News and insights

The Chia Blog

News, releases, and insights straight from the team.

Blog posts, page 6

  1. 5 min read

    • Build
    • Products and Capabilities

    Version 1.6.2 Available Now

    Version 1.6.2 of the Chia reference client is now available for download. Included in this release is the addition of WalletConnect support, as well as several exciting new features to enhance the overall user experience in the Chia ecosystem. Throughout this blog post, we will highlight the latest updates incorporated in this latest version. 

    WalletConnect Support

    WalletConnect is a widely adopted…

    Read more of Version 1.6.2 Available Now
  2. 10 min read

    • Build

    The Holiday NFTs are here!

    Disclaimer: The window for redeeming CH21 cat tokens for the holiday NFT closed on November 10, 2023.

    The Chia Holiday 2021 NFTs are now available! You can redeem your corresponding CH21 CAT tokens for these limited edition NFTs by doing the following:

    Simply send one CH21 token (not XCH!) to the following address:
    (redacted as redemption window has closed)

    That’s it! It’s THAT easy! Once received…

    Read more of The Holiday NFTs are here!
  3. 9 min read

    • Market Insights
    • Products and Capabilities

    NFTs: Exciting New Promises, Same Old Reality

    Imagine you’re an artist. Oil on canvas. You’re just getting started, so you sell your paintings at a discount while you build your clout. Years go by, your audience grows, you keep creating. Finally, after decades of painting and hustling, your artwork is bringing in good money. One day an early supporter discovers a dusty old painting of yours in their attic. They list it in an auction, and it…

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  4. 5 min read

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    • Products and Capabilities

    New Features Available with 1.6.1

    Version 1.6.1 of the Chia reference client is now available for download. This update includes several exciting new features, which we’ll highlight in this post. 

    When we introduced NFTs to Chia’s ecosystem a few months ago, we only included the ability to offer them for XCH. Later, we added support for CAT-NFT offers, but our ultimate goal was to enable offers of anything for anything.

    This ability…

    Read more of New Features Available with 1.6.1
  5. 7 min read

    • Company Updates

    A New Home for the Prefarm

    All 21 million XCH in Chia’s prefarm have been moved to four custom-built custody wallets.

    Why design new wallets from scratch? Existing web3 custody solutions rely on simple multisig contracts that can be drained of their funds in the event of a minor security breach. We knew we could do better.

    Chia’s custody solution uses a combination of custom hardware and state-of-the-art Chialisp (opens in a new tab) to create…

    Read more of A New Home for the Prefarm
  6. 3 min read

    • Build
    • Products and Capabilities

    Beta Dev Tools: Blockchain Simulator, Chialisp VSCode Extension, and Bulk Minting

    We know that writing code is never easy and doing it in a new language like Chialisp doesn’t make it easier, so we’re releasing beta versions of additional tools to support developers. Included in this release are three separate developer tool betas to make building in the Chia ecosystem simpler and more accessible.

    The New Tools!

    Whether for simulation, complex testing, or increasing the scale of…

    Read more of Beta Dev Tools: Blockchain Simulator, Chialisp VSCode Extension, and Bulk Minting
  7. 3 min read

    • Market Insights

    OCP and CDI Whitepaper: Data Sanitization Enabling the Circular Economy

    Chia co-authored a new whitepaper on the impact of data sanitization on the circular economy, suggesting a practical solution to data security and storage reuse. Read the whitepaper here (opens in a new tab).

    Shortly after the Chia mainnet launch, hard drives worldwide were sold out, prices increased, and lead times increased. Because of the dramatic increase in demand, a few IT asset disposition (ITAD) providers…

    Read more of OCP and CDI Whitepaper: Data Sanitization Enabling the Circular Economy
  8. 10 min read

    • Products and Capabilities

    Enabling Data for Web3: Announcing Chia DataLayer

    We use the web for rich, complex interactions: to engage with one another, to make purchases or to do business, for creating and storing, and for numerous other use cases. And we think of all these interactions on the web today as decentralized interactions among peers, facilitated by transparent and secure services. In reality, powerful centralized services (able to manipulate, use, copy, and…

    Read more of Enabling Data for Web3: Announcing Chia DataLayer
  9. 6 min read

    • Blockchain

    Chia x Akash Network = Plotting as a Service

    What should be an easy calculation has a bit of nuance. I started creating a model (opens in a new tab) with a three-year total cost of ownership for the plotting hardware, but the tricky part was how to treat the hardware utilization and depreciation. The higher the utilization of the plotter, the better the cost per plot will be. This is intuitive. Because plotters are just computers, servers, or workstations with…

    Read more of Chia x Akash Network = Plotting as a Service
  10. 11 min read

    • Market Insights

    Cypherpunks in Sportcoats: Blockchain in the Real World

    Cryptocurrencies and underlying blockchain technologies are going through a phase of euphoria – awareness is high and adoption is growing, but current use cases are often dubious. There’s confusion around the types of problems and applications that secure and sustainable public blockchains can and should solve…

    We believe there are six primary areas where blockchains offer a superior toolkit to…

    Read more of Cypherpunks in Sportcoats: Blockchain in the Real World
  11. 11 min read

    • Market Insights
    • Products and Capabilities

    Cypherpunks in Sportcoats: Blockchain in the Real World

    Cryptocurrencies and underlying blockchain technologies are going through a phase of euphoria – awareness is high and adoption is growing, but current use cases are often dubious. There’s confusion around the types of problems and applications that secure and sustainable public blockchains can and should solve…

    We believe there are six primary areas where blockchains offer a superior toolkit to…

    Read more of Cypherpunks in Sportcoats: Blockchain in the Real World
  12. 6 min read

    • Build
    • Products and Capabilities

    New Features Coming to 1.5.1

    Version 1.5.1 of the Chia reference client is now available to download. This release includes some fun new features, which we’ll go through in this post.

    Version 1.4 introduced NFTs to Chia’s ecosystem. Chia NFTs are typically bought and sold using Offers, which enable the peer-to-peer exchange of assets, with no counterparty risk.

    In the 1.4 wallet GUI, NFTs could only be exchanged for XCH. In…

    Read more of New Features Coming to 1.5.1
  13. 3 min read

    • Products and Capabilities

    Bringing Transparency and Efficiency to Carbon Markets

    What if we could increase access and create real global inclusion in the carbon markets? What if we could establish clear standards and transparent pricing for a previously illiquid and obfuscated asset? What if we could establish “one”¹ price of carbon?

    We could increase funding for the high-quality, nature-based projects seeking to regenerate nature, while creating a more usable instrument in a…

    Read more of Bringing Transparency and Efficiency to Carbon Markets
  14. 4 min read

    • Blockchain

    Help Test BladeBit 2.0 with our New Chia Beta Program

    Today, we are launching the Chia Beta Program, a new way for one of the largest and most decentralized communities in blockchain to help us test and refine the products we’re building at an unprecedented scale. The Beta Program represents an opportunity for the community to be involved in the development process and offer direct feedback on the products we’re building with and for you.

    The first…

    Read more of Help Test BladeBit 2.0 with our New Chia Beta Program
  15. 7 min read

    • Blockchain

    Announcing Bladebit 2.0

    Chia is releasing new plotting software called Bladebit Disk, utilizing the high-performance code from the in-memory plotter Bladebit, with a new architecture optimized for mainstream storage devices (solid state drives, and hard disk drives). Major new features include DRAM caching to reduce writes and improve performance and brand new architecture for disk io that improves SSD endurance and…

    Read more of Announcing Bladebit 2.0
  16. 4 min read

    • Company Updates

    CAT1 Vulnerability Explained - CVE and CWE

    Part of our commitment to the security of the Chia blockchain and community is providing transparency around security and the lessons learned when a security incident is discovered. In this spirit, we will have a Common Vulnerabilities and Exposure (opens in a new tab) (CVE) and Common Weakness Enumeration (opens in a new tab) (CWE) of the recent CAT1 vulnerability published Soon™.

    In the meantime, we will provide technical details of the…

    Read more of CAT1 Vulnerability Explained - CVE and CWE
  17. 22 min read

    • Products and Capabilities

    Upgrading the CAT Standard

    Updated May 27, 2025 at 18:00 UTC ‎

    Following the end of life (EOL) of CAT1 at block height 2,311,760 (at approximately July 26, 2022 at 9:00am PDT), we’re providing an update on the reissuance process and information on next steps for asset holders and asset issuers.  

    If you have any CATs in your wallet, you will want to upgrade to 1.5.0 as soon as conveniently possible. CAT1 assets are no longer…

    Read more of Upgrading the CAT Standard
  18. 3 min read

    • Products and Capabilities

    1.4.0 - Introducing the Chia NFT1 Standard

    Today, we’re pleased to announce the launch of the next milestone of our journey: The Chia NFT1 standard on mainnet. Our NFT0 testnet release in May outlined our vision for the future of NFTs – We are seeking to leverage Chia’s sustainable, inclusive, and compliant blockchain to enable and drive real-world applications of digital ownership through true marketplace independence, consistent…

    Read more of 1.4.0 - Introducing the Chia NFT1 Standard
  19. 6 min read

    • Company Updates
    • Market Insights

    Why I joined a blockchain as CMO during “crypto winter”

    I started learning about blockchain, crypto and web3 in January, after a surge of 2021 media activity that shouted, “Hey, start paying attention to this.” After months figuring out how to “speak crypto,” (opens in a new tab) I realized that there are lots of low-quality projects that lack substance, resemble scams, or proliferate “bro culture”—none of which interest me.

    To stay sane and refine my focus, I attempted to…

    Read more of Why I joined a blockchain as CMO during “crypto winter”
  20. 9 min read

    • Market Insights

    Cypherpunks in Sportcoats: The Fundamental Value of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchains

    In the not too distant past, a pack of the uninformed chanted “Blockchain not Bitcoin!” This was “proof of no IQ,” as a secure decentralized database, a blockchain, requires an incentive to compensate farmers/miners to validate transactions for third parties. Blockchains need cryptocurrency and cryptocurrencies need blockchain.

    Cryptocurrencies do have a value, and they can be valued using…

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  21. 10 min read

    • Market Insights
    • Products and Capabilities

    Our Vision for Chia NFTs

    In October 2021, Chia began exploring the NFT space and the role that we can play in it. We believe the Chia blockchain provides differentiated value through true digital ownership and Chia Offer Files (opens in a new tab) that enable true decentralized trading.

    Coming from the video gaming industry, I innately understood the appeal of digital ownership, but I wasn’t familiar with the Ethereum blockchain NFT world. It…

    Read more of Our Vision for Chia NFTs
  22. 2 min read

    • Products and Capabilities

    1.3.4 - Improved Token Management

    We’ve done some remodeling on the GUI, so you’ll find that things have moved around.

    We’ve provided some notes and context (and GIFs!) for you to become familiar with the new GUI, which has incorporated community feedback and is structured to better support future features. Please take a look below to understand what has changed. As always, we welcome your feedback.

    Creating an offer now makes it…

    Read more of 1.3.4 - Improved Token Management
  23. 2 min read

    • Products and Capabilities

    Announcing Chia Dashboards

    Today, I’m excited to announce the public release of our Chia Dashboards (opens in a new tab). The site currently has 3 dashboards providing a glimpse into the blockchain and peer network. We’re building this network together – the primary goal of these dashboards is to provide an accurate and third-party verifiable accounting of the blockchain and its state. A secondary benefit is that we think data is beautiful and…

    Read more of Announcing Chia Dashboards
  24. 5 min read

    • Company Updates

    Chia Mainnet Year One

    In celebration of Chia Mainnet’s first year, we share some thoughts and a nifty infographic below.‎ ‎

    As we look back on the first year of Chia’s blockchain, we have a lot to celebrate; from the launch of Mainnet and rapid network growth to the developer ecosystem and engaged community, from theory, testing, and simulation to hundreds of thousands of nodes validating transactions with tens of…

    Read more of Chia Mainnet Year One