space. Anyone with a mobile phone, laptop, or company network currently has a lot of extra storage space that is not in use.
Unlike mining, once you have completed the storage "farming", you can readjust the storage purpose, for example, storing your family photos.
Why farm Chia?
You can "farm" Chia on unused storage space on your mobile phone, laptop, or company network. In return, you have the opportunity to receive chia representative rewards to help protect the blockchain. Our software allows users to allocate a certain amount of unused disk space to create "lots". Since the only resource-intensive step is the initial plot, once the Chia node software is downloaded, the driver will dig out a “plot” in the background. After the "land" is dug, your computer will farm on your behalf, and the software will complete all the work and track the representative rewards for you. It is worth mentioning that farming will only take up a small part of the network bandwidth, and almost no resources except storage. In addition, the farming process is available to anyone who does not use disk space. Chia is moving towards a truly decentralized The goal of the blockchain is to move forward, and the blockchain will also serve as a form of cross-subsidy for the storage and cloud industries.
Before chia/XCH is included in the digital currency exchange, farming will be the only way to obtain chia/XCH.
What is Chia's "strategic reserve"?
When the network is launched, Chia will conduct "pre-farming" and dig out a large amount of tokens, so that Chia's economy can be more stable through the Chia loan business plan, which will also help future development.
Why do we need to carry out "pre-farming"?
Chia has a novel business model that can not only reduce the volatility of tokens, but also increase the adoption rate. By borrowing from Chia and managing these loan interest rates and other tools (for example, using Chia tokens to buy our shares), we hope that the quarterly volatility of tokens can be further reduced.
In order to further promote the popularization of applications, we intend to lend Chia to 5,000 companies around the world. These companies will use Chia to provide fast, cheap, and secure payments to global suppliers.
We also intend to use strategic reserves to assist in development and adoption, and other things, such as investing in some promising start-ups in the Chia ecosystem, and increasing farming rewards within a limited time to stimulate other farming activities. If a company uses Chia instead of legal currency to make international payments, it can get 105% of the transfer amount "benefits".
Will Chia conduct an ICO?
No, Chia does not have an ICO plan. Instead, our goal is to be publicly listed on the American Stock Exchange. In this way, shareholders can share risks and rewards with management in a transparent and open manner. We can also use fully understood corporate control rights to make a binding statement on how Chia Network intends to use its strategic reserves. Chia digital currency is a useful payment tool, but not an investment opportunity. Chia intends to complete the SEC-registered IPO listing in compliance with regulatory requirements, and will launch an optional listing on the main network.
Can I buy Chia now?
Not yet. Once the mainnet is launched, we expect that farming token rewards will be distributed on the network six weeks later, and token transactions are not allowed. The purpose of this is to provide a period of time to help stabilize the distribution to the Chia area The amount of storage space of the block chain, and give priority to our storage space farmers.
In addition, the released candidate farming software will be able to generate "plots" that can be farmed on the testnet and mainnet. As long as the mainnet initiates the token transaction, you can buy Chia on most exchanges around the world. .
What is Chia's inflation rate?
After Chia conducts pre-farming, farming token rewards will be issued at a rate of 64 Chia every 10 minutes. In the first 12 years, farming rewards will be halved after every three years. From the 13th year to indefinitely, the token reward will remain the same, that is, 4 Chia every 10 minutes, which means that the inflation rate will continue to fall. 22 years after the mainnet launch, Chia's inflation rate will drop to 0.50%.
Does Chia use a Bitcoin code?
No. Chia code is all original.
Is Bitcoin not good enough?
When Bitcoin was developed, the market had not foreseen that the computing power of dedicated mining hardware equipment would greatly exceed the performance of ordinary computers, resulting in the decentralized network that was originally hoped to be formed by a small number of miners who could use chip manufacturing plants and wholesale Power purchase (or worse). The current miners who control the Bitcoin network believe that they still have a competitive advantage and are clearly opposed to changing the agreement even though it is clear that the agreement should be changed. Chia has spent ten years researching a new digital currency ecosystem and believes that we can make cryptocurrencies more decentralized, safer, and easier to use.
Will the value of Chia fluctuate like other cryptocurrencies?
We believe that because our plan is to go public, token volatility will be smaller than other cryptocurrencies, which will allow financial institutions to use tokens and stocks to hedge.
Initially, we expected that Chia Network’s valuation will be mainly based on the company’s valuation of Chia on its balance sheet. The fluctuation of Chia’s price on the digital trading platform is likely to be reflected in the stock price changes on the stock exchange. . Compared with traditional blockchain projects, there are more ways to let people understand the success of Chia, which will also enable conventional options and derivatives of our stocks to be used as synthetic derivatives similar to the price of Chia tokens. In addition, our ability to use Chia's strategic reserves may also help reduce Chia's volatility in the market.
In terms of applying encryption technology, what is the level of Chia?
Chia created three new core inventions and drove market interest and adoption. First, Chia created the first BLS Signatures library for production. Secondly, Chia will become the first production use case of the Verifiable Delay Function (VDF). Third, Chia created a space-time proof for the Satoshi Nakamoto consensus.
Can ordinary people use Chia as a payment tool?
Our hope is that, over time, Chia will be supported by the global PoS system and consumer payment applications. For example, if you use the GrabPay app in Thailand to buy coffee at Tully's coffee shop in England, then it will "just work" and consumers don't need to know that the transaction was paid with Chia.
For another example, if you live in a place where money transfer services such as Venmo or Cash App are not available, then using Chia will be much less troublesome compared to slow and expensive wire transfers. Using traditional banking services for cross-border remittances and currency exchanges is cumbersome, slow, and costly. Although alternative remittance services may be faster, they are not cheap: Western Union will charge a remittance fee of up to 10%.
Chia technology will be completely open source and accessible, anyone can build a new wallet without our permission or help. Not only that, we will also help wallets, exchanges and merchant partners by providing them with support and integration services, joint marketing and liquidity loans.
Why did you choose the name Chia?
We are the currency of environmental protection. The founder of Chia, Bram Cohen, wanted to reduce the energy dependence of the blockchain through "green" when he founded the company. The concept of farming seems to be the best metaphor for filling unused disk space and monitoring it to achieve environmental goals, which leads us to look for a "crop" name that reflects environmentally friendly characteristics for the new network. In addition, the team also wanted a short and influential name. In the end, everyone felt very happy because the name Chia is a "crop" related to the whimsical meme-Chia Network was born.
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