Imagine that you upload a photo album of your family vacation to network storage today, and 200 years from now, your descendants can still view the photo album. Likewise, imagine that your important files or other data can be stored securely and permanently.
What ArDrive is doing is providing a permanent storage solution that promises to keep your important files on the blockchain forever, with no monthly fees. Sign up for ArDrive, pay a one-time fee, and enjoy lifetime service.
Ar.IO uses blockchain technology to enable ordinary users to securely store their information on its so-called "permanent network" technology, which means Keep your data on a decentralized platform for hundreds of years. We spoke with Ar.IO founder Philip Mataras about the importance of this technology and what the future holds for this blockchain-based startup. Here's what he had to say:
An easy-to-understand explanation of what ArDrive does?
ArDrive is an application that can be used on computers and mobile phones. It allows you to permanently save your most important information on the blockchain. Documents and photos with no monthly fee.
Ar.IO is the technology that powers ArDrive (and many other applications), enabling them to read and write Arweave (https://www.arweave.org) this A special blockchain forms what we call a "permanent network". Unlike the traditional Internet, data here can be stored for hundreds of years, is not deleted, and is not concentrated in the hands of big tech companies.
Why is a decentralized storage platform so critical?
NFT and the Metaverse are certainly compelling, but where exactly is this data stored? Are you just paying for marketing and ignoring the technical support behind it? I think many people still have misconceptions about NFTs and where their data is actually stored. Often, this data is stored on platforms that are vulnerable to attack, or that creators can modify or change at will. Personally, I think it's a worse experience than collecting physical art because no one can come into my home and alter the paintings on the walls.
These tokenized assets must be stored on platforms that can guarantee their owners that the data is immutable and durable, and these platforms cannot be managed by any single center institutional control. Simple payment models and Arweave-based solutions provide the most convenient option.
What is the founding story of Ar.IO? How did this business start?
It all started with ArDrive and a simple goal: to make permanent storage available to everyone. As an enterprise architect, I have a lot of experience with document management and collaboration platforms like OneDrive for Business. In the summer of 2020, I quit my job and founded ArDrive, an easy-to-use application that allows users to upload, download, and share their public or private files on Arweave. Through the Arweave Open Web Incubator, I was able to promote myself and my app and receive funding for early development.
As the team and product evolve, we see more opportunities in Arweave's second-tier infrastructure in late 2021, specifically Arweave Gateways . This is an underexplored area as it is a centralized and potentially censored part of the permaweb experience. Therefore, we envisioned a new gateway network that is open and easy to deploy and incentivizes participants through tokens. We introduced some new features like ArNS and have been working hard towards its full release ever since.
Overall, it's been a natural progression, with several real strategic shifts, and so far, we think it's been very successful.
You have three different products: ArDrive, ArNS, and Gateways. Can you explain them separately?
ArDrive is our first focus product, designed to give anyone a simple tool to easily upload on any device , download and share their public or private data on Arweave. “Anyone” here can be a retail user, a business user, a web3 user, or a developer, since ArDrive is more of a platform than a pure application. Part of the reason is that ArDrive uses one of the first data protocols on Arweave, the "Arweave File System" (ArFS). We had to create this protocol to ensure that users could work with their Arweave data just like the drives, folders, and files on their computers. So, over the past two years, we've built the open source code base that supports ArFS, spanning web, native mobile and command-line applications, as well as other core tools.
Arweave Name System (ArNS), based on SmartWeave, is a registry that provides friendly names for Arweave data. It is one of the core features of the AR.IO network, as registered names are paid for in IO tokens and served by the AR.IO network gateway. For example, if you purchase the name "welcome" for your decentralized application, you can access the application through the domain name of any AR.IO network gateway, such as https://welcome.arweave.dev, https://welcome. g8way.io or https://welcome.permagate.io. These are existing alpha AR.IO gateway instances using the ArNS registry that we pilot tested.
Gateways perform all the heavy lifting on behalf of applications using Arweave. The AR.IO Gateway is an infrastructure that anyone can run and serve the entire permanent network or just their application or community.
The primary task of the gateway is to receive transactions from applications and propagate them to Arweave’s decentralized network. It also caches all transaction data so that users can access it quickly. The gateway also quickly indexes these transactions and provides rich query capabilities that enable applications like ArDrive to find user data and many other features that support a permanent web app hosting experience.
Who is your ideal customer? Retail users or institutional users? Can you serve both?
Currently, ArDrive is mainly aimed at retail users, but also provides a large number of tools for developers. We have many web3 users using ArDrive to deploy their massive NFT collections or their latest decentralized applications, and it’s always amazing to see the art being created today. ArNS supports all of these use cases by providing a friendly name for the standard Arweave transaction ID - how could you possibly remember those?
For a gateway, the ideal user is obviously more technical than an ArDrive user. Such users are mainly developers, server administrators or technical teams. The advantage of AR.IO is that it supports everything from small-scale personal projects to data processing for large enterprises.
Whether it is ArDrive, ArNS or Gateways, as long as you need a permanent data solution, we can help, and we have been working hard to make our products Easier to use to serve a wider range of users.
What are the uses of IO tokens?
The IO token is a SmartWeave-based token that contains the state and on-chain code of the AR.IO network. We are exploring all possible uses, but are initially considering the following features:
1. As a currency for network services, such as purchasing ArNS names.
2. As collateral for joining and operating the AR.IO network gateway.
3. As collateral for participating in network governance proposals.
4. As a reward mechanism to motivate network participants.
The token ecosystem is a mechanism to ensure that gateway operations are fair, open and profitable so that the permanent network can be promoted globally, now and future.
How does ArDrive help artists and creators? Will it be possible in the future to sell files saved in ArDrive directly as NFTs on marketplaces such as OpenSea?
Since the NFT craze began, our community has been using ArDrive to store Ethereum-based NFTs and sell them on marketplaces like OpenSea. The advantage of ArDrive is that creators can upload their data and metadata, pay a one-time fee, and then reference the purchase in their token contract without worrying about the data being deleted.
Creators have been moving their collections from IPFS to ArDrive and updating their contracts. There are some easy-to-follow tutorials on how to do this, and we've provided some tools to help with the process. We are not yet considering direct integration or cross-platform publishing capabilities as there are already many tools on the market to create and manage token assets. We're always listening to our community's needs, but so far we haven't seen a strong demand for this type of functionality in the ArDrive app.
Can you explain how the persistent storage technology behind ArDrive works?
Arweave is a blockchain designed specifically for file storage and is run by miners (i.e. nodes) around the world. Data transfers to Arweave include a one-time fee large enough to cover storage costs for over 200 years.
What gaps do you currently see in the web3 space, and what measures do you think need to be taken to fill these gaps?
We need more wallet options and a better overall user experience, more education about key management, and regulatory agencies across the United States Clearer regulations.
What advice do you have for new entrepreneurs in this field?
While it’s hard to give the best advice, there are a few things I wish I had known when I started.
First, identify and treat irreversible decisions with caution. These may be decisions about deals, communities, or protocols, and in some cases, as an entrepreneur, you only get one chance. Once you make the wrong irreversible decision, it may affect you for a long time, whether in terms of opportunity cost or other aspects.
Focus on what matters most, keep it simple, and fail fast. Sometimes you may be faced with many competing priorities, and sometimes you may only have one or two projects to focus on. In either case, focus on what will best help you get to the next level.
In the web3 world, it's easy to get caught up in overanalyzing or overdesigning some complex integration or solution. This field is changing too fast and you can't waste time on something that may not ultimately work, be scalable, or have market demand.
Be prepared to "sell not brag" your vision, team, and agreements. If you can't show what you're building in a realistic way and feel confident about it, who will follow you, build with you, or invest in you? This doesn't mean that a withdrawn, introverted developer can't become an excellent entrepreneur, but it will undoubtedly be a more difficult road.
Why choose Ryze Labs as an investor?
Because they have extensive experience in this field, a good brand reputation, a solid network, and most importantly, they have a deep understanding of what we are building passionate about technology. Ryze Labs has been a great partner in driving our team and community’s vision forward. In addition to providing financial support, Ryze Labs has played a huge role in connecting us with other teams in the industry. Not only have they been a huge support in promoting our products, they have also provided valuable feedback and specific advice on our marketing and community strategies, helping us grow and expand our reach.
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