Arweave is a decentralized storage network dedicated to providing users with efficient, low-cost permanent data storage. The network is based on several core technologies such as: Blockweave, Proof of Access, Wildfire, etc.

What is Blockweave?

Blockweave is a braided structure blockchain network designed for Arweave. Similar to linear blockchains (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum), blocks on Blockweave are used to store data and are connected to other blocks to form a network. However, the Blockweave network is not connected in chronological order, but each block is connected to the previous block and a random block on the chain, intertwined with each other and ultimately forming a braided structure.

Unlike traditional blockchains, Blockweave does not require miners on the network to become full nodes, that is, nodes that contain copies of all transactions on the chain. Blockweave requires each miner to download two forms:

• Block hash form (contains all block hashes on the chain)
• Wallet form (contains all active wallet address and its account balance)

These two forms will be updated every 12 blocks (about 1 hour)

The block hash form is on the node Used when verifying blocks. When a miner submits a new block, nodes can use the hash of past blocks in the form to verify that the block is valid without going back to the transaction details of past blocks.

The wallet form is mainly used to lower the entry threshold for mining. This form is jointly maintained by all miners and contains all wallet addresses and account balances. Through this form, miners do not need to look back to past transactions when verifying new transactions, but can directly verify that the transaction was correctly signed by the owner of the wallet.

What is Proof of Access?

Proof of Access is the consensus mechanism of Arweave and a derivative mechanism of the Proof of Work consensus.

As mentioned earlier, Blockweave does not require miners to store all on-chain data and transaction information, thereby improving the efficiency of the network and avoiding excessive storage. However, data also needs to be appropriately duplicated to ensure data availability and security. Therefore, in addition to being connected to the previous block, each block also needs to contain a random transaction information of past blocks. (See the figure below for specific block production.) Since miners need to prove that they can access the data of a random past block every time a block is generated, this mechanism is called Proof of Access. Under this mechanism, each block will be stored on the devices of multiple miners.

In addition, Arweave’s mechanism can also encourage miners to store blocks that have been copied less frequently to ensure the security of the network.

What is Wildfire?

Wildfire is a ranking mechanism. Arweave will rank miners based on their performance (e.g. how quickly they respond to transaction requests). Arweave will then use this as a basis to determine the allocation of transaction demand. In short, better-performing miners are assigned more tasks and earn higher profits.

What is Permaweb?

Permaweb is an application layer built on the Arweave network. Applications on these networks are similar to traditional websites, but the content on them is permanently stored on Arweave. Here we list some applications on Arweave:

• Ardrive: a data storage platform
• CommunityXYZ: a community management tool, including dashboard and governance platform
• Verto: a decentralized trading platform