After several weeks of anticipation, ChiaCoin, the cryptocurrency that relies on high-capacity storage is slated to start trading from tomorrow, that is, the 3rd of May. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is that the prices of consumer storage devices such as HDDs and SSDs may increase. However, as already reported earlier, HDD prices have more or less stabilized after the initial spike in prices a couple of weeks back. SSD prices have also more or less remained the same, despite some markets reporting surges in demand.
For starters, it’s important to remember that ChiaCoin primarily requires high-capacity storage such as 8TB SSDs and higher. Professional miners looking for hardware won’t be gobbling up 1-2TB drives that most consumers look for. As such, the immediate impact is going to be less prominent. Regardless, till now the cryptocurrency has a storage footprint of more than 1 Exabytes which is quite significant, but the market has mostly adjusted to this increased demand, without affecting the overall supply much.
How popular ChiaCoin is going to be will be decided in the coming weeks, and its impact on the hardware industry will be directly proportional to its value. In any event, we’re going to see an increased influx of cheaper 2nd-hand media drives on the market. It’s recommended to stay away from these, especially if they’re high-capacity drives.
