Terabytes (TB)
Terabytes are a unit of digital storage capacity that is commonly used to measure the size of computer files and data. A terabyte (or TB) is equal to 1,000 gigabytes, or 1024GB. It can also be expressed as one trillion bytes. One terabyte is roughly equivalent to the amount of information stored in a stack of books over 6 feet tall!
In cryptocurrency, terabytes are most often used for measuring the storage requirements associated with blockchain technology. The Bitcoin blockchain currently requires approximately 220 GB of disk space and Ethereum’s blockchain takes up around 800 GB – both well within the range of one terabyte. This means that users need at least this much storage space on their computers if they want to run a full node on either network, which allows them to view all transactions taking place on either network and potentially earn rewards from validating blocks mined by miners who mine these two cryptocurrencies.
As new blockchains launch and more participants join existing ones, it’s likely that these networks will require increasing amounts of storage space in order for users who wish to participate in them by running full nodes or mining blocks themselves. As such, having access to greater amounts of storage – preferably multiple terabytes – may become increasingly important for those wishing to engage with cryptocurrency networks going forward.
