BladeBit 2.0, Carbon Opportunities fund and blockchain update

#1: BladeBit 2.0 and Chia Beta

At the beginning of August, an announcement about BladeBit 2.0 - new plotting software optimized for popular hard drives and solid-state drives was posted on the Chia blog. Key improvements include increased performance and DRAM buffering, as well as an entirely new architecture that enhances the durability of SSDs and allows working with high-throughput drives (like PCIe 4.0). The plotter is compatible with various devices and operating systems, and it has very low minimum requirements for embedded and basic systems.

In general, plotting puts significant strain on SSDs, while traditional hard drives are not extensively used in regular consumer applications. Very few computer games require writing such a large amount of data. Therefore, SSDs optimized for data centers are best suited for creating plots as they are particularly robust, designed for prolonged mass storage use. However, it's not true that Chia has created graveyards of burnt-out SSDs - most small farmers can create hundreds of terabytes of plots even on regular consumer SSDs.

Fortunately, new and more efficient solutions keep emerging. BladeBit is an incredibly efficient plotter developed by Harold Brenes, which allows creating plots within 5 minutes inside the system memory. The only drawback of the project from mid-2021 was that it required a high-end workstation or a very capacious server (416 GB RAM). However, Chia Network aimed to lower the minimum requirements to give an opportunity to farmers working on readily available desktop computers. The new BladeBit still utilizes free disk space for plotting but is now available to a much wider group of users. The plotter significantly reduces the number of SSD writes through DRAM utilization and also decreases disk wear through sequential writes and reduced write amplification factor.

Alpha 2 version is already available for users who want to join the beta testers' group. Thus, the announcement of BladeBit 2.0 opened a new chapter in Chia Network's history - the Chia Beta program has been officially launched. Detailed information on this topic, including registration instructions, can be found in the dedicated post on the Chia Network's English blog: https://www.chia.net/2022/08/08/announcing-bladebit-2.en.html.

#2: Carbon Opportunities Fund

The launch of the Carbon Opportunities Fund was undoubtedly the biggest news in August among all actions related to Chia. The ambitious project's start was covered by many international media outlets, including Reuters, ESG News, CoinDesk, and The Tokenist. The fund was launched by the International Finance Corporation (part of the World Bank Group) with support from start-ups Cultivo, Aspiration, and Chia Network. This global investment platform aims to facilitate carbon offset acquisition, tokenization, and trading.

What are these "offsets"? Trading offset credits is one of the methods for reducing harmful carbon dioxide emissions. In short, if an organization manages to acquire a certain number of credits, it can neutralize its carbon footprint. This is possible through various environmentally-related projects, such as tree planting, algae cultivation, or generating wind or solar energy (i.e., using renewable energy sources).

Carbon Opportunities will finance environmental projects verified and certified by international organizations. The fund will enable combining native carbon credits within four defined offset categories. Blockchain Chia will play a crucial role in ensuring secure and efficient operations. The blockchain will help identify, monitor, and evaluate carbon credits, making the trade of offset credits transparent and fair. Chia Network will ensure both financial security and transaction standardization. Establishing clear standards and transparent prices for previously illiquid assets is a significant step forward. The ultimate goal is, of course, achieving balanced CO2 emissions and mitigating climate change. This aligns with the idea that has been the guiding principle of Chia, aptly called the green cryptocurrency.

What does it mean for the Chia ecosystem? As Gene Hoffmann, CEO of Chia Network, announces, new CATs will be created first - each representing one ton of high-quality natural carbon concerning existing records and will be published in the Climate Warehouse. Registries will update accordingly after transactions. Next, the plan includes generating reference CATs and enabling global carbon offset trading. The power and security of the Chia blockchain will enable the creation of a trusted global offset market, significantly reducing CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.

The Carbon Opportunities Fund has already been fueled with $10 million, and experts expect quick acceleration of carbon emission trading. Participation in such a significant project - and thus collaboration with the World Bank Group - brings immense prestige to the Chia Network. Thanks to recent events, major foreign media outlets eagerly cover the eco-friendly blockchain, which is a green alternative to popular blockchains.

#3: New Chia Blockchain Update (1.5.1)

Towards the end of August, the official Chia Network website also published information that users can now download the next system version (1.5.1). It includes several new useful features, including those related to NFTs and the Chia wallet.

New Features Related to NFTs

NFTs were introduced to the Chia ecosystem in version 1.4. Trading them usually happens through Offers, which enable asset exchange in a P2P model without counterparty risk. Previously, NFTs could only be exchanged for XCH, but starting from version 1.5.1, they will also be tradable for CAT.

How to create such an offer? First, you need to have a CAT wallet. After entering the wallet, click on the diamond icon, then three dots under the name of the NFT you want to sell. Then, press the CREATE OFFER button, and the appropriate panel will appear. There, you can specify the token type you want to receive, enter the amount, and create the offer. It's a good idea to share it wherever it may be profitable. Similarly, you can place an NFT purchase offer using CAT (the BUY AN NFT tab is used for this purpose).

The updated system also introduced other conveniences, such as the ability to hide selected NFTs (to avoid unwanted distribution - they can be uncovered at any time). Finally, in the wallet menu, there is a BURN option that allows sending unwanted NFTs to an address without anyone having the key. Note: If you decide to take this step, there will be no going back - no one will be able to recover access to such a token. For security reasons, the system will ask if you are sure about your decision.

Chia Wallet Enhancements

There's quite a lot of them. Users can now display a list of all peers connected to their wallet or full node. One much-awaited improvement, especially for those with multiple wallets, is the automatic login to the last-used wallet (CLI) - previously, none of them would start synchronizing without the appropriate command.

For a long time, Chia Network encouraged users to migrate keys to keyring.yaml, but it was still possible to store them exclusively in the keychains of MacOS, Windows, or Linux systems. Therefore, not everyone chose to migrate. With version 1.5.1, this has changed - users will no longer be able to skip this step. Representatives of the network announce that this is the last version in which keys can be stored in the traditional way.

Addressing Technical Debt

In version 1.3, Chia introduced a lightweight wallet protocol - while it did speed up synchronization, it generated other problems, especially with wallets overloaded with thousands of small coins (sometimes even displaying incorrect balances). Although this issue hasn't been fully resolved, dusty wallets - especially those synchronizing with trusted nodes - are now significantly more efficient.

Chia is currently the largest L1 blockchain in the world in terms of the number of nodes. This is possible thanks to support for lower-end machines (like Raspberry Pi 4). To maintain this support, block sizes have been limited to 50% of their maximum throughput, which is about 40 transactions per second. Chia has been working to lift the 20 TPS limit, and version 1.5.1 shortens the time for full node synchronization and reduces the resources needed for efficient farming. The network's throughput will be maintained around 40 TPS again. That's several times faster than Bitcoin (7 TPS) or Ethereum (up to 12 TPS).

The network also promises improvements in the reorganization of already processed blocks. Additionally, users will be able to store GUI preferences in the mainnet directory and use custom settings for multiple separate sessions.

That's roughly it when it comes to the latest projects and key changes that have taken place recently. We invite you to the next review of news from the world of Chia Network next month.

```