How to Mine Chia (XCH) in 2025: Complete Guide and News

Here, gold is not extracted by burning energy; it is cultivated (farmed).

Chia Network (XCH) is a project led by the very same Bram Cohen, the genius behind BitTorrent. Its promise is simple and radical: to create a blockchain that is more efficient, less centralized, and more secure.

• Key Difference: Proof of Space and Time (PoST): Forget ASICs (specialized mining machines) and graphics cards (GPUs). In Chia, consensus is achieved by proving that you reserve hard drive space (Proof of Space) over a period of time (Proof of Time). In other words, you don’t mine; you farm.
• Ecological Benefits (Sustainability is cool!): This is the main point that highlights its potential to offer a sustainable alternative to Bitcoin‘s Proof of Work (PoW). By using existing storage space that consumes little energy, Chia drastically reduces the environmental impact. You don’t heat the planet; you just heat your hard drives a little bit.

Proof of Space and Time (PoST) Technology

PoST is the brain of Chia, and it’s what makes it innovative. Understanding this is the key to mastering farming.

• What do we prove?: You prove to the network that you have dedicated large portions of space on your hard drive to storing cryptographic files called “plots.” These plots are essentially random numbers saved on your drive.
• The Farmer’s Task (you): When a new block needs to be validated, the network issues a challenge (like a lottery). Your PC (harvester) searches your plots to see if any of them hold the closest solution to that challenge. The more plots you have (more space), the more chances you have to win.
• The Role of Timelords: To ensure that time advances predictably and prevent cheating, the network uses Timelords. These are ultra-fast nodes that use a Verifiable Delay Function (VDF) to confirm that the proof of space occurs within a determined time.
• Comparison: Unlike PoW (which uses computing power) and PoS (which uses locked tokens), PoST uses an abundant, low-consumption physical resource: disk space. This promotes decentralization because anyone with a PC and hard drives can participate.

Updated Technical Requirements in 2025

• Forget about buying the most expensive GPU. Here, your investment goes into capacity and speed for the plot creation phase.
• Farming is divided into two phases: Plotting (creation, which is speed-intensive) and Farming (cultivation, which is capacity-intensive).

The Key Fact for 2025!

NVMe SSDs are used as a temporary “work area” to create the plot quickly. Then, the finalized plot, which doesn’t require speed, is moved to the cheaper HDD for passive farming. The speed of the SSD drastically reduces the creation time (from hours to minutes). It is crucial that your SSD has high endurance (high TBW value), as plot creation involves a lot of data writing and can shorten its lifespan.

Chia Software Installation and Configuration

The official interface is your command center. Don’t complicate things; the community has done a great job of simplifying this.

1. Official Download: Go to the official Chia Network website and download the client for your system (Windows, macOS, or Linux). Do not trust unofficial clients!
2. Initial Setup: Install and synchronize the Blockchain Node. You need the node to be fully synchronized with the network to start farming effectively.
3. Creating Plots (The Big Step):
   • In the “Plots” tab, select “Add a Plot.”

   • Choose the size (k32 is the standard, needing about 256GB temporary space and resulting in 101.4 GiB final size).

   • Select your SSD/NVMe (the fast one) as Temporary Directory 1.

   • Select your HDD (the capacity one) as Final Directory.

   • Optimization: The key is to adjust the RAM parameters and the number of CPU threads to create several plots at once (in parallel) without saturating the SSD.

Common Error to Avoid: Do not try to plot directly onto the final storage HDD. It will be incredibly slow, and you will waste days. Use the fast NVMe as a temporary buffer!

Strategies to Maximize Earnings

In the beginning, farming alone was like winning the lottery (you needed PetaBytes of space for consistent earnings). Today, the solution is pooling.

• Using Efficient Mining Pools: Joining a pool is the smart strategy. You combine your space power with that of thousands of other farmers so that, when the pool wins a block, the reward is distributed proportionally to your space contribution. The network difficulty constantly rises, so the pool is the way to get small, but consistent and predictable payments.
• Space and Hardware Management:
  • SSD Rotation: If you have a low-endurance SSD, don’t kill it. Limit the amount of plots you create daily. Once the plot is created, it moves to the HDD, and the SSD rests.
  • Balance: Once you have a decent farm, the focus should shift from creating plots to farming efficiently. Maintenance, space, and low power consumption are more important than pure speed.

Security and Best Practices

In the crypto world, your security is your responsibility. Here are the iron-clad tips:

• Private Key Protection (Seed Phrase): Your 24-word seed phrase for your Chia wallet is the key to your fortune. Store it offline, never on a computer connected to the internet, and never share it with anyone. Chia pools do not need your master key to function.
• Avoid Suspicious Pools: When joining a pool, make sure it uses the official Chia pooling protocol and that it is an entity with a good reputation. If they ask for your master key, it is fraud (as the community warned with certain pools in the past).

Outlook and Forecasts for Chia

Profitability is what drives us. Chia’s future depends not only on the price but also on its ecosystem.

• Current Market Status (2025): Although the price of XCH has been volatile, projections from various platforms (which should be taken with caution) suggest continued interest, with forecasts varying widely but pointing toward a recovery based on the network’s real utility.
• Protocol Updates: The constant development of Chialisp (its programming language) and the focus on enterprise solutions and custody contracts (like coloured coins) are the true engine of its future.
• Sustainability and Profitability: Farming profitability will always be linked to the XCH price and the Netspace (the total amount of farmed space). The more farmers join, the harder it is to win. Therefore, the balance between the low operational cost and the coin’s price is key to the long-term sustainability of your farm.

Frequently Asked Questions and Common Doubts

• How much space do I need to start? Technically, a single plot (101.4 GiB). But to have a real chance of winning as a solo farmer, you would need several PetaBytes. Therefore, the practical answer is: enough to join a pool and start receiving daily payments.
• Is it profitable to create plots with SSDs? Yes, but only for the temporary creation phase. Profitability comes from how quickly you can create and move those plots to the HDD. It’s better to invest in a fast, durable NVMe than in a giant, slow HDD.
• What risks exist in Chia mining (farming)? Primarily, the wear and tear on the SSD (if it’s not high-endurance) and the volatility of the XCH price. Additionally, if you farm alone, the risk of not finding a block for a long time is very high. The pool mitigates this.
• How to join a mining pool? You must create a Plot NFT (a kind of pool contract) within the official Chia client and assign the plots to it. Then, you select the pool of your preference, and you’re ready!
• How to monitor my earnings? Once you are in a pool, it will provide you with a dashboard where you will see your total space contribution (in TiB or PiB) and your payments in XCH, which are usually daily.

Official Resources and Links

• Official Chia Network Website: https://www.chia.net/
• Official Software Download: https://www.chia.net/download/
• Official Documentation (Wiki): https://docs.chia.net/
• Blockchain Explorer (XCH): https://www.spacescan.io/
• Community/Reddit Forum: https://www.reddit.com/r/chia/