Green by Design? Investigating the Energy and Carbon Footprint of Chia Network
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arXiv
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| Auteurs principaux: | , , |
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| Format: | Preprint |
| Publié: |
2026
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| _version_ | 1866913032234336256 |
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| author | Djerrab, Soraya Gritti, Clémentine Benzenati, Rahima |
| author_facet | Djerrab, Soraya Gritti, Clémentine Benzenati, Rahima |
| contents | This paper presents a detailed analysis of the environmental impact of Chia Network (Chia for short), a green-claimed blockchain, which uses a Proof of Space and Time (PoST) consensus mechanism. While Chia claims to be a sustainable alternative to Proof-of-Work-based blockchains, our results show that its resource-intensive initialization phase and ongoing operations lead to carbon emissions 18x higher than claimed (0.88 MtCO2/year), exceeding mainstream "green" blockchains by orders of magnitude. We combine experimental measurements from a controlled testbed (Grid'5000) with theoretical modeling of operational and embodied emissions to assess Chia's true sustainability profile. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_13044 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Green by Design? Investigating the Energy and Carbon Footprint of Chia Network Djerrab, Soraya Gritti, Clémentine Benzenati, Rahima Computers and Society This paper presents a detailed analysis of the environmental impact of Chia Network (Chia for short), a green-claimed blockchain, which uses a Proof of Space and Time (PoST) consensus mechanism. While Chia claims to be a sustainable alternative to Proof-of-Work-based blockchains, our results show that its resource-intensive initialization phase and ongoing operations lead to carbon emissions 18x higher than claimed (0.88 MtCO2/year), exceeding mainstream "green" blockchains by orders of magnitude. We combine experimental measurements from a controlled testbed (Grid'5000) with theoretical modeling of operational and embodied emissions to assess Chia's true sustainability profile. |
| title | Green by Design? Investigating the Energy and Carbon Footprint of Chia Network |
| topic | Computers and Society |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.13044 |