Explain Arweave Series 1: What is Arweave?
Detailed Explanation of Arweave Series 4: How to Upload Data to Arweave
Further reading:
Explain Arweave Series 2: Key Terms for Arweave Beginners
Detailed explanation of Arweave series three: essential tools for Arweave beginners
Detailed Explanation of Arweave Series 4: How to Upload Data to Arweave
when trying to explainArweave, you often fall into the trap of using complex terminology that is not easily understood by non-technical readers. This is an easy mistake to make when already embedded in an ecosystem - but we want Arweave to be very accessible to everyone, regardless of context. That's the purpose of this article; we've broken it down into what Arweave is, and how it works - writing everything a user needs to know.
Brief introduction of Arweave
Simply put, Arweave is a tool that helps anyone store data permanently. It works by distributing the stored information across a network callednode or minerin the computer network. It's a different model than we know, because today's internet is in the hands of a handful of companies whose servers can crash at any time -- and small folks can quietly change content.
Arweave serves a parallel internet "permaweb" through an extensive network of nodes, all of which make money by providing storage of existing data over long periods of time and storing new data upon request from customers.
Like many decentralized storage platforms, Arweave uses its own native cryptocurrency, AR, to run the service. AR is paid to miners when people spend tokens to store data. From these transactions, AR is also stored in aendowment, the fund is technically able to slowly release rewards indefinitely. Through this mechanism, Arweave guarantees unlimited permanent storage.
Some of the new features that make Arweave stand out are that it can be accessed through a traditional web browser; another feature is that it isopen sourcefirst level title
How Arweave was created
Back in 2017, when Arweave was calledArchain. In 2018, when the Arweave team participated in Techstars, it was renamed. In 2019, Arweave raised $5 million from well-known venture capital firms including Coinbase, a16z, and Multicoin Capital.
andVerto、ArDriveandArweave Newsand other items.
The creator and founder of Arweave isSam Williams，"He is a PhD with extensive experience in decentralized system design and implementation". He built Arweave in college, inspired by Orwell's 1984, as a response to the fake news epidemic.
How Arweave works
Unlike the usual blockchain (which keeps blocks about transaction content), Arweave stores data in a graph of blocks. In this way, each block is connected to two previous blocks, forming a structure known as a "blockweave".
Here are a few key aspects that set Arweave apart:
Proof of Access Consensus
Bundles
SmartWeave
Vartex Gateways
Content moderation
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Proof of Access Consensus
What sets Arweave apart from other cryptocurrencies is the way it checks transactions for accuracy. Typically, using a proof of work (proof of wowrk) system, cryptocurrencies require computers to compete to solve a mathematical problem (hashing). Arweave uses a different approach to this problem, calledSPoRA(Succinct Proofs of Random Access).
Arweave requires every node in the network to check whether a new transaction block contains a randomly selected block from earlier, and if it exists, then the new transaction can be added to the network.
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Bundles
BundlesIs a way to guarantee that a set of transactions will eventually be mined into a block. It solves a problem that every blockchain has, where a transaction might be rejected if someone else submitted a transaction that rewarded the miner more.
When Arweave is used as a way to store large-capacity NFT items, and there are thousands of media files that need to be uploaded at the same time, Bundles become a must. Projects may find that several files are deleted in the batch they uploaded, which breaks the project's upload.
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SmartWeave
SmartWeaveis a smart contract protocol that uses AR tokens to enable developers to build smart contract applications using JavaScript. Like most (traditional web2 application) code, it is run by the user's computer, not the blockchain itself.
It works differently from Ethereum's contract execution method, where the entire network is invoked to verify transactions; SmartWeave relies on smart contracts, which users themselves complete on their local clients.
It doesn't require as much computing power, making it a greener option and more secure. If someone uses malicious code, then it will not affect the entire blockchain. That way, it doesn't need as many security checks and security constraints, and it can run faster.
Another notable feature is that SmartWeave contracts can become the entire backend of an application. This means developers don't need a server,The entire application can run on the blockchainfirst level title
Vartex Gateways
Vartexis a tool that makes it possible to run your own gateway with just a few commands. While arweave.net is a primary avenue for browser access to all data on Arweave, it is served by AWS, a possible single point of failure. And Vartex is a way that anyone can run their own gateway, which means more gateways and does not rely on centralized servers.
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Content Moderation
Content ModerationAnyone running mining software is allowed to choose the type of data they wish to store. This type of throttling allows computers on the network to choose what content they want to host.
However, since it's up to the gateways to decide what they block, it may be that the content is not as important as the size of the data. For example, someone may only want to store pictures or only audio files. When a new file is uploaded to the network, Arweave asks each computer whether to accept it. However, there is an incentive to accept it, especially if it's a larger file, because in simple terms, the more you store, the more rewards you get.
It's also important to note that it's too early to activate this incentive mechanism, as no one really gets a master list of documents they would or would not support. Arweave is fairly new; at the same time, the number of uploads is huge, and browsing through all the files will be quite difficult.
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About Tokens
Arweave has its own currency - the AR token. A user who wants to store data has to buy it to pay for the storage, whereas a computer providing the storage has to accept AR tokens as payment. But what is interesting is that the payments are not made directly to each miner, but are pooled and distributed to the network over time.
This pool of fees is called the Storage Endowment. Its purpose is to provide assurance that future data will be drawn from this overcharged AR pool. Its fees are mining rewards paid by users, and because the pool grows over time, it is able to pay miners in the future over a long period of time.
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