Arweave (AR)
Arweave is a decentralized protocol designed for permanent web storage, allowing users to store data indefinitely on the blockchain. This storage mechanism provides a global, permanent hard drive that ensures secure and lasting data storage for both users and developers. The native cryptocurrency of the Arweave network is $AR, which serves as an incentive for participants within the network.
History of Arweave
| Ticker | AR |
| Category | Smart Contract Platform |
| Website | https://arweave.org/ |
| @arweaveeco |
Arweave was co-founded by Sam Williams and William Jones during their doctoral studies at the University of Kent. Inspired by an idea conceived while hiking in Scotland, Williams collaborated with Jones on the technical aspects. They established a technology company for the project, initially named Archain, on June 28, 2017. The project was later renamed to Arweave in February 2018, with the mainnet launching in June 2018. Sam Williams is the CEO of the company.
Arweave successfully raised $5 million in a seed round on November 6, 2019, led by Andreessen Horowitz, with contributions from Union Square Ventures and Multicoin Capital. An earlier seed round on March 5, 2019, also led by Andreessen Horowitz and with participation from Coinbase Ventures, raised a total of $8 million.
Initial Coin Offering (ICO)
Arweave's ICO began on June 3, 2018, raising $8,700,000 within four days with backing from Arrington XRP Capital, 1kx, Benjamin Kong, and Coefficient Ventures Grand Renfield One. The $AR token was priced at 0.73 USD, with 20.6% of the total supply available for this round. Prior to the ICO, a token pre-sale event took place in August 2017, selling 10.8% of the initially generated token supply. Two public sales followed in May and June 2018, selling 7.1% and 1.1% of the supply, respectively. The company allocated additional percentages for private sales, project advisors, the team, ecosystem development, and future project use.
Technology of Arweave
Arweave complements the Internet by using a blockchain approach to permanently store unchangeable data, incentivized through token rewards. To achieve its decentralized storage goals and address issues like scalability and transaction fees, Arweave introduced several innovative technologies: BlockWeave, Proof of Access, Wildfire, BHL, WL, and BlockShadows.
BlockWeaves
The core technology of Arweave, BlockWeaves, differs from traditional blockchains. Instead of a linear chain, it employs a data structure linking blocks to multiple previous blocks. In the Arweave network, each block connects to two prior blocks: the preceding block in the chain and a 'recall block' from the blockchain's history. This approach creates a more complex graph structure known as a block weave.
Proof of Access
Arweave uses a consensus mechanism combining Proof of Access (PoA) and Proof of Work (PoW). While typical PoW systems generate the next block based on the previous block, PoA uses data from the previous block to select a recall block. The modulus of the current block's hash value relative to its height determines the recall block, allowing miners to avoid storing all blocks.
Upgrade to SPoRA
On February 24, 2021, Arweave upgraded to the Succinct Random Proofs of Access (SPoRA) consensus mechanism. SPoRA enhances data retrieval competitiveness and reduces the network's energy requirements, making it more efficient overall.
BlockShadows
BlockShadows technology accelerates consensus block propagation. By broadcasting complete content blocks with necessary information, nodes can quickly create new blocks, enhancing speed and flexibility.
Wallet List (WL) and Block Hash List (BHL)
Block Hash List (BHL) and Wallet List (WL) enable nodes to perform network functions without possessing the entire chain. BHL contains hashes for all previous blocks, while WL lists active wallets. This allows users to verify trades efficiently and enables nodes to join the network promptly.
Wildfire
Wildfire is a self-organizing network analysis and ranking system developed by Arweave. It incentivizes miners to share data quickly, ensuring a positive reputation. Wildfire ranks peers based on performance and blacklists underperforming ones.
Content moderation
Arweave's protocol offers a blacklist system for nodes to choose the content they store. This system allows nodes to blacklist undesirable content. If the majority of the network rejects certain content, it is universally rejected. Blacklists can be created individually or collaboratively.
Permaweb
In January 2019, Arweave launched the PermaWeb, described as a community-owned web that anyone can contribute to or maintain. The PermaWeb ensures information permanence and incentivization across a globally distributed network, storing and maintaining data indefinitely.
Incentives
The PermaWeb allows users to store diverse types of information, from wikis to web applications, permanently. Once included, files remain accessible globally. This ensures consumer integrity and document verifiability, as files cannot be altered post-submission.
$AR token
The AR token is the native currency of the Arweave platform, with sub-unit Winston, where 1 AR equals 1 trillion Winstons. The total supply is 66 million AR, with 55 million created at the network's launch on June 8, 2018. AR tokens are used to pay for information storage and reward miners for maintenance. Transaction fees are allocated to a storage endowment, gradually distributed to miners' wallets.