Chia Network publishes 'green paper,' offering greener alternative to proof of work

Chia Network has been working on a less energy-intensive alternative to bitcoin.

The company has just published a ‘green paper’, a technical white paper discussing the more ecological alternative to proof of work used in bitcoin. The company is planning to implement a proof of space and proof of time in place of the traditionally used proof of work, which will form a consensus algorithm for Chia. This way, Chia wants to eliminate the energy-consuming process.

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The company is also launching a competition, which will be split into three tracks. Developers who decide to take part will be working on implementations of the proof of space algorithm so that it can be enhanced. Total awards for developers total $100k.

"We're making sure that the fundamental building blocks of our protocol are confidence-inspiring and available to all," said Bram Cohen, founder of Chia Network. "By having an open competition, we're making sure that the absolute best implementation anyone has is available to everyone.”

BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen took over as CEO of Chia Network following the departure of Ryan Singer last month.