Reading through the wikipedia page for Chia > The Chia Network was founded in 2017 by American computer programmer Bram Cohen, the author of the BitTorrent pro

Reading through the wikipedia page for Chia > The Chia Network was founded in 2017 by American computer programmer Bram Cohen, the author of the BitTorrent protocol.[4] In China stockpiling ahead of the May 2021 launch led to shortages and an increase in the price of hard disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD).[5] Shortages were also reported in Vietnam.[6] Phison, a Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company, estimated that SSD prices will rise by 10% in 2021 as a result of Chia.[7] Hard drive manufacturer Seagate said in May 2021 that the company was experiencing strong orders and that staff were working to "adjust to market demand".[6] In May 2021 Gene Hoffman, the president of Chia Network, admitted that "we’ve kind of destroyed the short-term supply chain" for hard disks.[8] Concerns have also been raised about the mining process also potentially being harmful to drives' lifetime.[9] Thankfully the coin seems to have collapsed completely since May 2021 (https://www.coinbase.com/price/chia-network https://www.coinbase.com/price/chia-network) But you can see why people are skeptical