MAJR DAO Report: Arweave (AR)
Store data and applications, permanently. Welcome to the Permaweb.
BRIEF
Arweave is a data storage and infrastructure protocol for the web3 and NFT ecosystem.
Mission - provide secure, accessible, low-cost and permanent data storage. It aims to fix problems such as centralized data control and loss of data.
Similar to Filecoin, Storj or Sia - but’s main differentiator is offering permanent data storage with a single upfront fee vs. pay to use.
It’s targeting the enormous data storage industry, focusing on cheap, distributed, permanent data storage using blockchain and crypto native incentives.
Lower large cap token - lower risk - early mover - $1.533 billion market cap - fully diluted market cap - $1.9 billion.
Token (AR)
Price: $28.98
Total supply - 66M - circulating supply - 50.1M - 76% in circulation.
Functions / Features:
Arweave connects users with excessive storage spaces to users looking to store data—rewarding hosts with its native cryptocurrency AR.
It provides permanent storage through a blockchain-like network called the “blockweave”.
Arweave’s data storage is backed by an economic model where this one-time upfront payment is given to those that offer hard drive space so that they can profit from their storage contributions.
Estimates storing a megabyte for 200 years only costs $0.005.
Team
Team - Founding team refers themselves as a community and is an open source project working with many devs and the Internet Watch Foundation.
Solid investors - a16z, Union Square Ventures, TechStars, Coinbase Ventures, Multicoin Capital, Internet Watch Foundation.
Pros
Product market fit - critical for the rise of NFTs and web3. The space needs decentralized storage. You can store your decentralized assets all on cold storage offline or one a centralized cloud provider. Think AWS but bigger.
Arweave is becoming a market leader for decentralized storage alongside Filecoin and IPFS. Seen a spike in data storage (chart above).
Low large cap coin with tons of upside. Decentralized data storage is a huge theme.
Storing data forever is a positive for humanity - no longer are the winners of war and politics able to write the history books.
Has an accelerator program to encourage development on top of it’s protocol.
Great investors.
Widely distributed token across US exchanges. US exchanges are important because they review all the tokens they list with more scrutiny. In addition, the US market is still building and the capital will flow here. It’s a good rule of them for managing risk - provides due diligence (alpha) and offers liquidity.
Cons
Lots of competition.
Tokenomics are slightly concerning with on time upfront payments, is it sustainable. Will users offering RAM for decentralized storage opt-in for Arweave if they can earn more leveraging Filecoin, Storj or a new entrant.
Strongly correlated with NFTs (this could be a good thing too - NFTs aren’t going anywhere).
Sources:
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