Arweave is a decentralized data storage protocol that was created to allow users and developers to store data indefinitely. It was founded in 2017 by Sam Williams, a British entrepreneur. Arweave’s website titles the project “collectively owned hard drive that never forgets”.
Arweave is based on blockweave technology. Whilst blockchain relies on blocks containing information from a previous block, blockweave’s blocks contain data from multiple previous blocks. Such technology allows the utilization of the Proof of Access consensus algorithm which requests access to old data. The Arweave network houses the permaweb, which stands for permanent web, and reflects the idea of all data created on the said web being available forever connecting people from different periods of time. According to Arweave’s website, anyone can contribute to or maintain the permaweb, and generally, it is a community-owned platform. Any user can also build for Arweave or even rent any extra storage space they might have. Arweave is powered by the AR token which is used for mining rewards and payments for storing data.
In April 2022, the CrypToadz NFT collection created by an anonymous artist, Gremlin, was moved onto Arweave. The move was done with the help of ArDrive’s Valet service and ensures the collection’s permanent existence on the permaweb.