Chia

@nickabouzeid Cool, I'm excited about this 🌱

@cprins_ Sia is for decentralized data storage, to ultimately compete with Amazon S3. Hard drive space is used to store encrypted chunks of peoples' files. Sia uses proof-of-work mining as the consensus mechanism, just like Bitcoin. Chia is an alternative to proof-of-work mining, instead using proof-of-space-time. Hard drive space isn't used to store peoples' files – it's instead used to store consensus data. So hard drive space used on Chia cannot be used for anything but storing that data. While hard drive space used on Sia actually stores peoples' files, but still relies on proof-of-work mining. It will be interesting to see what will be more profitable in the long-term – use your extra drive space by being a host on Sia and store files, or use it to store consensus info to "mine" on Chia? If Sia is more profitable, it's likely no one would ever use Chia.

@zachherbert Yeah, so far I definitely see more value (for end users) in Sia and/or Storj

@lwansbrough The cost of storage decreases over time while the cost of any form of electricity increases. So I'm not sure if short term savings will be negated over time.

@shivekkhurana If mining becomes cheaper because of energy cost savings, miners will mine more to offset those savings and maximize their returns. Assume miners will always maximize their power consumption. Assuming miners can minimize power consumption in a proof of work system is naive, only proof of stake can solve this problem.