Arweave Ecosystem Weekly Report #84: The ‘Tale of the Dragon’ Edition
Arweave broke its own record again in April. Which one? Stay calm, read our weekly report, and you'll find out. Also, be warned we may have broken the boundary between news reporting and storytelling on some topics because...why not do both?
I. Arweave Network
We didn't count the row of months when Arweave had continuous new highs transaction-wise. Mardeni, the CEO of WeaveDB, did it. Apparently, we're now on the 8th month and still counting. What's even more interesting is that we're on the fourth month in a row when we surpass the previous all-time record. In January 2023, after steady growth, the record of over 47.900.000 TXs in a month established in May 2022 was surpassed and replaced with a new threshold of over 58.200.000 TXs. Each next month saw an increase of approximately 10 million transactions over the previous one. So here we are: In April, we registered over 90.000.000 transactions on Arweave.
Now, if you divide this by the number of seconds present in a month, you'll get around 35 TpS (transactions per second). Not bad, compared to other blockchains, but not good also, compared to Solana's TpS count, for example. However, there is a twist: all the other high-speed blockchains that exist out there will eventually encounter a hard wall when they have to scale outside their projected capabilities. Arweave does not have such a problem; with virtually no block size limitation and the capacity to bundle transactions into other transactions, no hard cap can be reached and act as a bottleneck. The single scenario that can act as a choke point that I can see is related to feeding a really large block at once, but as DMac explained...it should be a very large one, given the fact that apparently, even a 1PB tx could pass in the current state of the network.
So, yeah, Arweave could be a real-life example of how the turtle beats the rabbit in a speed contest. The average of 35 TpS that you see now is a mere representation of the current demand. As the demand grows, the number of transactions will seamlessly scale also.
II. Arweave Ecosystem
Akord is evolving file storage and management on the permaweb
What is the main driving force behind Web3? We think it’s innovation, decentralisation and a trustless, user-centric internet. In our view, Arweave along with other networks, is already fulfilling these promises, but how do we get these networks into the hands of users and have them reap the benefits?
It depends on who you’re asking, but if you were to ask Akord, they’re going to say you have to make it easy and pleasant for them to use Web3. And that is reflected in how they’ve designed and developed their protocol. A strong Web3 foundation, powered by Arweave, complemented by a great Web2-like user experience that makes storing and managing data on the permaweb a seamless process. And this week, they’ve built upon that promise with their latest release that brings many convenience and security features to your favourite storage protocol.
Let’s start with the AkordJS library, which has undergone a significant transformation and is now up to version 4.1.1. The updated library empowers users to build and create with even greater ease and efficiency, and as always, the team is available to help with any update-related questions.
Second comes a critical aspect of any digital platform: security. This has also received a significant boost with the addition of two-factor authentication (2FA), either through an authenticator app or text messages. Additionally, they’ve refined the authentication flow for AkordJS users by introducing the ability to select the storage location of authentication tokens and have introduced the option of API key authentication for developers.
Third, the team has recognised the importance of integrations. Therefore, they have introduced a new direct import functionality from Dropbox and have also released a “Folder info” feature to help users easily access the Folder URI, streamlining the process of setting up a sync between an S3 bucket and a vault folder. Both features enable users to effortlessly transfer their files, ensuring that the Akord vault becomes the central hub for all your digital data needs.
And last but not least, they’ve addressed numerous bugs and issues thanks to their user community's invaluable feedback and suggestions. Together, all these features bring a much-improved user experience, which should help bring the permaweb into the hands of many more users.
Plus, the team has promised even more exciting updates soon, so stay tuned by following them on Twitter and make sure to guard your digital life with one of their private vaults! In the meantime, check out the latest episode of Arweave’s Voice. We had the pleasure of hosting Richard Caetano, Akord’s co-founder, who was kind enough to walk us through the inner workings of Akord, how they’re designing with the user in mind, and the steps they’ve taken to ensure the security and privacy of users and data.
Scalability, scalability and some more scalability…
While some protocols are still fumbling with scalability issues, Arweave and Warp Contracts are out here smashing records with their latest Async Bundling that the team released this week! Did we not always tell you Arweave is the “next level” chain?
The team developed a game-changing Async Bundling module which enables a new way to send transactions into the future (not literally, but close enough). Warp's new method departs from the legacy of Sequencer bundles, which had to bundle and process the transaction simultaneously, which, let's be honest, were slowing things down like a snail drunk on too much data. Fair warning from the snail: You never want to abuse data…
With Async Bundling, Warp has separated the bundling process from the main sequencing flow, ensuring safety and reliability and no longer sacrificing sweet, sweet transactions per second (TPS). And the cherry on top? A whopping 10x consistent increase in the maximum TPS of the Warp Sequencer, thanks to this async overhaul. Who said you can't have your cake and eat it too? As part of the announcement, the team also did a shoutout to Bundlr, who worked with the team to ensure a smooth migration to their Async Bundler, making sure there were no hiccups along the way.
So, are you ready to dive into the juicy documentation and test Async Bundling for yourself? You can find the latest specs at this link, but be warned, it's not for the faint of heart… And make sure to follow Warp Contracts to be the first to get your hands on the latest async goodies!
Ready to Unleash the Dragon?
Once upon a time, in the mystical realm of the Arweave, users struggled to deploy their web applications on the vast and enigmatic permaweb. It was a world filled with exceptional potential, yet the process was often laborious and cumbersome. Many users yearned for a simpler, more efficient way to bring their creations to life on the permaweb.
One fateful day, the residents of this digital domain found their fortunes transformed by the arrival of an extraordinary creature – a magic dragon! The dragon, unlike any other, possessed a unique ability to breathe life into websites and applications. Its fiery breath could ignite the creative spark of users and ease their deployment woes!
Word quickly spread across the Arweave universe about the majestic creature that had graced their realm. Users flocked from far and wide to witness the dragon's magic firsthand, hoping to harness its power for their projects.
The magic dragon, known as DragonDeploy, dazzled users with its prowess. It effortlessly allowed them to drag and drop their websites and applications, deploying them to the Permaweb with just a flick of its mighty tail. With every swift motion, the digital landscape transformed before their eyes, flourishing with new and innovative creations.
In gratitude, the people of the Arweave universe named the dragon their eternal guardian, forever ensuring that the Permaweb remained a hub of innovation and creativity. Users rejoiced as they finally had the power to deploy and manage their projects with ease, thanks to the magic dragon's fiery breath. And so, DragonDeploy continued to spread its magic throughout the Arweave universe, fostering a vibrant, thriving digital ecosystem where users could bring their wildest ideas to life.
And that concludes our magical tale of Arweave’s dragon, but we hope you’ve already met the newest fire-breather in town, DragonDeploy. It’s your one-stop solution to drag, drop, and deploy your website or app on the permaweb. Say goodbye to the old tedious deployment methods and hello to an all-new deployment paradigm that supports simple web apps as well as ones built with React, Next, Nuxt, Vue, & ViteJS!
Not only that, but ArNS (Arweave Name System) is supported out of the box, and you can get a new name for your website straight from the Dragon (the team is only supporting testnet names for now). Plus, the Dragon can auto-update your ArNS name with every deployment, so your users will always be able to find the latest version of your app at any time. To top it all off, small websites under <100kb are completely free to upload, so there’s no longer a reason to have your CV or bio page in any other place except the Permaweb!
And it’s not all stories, DragonDeploy was already used to deploy the Arweave Hub and tie it to the ArNS name, so you can see for yourself how well the technology works. Congratulations to the team for the great work they did in developing a simple way to deploy websites or web apps on the Permaweb and for the rest of us, now is the time to make our mark on the permaweb with DragonDeploy!
PS: In the interest of fairness, we have to tell you that ChatGPT generated parts of the tale...man, AI will take my job for sure.
Become the next guardian of history with Alex.
Buckle up, Arweave history buffs and bookworms, Alex. just went through a glow-up! The team worked on providing a major facelift to their website, which now boasts fresh designs, informative pages, and technical documentation to make your Web3 archiving experience smoother than ever.
For regular users, the new ‘create’ page gives you a better overview of how you can start a pool that tickles your fancy, while the ‘contribute’ page gives you the all-encompassing guide on how to participate in an existing pool and the fancy artefacts you’ll be rewarded with. While for the more technically minded users, the new ‘docs’ page is now your one-stop-shop for all technical, pool-related info.
And the team did not stop here, they also announced the launch of their first books pool this week. 'Public Domain History Books' is now live, and your contributions will earn you famous history books as artefacts in your Arweave wallet. So, to flex your inner historian, you only have to follow the link and make your contribution. Your contributions aren't just for show, either. They cover storage costs on Arweave, ensuring these books are stored permanently and can't be deleted or modified. So, you're basically a guardian of history now. No pressure…
And to sweeten the deal, the team also released their all-new ePub renderer this week. This means you can read all archived books directly on the Permaweb without ever needing to download them ever again! Be sure to check out Alex.’s all-new features and contribute to the future archive.
KYVE Web App: A New Look and Feel
In preparation for the protocol’s launch on mainnet, KYVE has been busy sprucing up its web app, and this week we got the chance to see the new version!
It looks like the design team had one imperative in mind when working on this redesign - keep it simple! Say goodbye to the cluttered menu bars and hello to a sleek, updated interface. The design experts have worked their magic, bringing us a fresh colour scheme and user-friendly menu design. But that's not all! Not only did they clear out the menu bar's hoarder tendencies, but they've moved those resources to the footer, so you can still find your precious network info without being hit by an avalanche of menus. And KYVE's also been busy adding extra goodies to user profile pages, which now features your latest activities on the protocol layer. It's like a social media feed, but for your data life!
So, what are you waiting for? Head on over to the KYVE web app and bask in the glory of its redesign! And if you're a Kaon participant, be sure to dive into the first testnet data pool that was released last week, Cosmos Hub. Stay tuned because the team promised us that this is just the beginning, and more updates and features are lurking around the corner!
The Arweave Frontier expands!
In a world where data permanence and censorship resistance are increasingly valuable, we need everyone to help expand Arweave’s reach and help more users and developers learn about the permaweb. And we’re glad to see that last week, Community Labs did just that! In collaboration with the teams at Apex Center and Blockchain at Virginia Tech, the team hosted the first Arweave Frontier workshop, where they explored Arweave’s unique features and got some hands-on building experience!
What is the workshop’s mission? To build a decentralized social media platform that harnesses Arweave's unique storage capabilities. Introducing: ArGram! With backend and frontend development powered by JavaScript, PermawebJS, Othent, Svelte, Vite, TailwindCSS, and GraphQL, ArGram is a truly modern web3 application that participants got a chance to build, with assistance from the hosts.
Now, if you missed the workshop, there’s still good news! First, Community Labs will continue hosting Arweave Frontier workshops, so make sure to follow them and reserve your spot for the next one. And second, the team has made the materials from the workshop available to us all at the following link. We encourage all new or aspiring developers to check it out, as it provides a comprehensive tutorial for building on the permaweb and is a great source of technical knowledge!
Did anyone say Breaking News?
Last week, we introduced you to Capsl8, the collaborative data archiver built on Arweave, that's all about preserving our precious internet history. The digital Noah's Ark for saving memes, blogs, and your bizarre search history! And to prove to us that they deserved our wonderful coverage, the team prepared a Double Delight for us this week! Ok, the features are probably not meant for us alone, but we’ll still take some credit…
What is a Double Delight you might wonder? Well, it’s the perfect combination of two great features released in the same week! First, the team introduced the option for all users to create new Collections – giving you the power to archive history and events like a time-traveling librarian! Now anyone can start their own collection about anything topic important to them, ensuring that the digital world doesn't forget the good, the bad, and the meme-worthy moments.
Second, Capsl8 their Arweave News Archiver, which will scour 1000+ news sources to preserve articles that deserve a spot in your epic collections and the collective internet history! No more hunting for links like a crypto scavenger, Capsl8 has you covered with all the news!
So go ahead, channel your inner historian and immortalise those unforgettable events, because Capsl8 just made history preservation as easy as buying Dogecoin on a whim!
III. Things you won’t encounter on Arweave
I'm not gonna lie; this column became increasingly hard to write over time. Not because it's hard to find topics that showcase by comparison the strength of Arweave, but because there are some usual suspects that produce potential material on a daily basis and, following the path of lesser resistance, I'm biased into presenting them over and over.
A simple search of the term "censorship" brings countless fresh news. If this is not enough, our corporate "friends" are constantly threading in their pursuit of profit over the interests of their end users. I think Elon Musk's Twitter was present in this section more than anybody else. Even now, we could use one of their notifications, casually announcing that they will "purge" older accounts with no activity, because yeah, why not?
Anyway, suffice to say, we're trying to find new takes, and oh boy, Sam, the cofounder of Arweave, delivered one directly in our alley:
In the past days, the commotion around Bitcoin's ordinals and Ethereum's meme-coins clogged both networks and generated the usual premium cost/transaction that occurs anytime when the demand is high on the "usual blockchains". Yeap, he's talking about the scaling issue I just signalled in the Arweave network section, but he explains why the cost on Arweave won't increase along with more usage way better than I did.
Long story short, the cost of storage on Arweave is not bound to a fee market where high demand creates high prices, but on the endowment model coupled with the Dymanic Pricing mechanism introduced by the 2.6 version. Throw in the mix the capacity to bundle transactions and limitless block size, and you'll get a solid basis for keeping the price unaffected by unpredictable swings in demand.
IV. Arweave explained by Immanuel Kant – thanks to ChatGPT
Arweave represents a groundbreaking synthesis of practical reason and technological innovation, preserving the vast compendium of human knowledge in a decentralized and perpetual manner. By employing the principles of a self-regulating system, akin to the categorical imperative that governs moral action, it ensures that the shared heritage of mankind's intellectual pursuits remains accessible to all, independent of the arbitrary constraints of temporal or spatial limitations.
The transcendental nature of Arweave, as it exists in the digital realm, allows for the free exchange of ideas, fostering the critical examination and expansion of our understanding. As a consequence, it contributes to the perpetual quest for enlightenment, acting as a catalyst for the autonomous exercise of reason.
Thus, Arweave embodies the very essence of the Sapere aude! ('Dare to know!'), providing a platform for the continued pursuit of knowledge and wisdom as humanity strives to navigate the complexities of existence in the ever-unfolding tapestry of space and time.
V. ICYMI
Gitopia Postpones Mainnet Launch, Rehash Goal To Incentivise Open-source Builders
DB3 Networks and PermaDAO enter into a strategic partnership
Sarcophagus DAO - Decoding Terminology and Embracing Simplicity in V2
Releap Protocol - Decentralised Social Graph Set to Revolutionise Social Networks
Usher - Revolutionising Referral Programs for Web3 / Permaweb News
