Arweave aims at being a global network in which file are permanently stored. Their users collectively store data in perpetuity in what Arweave calls the permaweb: a community-owned global web to which everyone can contribute.

Arweave’s permanent functions much like the normal web but its content is permanent and decentralized, in an attempt to disrupt the market.

Whichever files are stored on Arweave can be accessed through conventional web browsers and, through a voting mechanism, illicit content is moderated by its users.

Data from the Internet Archive is already being stored in Arweave.

Arweave Explained

Arweave stores data in a graph of blocks instead of a chain.

Each block is thus linked to two earlier ones so that a structure called “blockweave” is formed.

The Proof of Access Consensus

Given its unique design, Arweave also differs from standard proof-of-work mechanisms by employing a different kind of consensus: the “proof-of-access”.

Proof-of-access, to put it simple, happens when each computer which is contributing to the network to check weather a bundle of transactions contains a randomly selected marker that came from an earlier bundle.

After that marker’s presence is validated, new transactions can then proceed to be added to Arweave’s network and the computer that does so is given an AR reward, Arweave’s very one cryptocurrency. This process attests for both new and old transactions.

Content Moderation is also made possible due to what computers decide what types of content would they like to host, as Arweave will basically ask each one of them weather they accept the data or not and attribute different incentives depending on how data intensive their storage is.

The History Behind Arweave

In 2017 Arweave’s original name was Archain. Its rebranding took place in 2018 after its team participated in a startup accelerator program called Techstars.

In 2019, Arweave raised an estimate $5 million USD from venture capital firms and in March of the following year, they announced an extra $8.3 million in funding.