The Future of Data Storage - ARWEAVE

ammier (35)in #blockchain • 6 years ago

It is truly no doubt that blockchain is the latest disruptor in the technology space. What was usually tagged as just being used for cryptocurrencies is now gaining immense acceptance by the populace having seen its usefulness and realized it is beyond cryptocurrencies. Blockchain provides scalability, security, transparency, and immutability.

In fact, tech experts have postulated that blockchain technology will play a big role in supporting the next stage of the internet, thereby producing a decentralized internet. In as much as this seems interesting, data storage is still a major challenge. According to research, it has been predicted that the number of internet users worldwide will reach 5billion by 2020, and the number of connected devices will be above 20 billion by 2020. This means there will be additional demand for storage because individuals and organizations now rely on data for almost everything. However, it is of great concern to know that much of the information which should be readily available are not permanently stored due to several reasons, thus leading to loss of essential information.

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For example, whilst doing some research work sometimes back in July 2017, I visited a site which had some vital information related to my research work and I left the page open for days because I felt I could always reference it whenever I needed it. Surprisingly, on trying to access that particular page the following week, I saw an error message ' The requested resource has either been removed or does not exist'. I was left in shock and anger because I knew I had lost access to vital information. I shared this experience with a colleague of mine, and he was of the opinion that it's most likely the owner of the site had withdrawn access or may be unable to meet up with the cost associated with maintaining the server. I pondered on this for days and the question 'How do we get out of this mess' kept popping up.

The current blockchain technologies have tried to address this gap, but most of their inventions focus more on enhancing transaction speeds. For example, the ethereum blockchain which could have easily addressed data storage and management issue is quite costly and would eat up a lot of space because it isn’t fashioned for such. Even though blockchain is an added advantage to technology advancement, it still has a bit of defect as regards storage because most of the current blockchain technologies require that a full node should maintain a copy of the whole blockchain so as to verify future transactions.

Having researched and identified the issue with the current blockchain technologies, Arweave is proposing a different approach to resolving the issue of data storage permanently. Arweave aims to make data storage permanent and low cost.

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ARWEAVE'S REVOLUTIONARY MODEL

Arweave will utilize four key technologies to provide this mind-blowing protocol. They are Blockweave, Proof of Access, Wildfire, and Blackshadows.

The blockweave uses a unique proof of access consensus technique. It enables nodes to accomplish essential network functions without owning the entire chain, unlike other blockchains which require full node. The utilization of Blockweave will help to address current on-chain storage limitations and unsustainable consensus methods.

One of the major limitations of on-chain storage is the huge cost factor. The resultant effect of this is that new protocols are then built on existing infrastructure. In the real sense, this directly translates to extra costing before contents can be accessed, yet the content is not permanently stored. However, with the use of blockweave, the reverse is the case because it utilizes block hash list and wallet list. In the case of the block hash list, it enables verifications of old blocks before assessing prospective new ones. However, the wallet list enables the verification of transactions without possessing the entire chain. This greatly reduces the cost of storage on the long-run.

The Proof of Access is a unique consensus technique that will help create a positive surface of data storage. It will focus on producing positive exterior as against the negative ones being generated by current blockchains. i.e. it greatly reduces the amount of energy needed during mining process thereby allowing miners to focus more on producing numerous carbon copies of the data held in the system.

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Wildfire enables miners to easily store and swiftly exchange data with each other. Each node on the network has a ranking system attached to it, which helps to ascertain how fast transactions and blocks are dispensed amongst peers and their rate of response to requests. This creates a self-organizing network topography system ensuring data distribution passes through the most energy-efficient means and miners are rewarded and served based on their rankings.

As it was earlier stated that most current blockchains require a full node to be maintained, Arweave's model challenges this and provides a better option. Arweave's model doesn't use the full block, instead, it uses a system that separates transaction distribution from a particular block distribution in the network, thereby enabling just the shadow of the block to be conveyed throughout the system.

WHAT MAKES ARWEAVE UNIQUE?

The major reason why Arweave is unique is that its primary focus is on resolving issues associated with data storage. Unlike other blockchains whose focal point is on enhancing consensus algorithms between nodes to improve the speed of transactions, Arweave focuses on building a blockchain protocol by weaving storage access into consensus incorporation with unique approaches to transaction bundling and arbitrarily sized blocks thereby producing a high-turnout cryptocurrency transaction. To simply put, it uses the combination of both data storage and performance enhancements as against other blockchains which only enhances performance.

Prior to the advent of the blockchain, management of repositories was centralized and usually done by a single entity. This gives them the liberty to tamper or alter the data during or before their storage. However, Arweave's model will address this gap because every stored document on the weave will be cryptographically connected to all other blocks on the weave, as an effort to alter the content of the document will be uncovered and declined by the network thereby making it impossible to have a subversion of the content.

Through the REST API, solution developers will be able to develop applications that will integrate and make use of data from the network. Through these applications, users are able to submit information to the weave by staking some Arweave tokens.

In addition to the above justifications, using Arweave will provide the following benefits:

• Decentralized data storage that enables easy and secure storage of large files
• Easy access to stored data
• eliminates every form of data manipulation
• low data storage fees as compared to other blockchains which charge higher fees for storing large files
• Decentralized data sharing which allows contents to be shared privately amongst peers.
• Maximum security as recorded contents will have a timestamp and be catalogued in the blockweave.
• Incentives for miners for maintaining the weave and network

Several sectors will benefit from utilizing Arweave because it addresses conventional storage and its related issues. For example, Arweave's solution addresses the issue of authenticity of documents in the legal sector by creating an immeasurable and verifiable store for all digital contents captured.

TOKEN

The Arweave's token (AR) is a utility token that will help fuel the Arweave system. Mainnet is scheduled to launch on the 8th of June, 2018.

Token type: native token (propriety blockchain)
Hard cap: 8.7 million USD
Price: 1 AR = $0.74

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