Bram Cohen, the creator of the famous BitTorrent file sharing protocol, announced that he was one step closer to "solving the problem of centralizing Bitcoin." In an interview with TechCrunch magazine, Cohen said that Chia's network, its long-standing project, positioning itself as an alternative to Bitcoin, could be launched by the end of 2018. The "very hot" round of initial investment allowed the project to get out of the underground and hire a capable developer, which is necessary for Chia's currency to offer itself to investors.