New storage-based cryptocurrency loses half its value on launch day

Hard Drive
(Image credit: Pixabay via manseok)

The newest cryptocurrency on the block(chain?), Chia coin (XCH), launched yesterday with an initial price of just under $1,600, but after a brief climb quickly bottomed out at $700. Less than half of its launch price. Maybe, just maybe, the latest cryptocurrency isn't everything it's been hyped up to be.

Peak Storage

SATA, NVMe M.2, and PCIe SSDs on blue background

(Image credit: Future)

Best SSD for gaming: the best solid state drives around
Best PCIe 4.0 SSD for gaming: the next gen has landed
The best NVMe SSD: this slivers of SSD goodness
Best external hard drives: expand your horizons
Best external SSDs: plug in upgrades for gaming laptops and consoles

In case you've not had your ear to the ground, Chia is a storage-based cryptocurrency, which some feared would lead to a storage shortage in the same way that traditional cryptocurrencies have impacted the availability of graphics cards. And, while large-capacity drives have seen price increases in China as demand has grown, you probably don't need to rush out to buy a massive hard drive before they all vanish just yet.

The fact that the value of the currency is on a downward trend is potentially good news for normal PC gamers, although regardless, the way that Chia works means it wasn't ever really going to impact normal drives much anyway. It needs seriously big hard drives and SSDs to operate efficiently—you're looking at 10TB+ here, so unless Chia reached ridiculous values, the direct impact on 'normal' storage should be minimal.

It's obviously still very early days for Chia, and plenty of long-term investors will be eyeing it up as potentially 'the next big thing', so we wouldn't write it off just yet. But as far as PC gaming is concerned, this is just another cryptocurrency that you can largely ignore. 

As Chia was enjoying its first-day teething problems, the crypto of the moment, Ethereum (ETH), however, has continued to smash records, topping out a new high of $3,530. Sorry to say, there probably won't be any let-up in the demand for graphics cards while this current surge continues.

Alan Dexter

Alan has been writing about PC tech since before 3D graphics cards existed, and still vividly recalls having to fight with MS-DOS just to get games to load. He fondly remembers the killer combo of a Matrox Millenium and 3dfx Voodoo, and seeing Lara Croft in 3D for the first time. He's very glad hardware has advanced as much as it has though, and is particularly happy when putting the latest M.2 NVMe SSDs, AMD processors, and laptops through their paces. He has a long-lasting Magic: The Gathering obsession but limits this to MTG Arena these days.

Read more
A rendered concept image of an imaginary real Bitcoin against a stylized digital/electronic background
Bitcoin hits a new all-time high, $Trump is stymied by $Melania, and I'm over here having a full-blown existential crisis
Hacker
$1.5 billion crypto heist could be the biggest yet, more than doubling the previous record, but don't worry: The affected firm says it can take the hit
The NVIDIA stand at the Apsara Conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, September 19, 2024. (Photo credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Nvidia share price plummets as it loses more than $600B in valuation, the biggest single-day loss in history
Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card on different backgrounds
MSI says that the supply of its RTX 5090 cards will be very tight, due to a limited supply of GPUs from Nvidia
Skytech Chronos gaming PC on a blue background
Got the Nvidia 50-series and AMD X3D stock-out blues? Skip the waiting lists with this surprisingly well-priced RTX 5080 and Ryzen 7 9800X3D gaming PC
Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 Dhabab OC Edition graphics card on a yellow and blue background
If showing off that you actually own an RTX 5090 isn't enough, why not show off that you own a golden one for double rarity points
Latest in Storage
Crucial X9 external SSD on blue background
You can pick up the 2 TB version of my favorite budget external SSD for less than $0.06 per GB, transfers 300+ GB of data in 6 minutes
A Samsung 9100 Pro SSD in both 2 TB and 4 TB sizes.
Samsung 9100 Pro 2 TB SSD review
An image of a WD_Black SN850X SSD against a teal background with a white border
The best 1 TB gaming SSD you can buy is now just $79, the cheapest it's been for a good while
WD Black SN850X SSD on a gaming PC case.
Looks like we won't be seeing Western Digital SSDs in our gaming PCs as the company hands the reins back over to SanDisk
A SanDisk Desk Drive external SSD on a blue background
I adore this chunky, reliable external SSD, so for a third off the 4 TB version I will absolutely recommend it in a heartbeat
The Buffalo RUF3-KEV USB drive on a red-orange gradient
This USB flash drive has a built-in anti-malware system, but I still wouldn't use one I found in a parking lot
Latest in News
Assassin's Creed Shadows promo image
Ubisoft scores a legendary ratio against Elon Musk on his own platform—which hopefully marks a final end to all the Assassin's Creed Shadows' culture war nonsense
Tzarina Katarin Bokha, the Ice Queen of Kislev
Total War: Warhammer 3 rolls out a cool Kislev overhaul, changes befitting Tzeench’s magic, new projectile units and creakier skeletal horses
An image of a golden first place award from Geoguessr
'We're actually getting GeoGuessr on Steam before GTA 6': the Google Street View puzzler arrives on Valve's platform this April
Napster client circa 1999
Former music-pirating platform Napster to be reborn rather ironically as a metaverse for musicians to connect with their fans after $207 million deal
The snazzy red and black HyperX Cloud Alpha wireless headphones float in a teal void. The microphone is attached to the headset.
The best wireless gaming headset is now even better in the Amazon Big Spring Sale, boasting a more than $50 discount
A chip being held up in an Intel fab
Intel is reportedly 'working to finalize commitments from Nvidia' as a foundry partner, suggesting gaming potential for the 18A node