How Arweave Could Change The Way We Store Data

It is estimated that by 2020 there will be 20 billion connected device that will require management, storage and usage of enormous amounts of data. Usage of personalization apps and data sharing on devices also plays a vital role in the increasing demand for storage.

Cloud based storage has been the way to go for people or businesses to store their data. These data were likely send to massive centralized server run by companies such as Google, Amazon and Microsoft.

These won’t likely to be the favorite solution though. iCloud hack in 2014 and Dropbox hack in 2012 shows that being dependent on centralized data storage makes those data vulnerable to breaches.

These companies also have the will and power to regulate strict censorship on data, to provide users’ data to governments or any parties that are interested.

The Solution?

With the rise of blockchain technology, the opportunity and possibility to explore options beyond cloud storage is open wide. Blockchain-based decentralized storage is cheaper, safer, faster and censorship resistant compared to existing cloud storage solutions.

It leverages the reality that massive amount of storage being unused on people’s hard drives around the world. This creates the market for allowing people to offer and monetize their unused storage spaces. Doing this in a secure and trustless fashion is the promise of the blockchain itself.

Looking from the consumer side, this opens up opportunity for more people to be engaged in this market as it is offering the premise of cheaper and censorship resistant storage.

Currently there are several projects that has been established in this section: Filecoin, Storj, Sia and Bluzelle. Some still being researched while some has been on the market.

For this article, I want to do an in-depth look at Arweave, a decentralized data storage protocol.

Types of Decentralized Data Storage

Generally, decentralized data storage protocol falls into two categories:

• Storage Marketplace
• Storage Infrastructure

Let’s talk about each one of these.

Storage Marketplace

The first type of decentralized data storage protocol is based on storage marketplace. In short, storage marketplace offers storage in exchange for fees.

This is a common practice among centralized data storages. Recurring monthly fees in exchange for storage.

Storj, Sia and Filecoin is among the decentralized option that adopted this type of approach.

Storage Infrastructure

The second type of decentralized data storage is based on storage infrastructure. This type of approach takes a step beyond commoditizing storage by implementing protocols that works together with the “cloud”.

This approach allows decentralized apps (dApps) to be integrated in the blockchain. dApps will be benefited by having an immutable and censorship resistant backend.

Among this type of approach, projects have different take on implementation. Holochain have their own implementation with Distributed Hast Table (DHT). 0chain with Self-forking dPoS blockchain. Arweave with another kind of approach which I will talk about further.

Arweave, A New Data Storage Protocol

One of the promising data storage protocol that I’ve find so far is Arweave which provides high-throughput, low cost and permanent on-chain data storage solutions with a “Proof of Access” consensus mechanism.

Does it have the ability to compete with the other established projects? Will it be the next billion dollar blockchain project? We’ll found out soon.

With the current drawbacks of centralized data storage system, Arweave could be one of the best solution that currently exist. Not only does Arweave solve these issues with decentralization and cryptography approach, but it could serves as a dual function acting as a platform for building decentralized apps (dApps) for which data immutability is essential (i.e. social media, news sites, archives)

How Arweave Works

The idea behind Airweave is based on four core technologies, each plays different role to support the protocol:

- Blockweave

- Proof of Access

- Wildfire

- Blockshadows

Let me elaborate how each of these will work.

Blockweave

Current major blockchain protocol (i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum) store every transaction to validate transactions. Meanwhile, Blockweave leaves this approach behind to enables better scalability, speed and cost per transaction.

How?

By permitting secure decentralization without the need of the entire chain, Blockweave verifies transactions without enganging the last transaction’s block thus the amount of hashing required to achieve consensus declining as more data added to the network.

Proof of Access

With the inefficiencies of the current Proof of Work (PoW) system, the team created an alternative to the Bitcoin consensus mechanism. Proof of Access mechanism allows miners not to store all blocks thus the amount of power needed to reach consensus is smaller than what is currently needed to reach consensus on the current Proof of Work system. As the network expands, electricity consumption decreases. This is correlated to the Blockweave’s architecture that enables less hashing power as more data added to the network.

Wildfire

As a data storage system, not only the ability to hold large amounts of information is required, but the ability to provide high speed access to those data is also important.

This is when Wildfire comes to play.

In order to mine effectively, nodes requires near-instant access to the other nodes in the network. Because not every nodes have the best connection, all participants in the network are ranked based on how quick they respond to requests and those with the higher ranking are given preferential treatment over the others. This strongly encourages nodes in the system to perform at the highest capacity and also benefiting users in the network.

Blockshadows

To facilitate secure decentralization and faster transaction throughput, Arweave introduces Blockshadows. This concept works by partially decouples transactions from blocks and only sends a minimal block “shadow” that allows peers to reconstruct a full block rather than transmitting the full block itself. These Blockshadows contain a hash of the wallet list and hash list, and instead of containing the transaction inside of the block, a Blockshadows only holds a list of transaction hashes. The result is a fast and flexible block distribution system that leads to faster transaction ability.

What Can I Use It For?

Decentralized Data Storage

Aerweave as a decentralized protocol offers incorruptible, immutable and censorship-resistant means to store data in it.

Another main advantage of Aerweave’s architecture is that files can be stored for one-time fee, instead of monthly subscription fees that is still common with the other protocol, either centralized or decentralized such as Filecoin or AWS. In addition, the Wildfire system ensures the avaibility of data with a high uptime rate through the incentives mechanism for miners.

Decentralized Data Sharing

Current centralized data sharing networks fail to offer guarantee of immutable and censorship-resistant storage, where third-party institutions such as governments could take down contents arbitrarily. Take as an example, social media platform such as Facebook or Instagram that set their own rules on contents.

As a solution, Arweave allows file to be uploaded anonymously and shared to anybody. They also claims that they make it possible for files to be stored forever, safe from anyone that can harm those files.

On a side note, take this with a grain of salt, I’m a bit skeptical on things that truly permanent but this is only from my point of view and I don’t have anything to back it up other than my feelings.

Identity and Document Authentication

Arweave is offering a trustless mechanism that can prevent unwanted events such as data breaches, fraud and theft. When a file is stored at the blockchain, the author’s identity is being recorded. Proving ownership on the file and certifying its authenticity could be done.

How is Arweave Different?

Arweave is not alone in the race towards decentralized data storage. It is not even the earliest project established! Even though it is not the earliest in the game, Arweave have some winning points compared to the other projects.

First one is scalability. With current infrastructure that Arweave developed, it claims to reach 5000 TPS with 100 Mbps connection. Let’s compare this to the other project. Storj and Swarm only does 15 TPS being built on Ethereum. While Ethereum will deploy Plasma soon, Arweave still on the front row right now.

Second one is affordability. Current centralized data storage such as Google Drive and AWS require monthly subscription or payment based on data size. Meanwhile Arweave only requires one-time payment for lifetime access. With this approach, more data being saved resulting in cheaper price being paid.

Not to mention that Arweave main net will be launched on 8th of June which can prove Arweave ability to compete sooner that the others.

The Team

Sam Williams is the CEO of Arweave; a PhD candidate with experience in decentralized system design and implementation. The founding team is mainly with academic background and lacks marketing. But they have an active Github. The team also very active in the Telegram. They really try their best to communicate their agenda to the community.

How Big Can Arweave Be?

When the platform is launched, Arweave token or known as AR, will appreciate as more and more user use the platform and more transaction is generated. Speculation on the AR token price could also drive up the price.

With token sale hardcap of only US$ 8.7 million, this is a relatively low number considering that projects raising more than US$ 20 million is not a hot news anymore.

My personal opinion is that Arweave is one of the most promising decentralized data storage projects out there and given the current circumstances of low hardcap, I really believe that Arweave could grow much bigger in terms of market cap.

However, as the current market condition is not positive, I would look for gains in the long term (6–12 months) rather than short term.

The Final Word

Airweave is the kind of project that could be sustainable in the future. With the rising demand of data storage and current need for breakthrough projects among crypto world, I’m positive that Aerweave will have a bright future.

While the main net is coming close, Aerweave could prove themselves that they can play a vital role in the data storage sector.