Crypto miners have exacerbated graphics card shortages of late, adding to the problems faced by frustrated gamers looking to buy a new GPU, and a new cryptocurrency on the scene could potentially affect a different set of PC components, namely the units. Not yet available for purchase, Chia is designed to be a green cryptocurrency, so instead of relying on power-hungry GPUs (or ASIC devices), it harnesses the power of disks: SSDs or hard drives that They consume much less energy. However, assuming Chia is successfully established as a green alternative in the cryptocurrency realm, the problem is that miners (or rather 'farmers') could buy SSDs or hard drives. ). In fact, as Hong Kong-based tech site HKEPC reports (as Tom's Hardware has pointed out), this is already happening in Asia; in fact, it's known as "panic buying." The Hong Kong market has seen an increase in sales of hard drives with a capacity of 4TB to 8TB, so much so that the forecast is that due to demand, the prices of hard drives and SSDs may increase. In Hong Kong from HKD200 to HKD600 (which is about €25 to about €75; about €20 to €55, or AU$30 to AU$100). Which is a worrying development on top of existing supply chain issues caused by the pandemic and recent reports of key component shortages and a power outage that is expected to drive up SSD prices. The best news is that the most in-demand SSDs are heavy-duty commercial models, as Chia drives the drives with constant read and write, but consumer SSDs can be used in a pinch. Tom's further notes that one of China's major manufacturers, Jiahe Jinwei, told MyDrivers that it has already sold some high-end 1TB and 2TB NVMe SSDs, and the company says it will implement the restrictions put in place to prevent minors from passing vacuum. consumption patterns. In fact, apparently, Jiahe Jinwei plans to market an SSD specifically for cryptocurrency use, in the same way that there are dedicated GPUs for miners.