A new green cryptocurrency called Chia uses a less energy-intensive method of minting new coins. Here are 6 things to know about the digital asset before it starts trading on Monday.

A new green cryptocurrency called Chia uses a less energy-intensive method of minting new coins. Here are 6 things to know about the digital asset before it starts trading on Monday.

A new "green" cryptocurrency called Chia is set to start trading next week. It was created by Bram Cohen, the inventor of BitTorrent, and uses what's called "proofs of space and time" to "farm" rather than "mine" new coins.

The model is a less energy-intensive method of producing digital assets compared to bitcoin's "proof of work" concept, which has led that currency to be criticized for using as much energy as some entire nations.

Chia and the company behind it, Chia Network, have already attracted significant attention from investors.

Chia Network boasts big-name backing from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz, Naval Ravikant, and Cypherpunk Holdings, according to data from Crunchbase.

The company also has attracted publicly traded crypto mining companies like iMD Companies.

"We're going all-in on Chia," Rick Wilson, iMD CEO, said in a recent press release. "With our extensive research, we believe that Chia is here to stay and will be utilized on a global financial level. We believe our early decision to farm Chia will result in increased revenues for iMD."

Chia Network released a Business Whitepaper describing its new cryptocurrency (XCH) on February 9 and launched "farming rewards" on March 19.

Chia will begin transactions and trading on May 3.

Here are six things