Arweave (AR)

Arweave (AR) is a decentralized storage protocol designed to make data storage permanent rather than subscription-based. Instead of a conventional blockchain, Arweave uses a data structure known as the blockweave, in which each new block links both to the block immediately before it and to a randomly selected earlier block. This design, combined with a consensus mechanism called proof of access, requires network participants to store and prove access to historical data before they can add new blocks, incentivizing miners to retain the network’s full data history rather than discard it over time.

Users pay a single upfront fee in AR to store a file, document, application, or other piece of data on the network permanently, an approach Arweave contrasts with recurring cloud storage subscriptions. Stored content is served through what the project calls the permaweb, a permanent web layer hosting everything from archived documents and web pages to decentralized applications and NFT metadata. The AR token has a capped maximum supply of 66 million and is used to pay for storage and to reward the miners who maintain and secure the network, with a portion of storage payments allocated to an endowment intended to fund the cost of data retention over the long term.