Blinky Beach Chia Pool

22 May 2021, 416ppm

Our planet is cooking. We must dramatically reduce the concentration of carbon-dioxide in our atmosphere. If we don't, we risk destroying the only biosphere in the known universe.

Cryptocurrencies are here to stay. They perform valuable functions in society. They might not be the future of all payments - CDBCs, Govcoins, and other innovative instruments are likely to also play big roles. But crypto will be an important part of global financial systems.

Bitcoin is an unmitigated ecological disaster. Proof-of-work algorithms are inherently carbon-intensive within the reality of current and forseeable energy markets. Bitcoin now accounts for a significant portion of global CO2 emissions. Almost all other coins are variants of Bitcoin, requiring massive, constant computation for network function.

Chia coin appears to be a better alternative. By design, its "proof-of-space-and-time" model is dramatically less energy-intensive than Bitcoin per unit of useful financial service. The development team is competent, communicative, transparent, and appears driven by principle rather than greed.

I am a software engineer and CTO. Day to day, I build software systems. Until now, I have had little interest in contributing to cryptocurrency development. Given the immense damage being wrought by Bitcoin, and given my skills are applicable, I now feel compelled to act.

Today I am committing to help contibute to the growth of the Chia network at the expense of Bitcoin and other proof-of-work coins. It seems to me that an easy first step I can take is to build a Chia farming pool. Pooling is inevitable in sizable coins, because without them it is difficult for small node operators to pay for their contributions.

Simultanously, pools are a threat to safe network operation. If they grow too big, they can threaten network consensus. Further, it seems to me that pools often tend to be inscrutable, shady, and hard to understand.

I want the Blinky Beach pool to be...

  1. Transparent - Its source code, operations, costs, and motivations should be open and easily understood.
  2. Efficient - Costs should be low, such that contributing nodes are rewarded for as much of their proportion of work as possible
  3. Limited - For health of the network, it should never grow to be bigger than 1% of the Chia network. Let's be honest, it is extraordinarily unlikely this limit will ever be hit, but I think it is important that the principle be established. Big pools are bad.

Bram Cohen indicates that the release of the Chia pooling protocol is imminent. Once it is released, I will begin developing the pool.

To discuss the pool, please tweet at me , email me, or post on ChiaForum . You might also be interested in Chia's pooling FAQ page

To be kept up to date on the pool's progress, sign up to the mailing list. This mailing list will only be used for the purpose of providing pool progress news.

- Hugh