What is Chia?
BitTorrent cofounder Bram Cohen's Chia Network is a new blockchain that aims to solve the inefficiencies inherent to Bitcoin. Rather than a standard proof-of-work algorithm, Chia's consensus is accomplished with proof-of-space (PoSpace). With this method, disk space becomes the operative resource, not computing power.
PoSpace is then alternated with a proof of time. Verifiable delay functions (VDF), require a specified number of sequential steps to be performed while producing a unique output that can be verified by the public.
The combination of PoSpace and VDFs produces Chia's powerful new Proof-of-space-and-time algorithm, or PoST for short. This results in a much greener network without forfeiting security.
Developers can write smart contracts on the Chia blockchain with their new Lisp-like language, Chialisp. These contracts are compiled and executed on their custom virtual machine, CLVM.
