Chia XCH / Chia

What Is Chia Network (XCH)?

Chia Network Inc. (CNI) delivers software to enable enterprises to tokenize, custody, and trade any asset, while ensuring auditable authenticity and provenance. Created by Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent, the underlying open source, public Chia blockchain provides the secure and regulatory-compliant infrastructure for One Market.

The Chia Blockchain (XCH) is a layer 1 blockchain that uses its own custom-designed, open-source programming language called Chialisp and a novel consensus mechanism called proof-of-space-and-time (PoST). The combination of these two allows the blockchain to use less energy without compromising network security.

CNI’s first proof-of-time function was released in 2019, with the first beta version of its blockchain launching in 2020. CNI achieved full functionality, including wallet, transactions, and smart contracts, with its mainnet launch in 2021.

Who Are the Founders of Chia Network?

CNI was established in Delaware in 2017 by Bram Cohen, the founder of the popular peer-to-peer file sharing platform BitTorrent. The project is led by an experienced management team, including former public company CEO Gene Hoffman as chief executive officer (CEO).

CNI is also backed by a number of cryptocurrency-focused venture capitalists,raising $61 million in funding in May 2021 with the participation of Andreessen Horowitz, Slow Ventures, Naval Ravikant, Galaxy Digital and others.

What Makes the Chia Blockchain Unique?

Chia Network (XCH) improves upon proof-of-stake (PoS) and proof-of-work (PoW) by using a less electricity-intensive consensus mechanism. The network achieves Nakamoto consensus by combining proof-of-space (PoS) with proof-of-time, (PoT) which both function in distinct manners.

Proof-of-space requires miners to keep unused storage on their hard disk drives. In this scenario, miners install special software that allocates free space, which is then used to solve a challenge – similar to puzzle-solving in proof-of-work (PoW). The software stores a collection of cryptographic numbers on the miner's disk and, upon block creation, a challenge number from the previous block is taken. Miners scan their numbers to check if they have a number close to the challenge number that is required.

Proof-of-time demonstrates the passage of time through Verifiable Delay Functions, in a way that is similar to the Solana (SOL) blockchain. The Timelords – nodes that document time – ensure that time is correctly documented for solving the proof-of-space functions.