FileCoin becomes the focus, hard disk mining will continue to be popular

Regarding FileCoin mining, the market is currently divided into two camps. On the one hand, a large number of articles have expounded on the view that FileCoin mining is a scam in which bigwigs work together to make money. On the other hand, large financial groups continue to increase their investment in the FileCoin mining industry, which makes many investors in the middle say that they don’t understand the current situation. Should they participate in it?

Currently, mining is also the most controversial aspect of FileCoin. Because the main network has not yet been launched, many groups have provided cloud computing services, and even exchanges and financial media have begun to sell cloud computing power. It can be seen that big funds are still optimistic about FileCoin, but there is actually a story behind the optimism.

We know that FileCoin mining requires high-configuration computers. We can assume that servers can meet this requirement, rather than the mining machines we have seen before, so this involves several aspects.

Building data centers has become a new economic growth point

FileCoin mining requires the construction of data centers, not mining farms. The difference lies in the subsidies from local governments. Although some mining farms are currently operating under the name of data centers, this mainly illustrates the problem of unclear division. Previously, a mining farm in Xinjiang was reported to have its subsidies cancelled because it was not considered a data center, so the electricity bill was extremely high, and the mining machine was finally blocked due to disputes. However, FileCoin mining can legitimately build data centers, obtain relevant subsidies from local governments, and enjoy preferential measures.

In addition, the current domestic investment situation is relatively cautious. For large-scale enterprises, bank loans are relatively easy to obtain, and the interest rate has also been reduced a lot. However, the problem is that many enterprises dare not take out loans, mainly because they do not know what to do with the loans. If they expand production at will, they will also put pressure on inventory, so they have to operate conservatively. In addition, domestic demand is basically very weak now, so once there is a relatively reliable and good project, it will naturally attract many teams to compete for it, which is also the reason why many people in China are interested in FileCoin mining.

Raise the hardware threshold to prevent retail investors from mining directly

FileCoin mining is actually a competition of computer hardware. It requires not only hard drives, but also CPU, GPU, RAM and other hardware requirements. This has led many retail investors to criticize FileCoin for becoming a game between big players. Retail investors cannot participate in FileCoin mining because a piece of hardware like this costs at least tens of thousands of yuan, and it is also necessary to maintain high-speed broadband and uninterrupted power supply. This kind of requirement makes it difficult for individuals to find a place with low electricity costs and add a few graphics cards to mine like Ethereum, except for the computer room of the data center. FileCoin mining has, to a certain extent, enabled big players to be eligible to participate, excluding many retail investors.

The biggest benefit of excluding retail investors is that these large investors can naturally control the price of tokens. To a certain extent, they are the main body of hard disk mining, so they also have the obligation to maintain the price of the currency, which is good for the FileCoin project. Of course, for retail investors, they can participate in other hard disk mining projects with lower hardware requirements, such as BHD, storj, etc.

As for the fact that many manufacturers sell cloud computing power to retail investors, a big reason is that they are not willing to bear the risks related to the currency price. Therefore, they need to choose a more stable way to make profits. Then selling the cloud computing power as soon as possible can avoid this situation. In the later stage, they also have the motivation to maintain the currency price, so as to continue to do business such as building data centers and selling cloud computing power.

New sales channels for hard disk manufacturers

FileCoin mining is an opportunity for hard disk manufacturers. In the current digital currency mining, we all know that there are CPU mining, GPU mining, FPGA mining, ASIC mining, etc., and the relevant beneficiaries are Intel, NVIDIA, ARM, AMD, Xilinx, Altera, Bitmain, Canaan Technology, Microbit, TSMC, Samsung and other manufacturers. We found that hard disks, as an important component in computers, are rarely involved. These manufacturers include Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, HGST, Kingston and other manufacturers, and of course solid-state hard disk manufacturers OCZ, Intel, Plextor and other manufacturers.

Since the popularity of smartphones, computer sales have actually experienced a significant decline. Lenovo, the former computer giant, has been constantly adjusting its products, but it is still difficult to open up new markets. The main reason is that on the one hand, the service life of computers is generally longer, unlike mobile phones that need to be updated every two or three years; on the other hand, most people use home computers less frequently. Therefore, this has posed new challenges to some computer accessory manufacturers, and their performance has also been under great pressure.

We have seen why Monero has been constantly forked to do CPU mining (research has shown that Monero's mining is highly centralized due to brute forces), why graphics card mining supports several mainstream currencies, and even NVIDIA has launched a special graphics card for mining. In fact, this is most likely due to the support of the hardware manufacturers behind the scenes, which has led to the current various mining industries.

So for hard drive manufacturers, they will naturally not miss this opportunity. Although cloud storage like Baidu Cloud already occupies a large market size, if there are new growth points, why wouldn’t they be willing to do it?

Hard disk mining is a long-term business, and the competition for hard disk space will inevitably continue to intensify as the price of coins rises. Here we can refer to Ethereum mining, which has consumed a large number of graphics cards and even caused a price increase for graphics cards. This shows how popular mining was at the time. Therefore, for hard disk manufacturers, hard disk mining must be very critical.

FileCoin is bound to become a project that continues to attract attention, because the above reasons involve too many stakeholders, so it is not allowed to fail hastily. In the current global economy, a seemingly small market like FileCoin is indeed likely to become a point that many related companies value. Therefore, overall, the hype of FileCoin is far from over. Then there will be considerable profit margins, which is the key for some participants. Simply put, without profit margins, data centers, hard drives, and funds may eventually become nothing, which is obviously unlikely.