Chia Network Acquires DrPlotter Technology and Expertise

We’re excited to announce that we’ve acquired the DrPlotter technology—one of the major plot compression tools in the Chia ecosystem. Dr. Nick (Nicolas Halper) himself has also joined the Chia team to work on the future of plotting!

The DrPlotter technology will remain unchanged, and we’re removing all fees for its use. Our long-term vision is to open-source it, but that’s for another day.

What does this mean?

The Chia developer community is one of the best and most proactive at finding ways to create new technology to improve the ecosystem. One major area, Plot Compression, has become an increasingly important topic in the community, especially with the upcoming plot format updates. While several entrants exist in the plotting technology area, we wanted to offer an accessible solution while acknowledging the community’s role in shaping how the Chia blockchain moves forward.  

We’ve repeatedly seen the ingenuity in the ecosystem and decided to acquire DrPlotter because of its great technology. It works, and as open-source maxis ourselves, it’s important to offer everyone the same access to tools.

In the same vein, we didn’t just want the technology but also to harness the mind behind it to help us improve, refine our plotting efforts, and provide a fresh perspective in-house to challenge any biases. So we also brought Dr. Nick onto the Chia team, where he’ll initially focus on plotting technology and the plot format update.

FAQ

Q: Do you have an update on the Plot Format?
A: Not yet. We will provide all of the details on the Plot Format update when they are ready.

Q: Will DrPlotter become part of BladeBit?
A: We first want to propose the new plot format and complete the consensus building process before we commit to the best way to implement plotting for the new format.

Q: Is plot compression required for Chia farming?
A: No! While DrPlotter only works with compression, those who do not want to use compressed plots can still use the existing plotters. If you’re new to Chia, this guide will walk you through the plotting and farming processes: https://docs.chia.net/farming-guide/

Q: What did Chia actually buy?
A: We’ve acquired the DrPlotter technology, code repositories, and associated IP rights.

Q: Can you provide deal details?
A: We shared what we acquired in the deal, but we are not publicly sharing transaction details.

Q: Regarding the removal of fees, do those who have already plotted to DrPlotter need to do anything (replot, edit a config, etc.), or are the fees removed automatically?
A: We’ll be releasing a tool shortly to remove fees and will follow up with guidance on how to do so. It will not require a full GPU replot but rather a more straightforward data copy.

Q: Where should I go if I’m interested in using DrPlotter?
A: https://github.com/drnick23/drplotter