Website catalogue: 151 chains. Current AI connection: 14 chains; approved accounts only.

Layer 1 blockchain

Arweave ticker AR

  • No public-data lookups yet
  • 4 reviewed developments
  • 40 cited sources

Summary

Arweave, live since June 2018, is a blockchain for permanent data storage whose blocks both accept new data and prove access to old data. Mining uses Succinct Proofs of Random Access (SPoRA): a verifiable delay function releases a new mining seed about once a second, the seed picks chunks in the miner's own stored data and across the whole dataset (the weave), and hashes over those chunks are checked against the network difficulty. Each 3.6 TB partition must be packed to the miner's own address (the replica.2.9 format since the February 2025 hard fork), so mining power follows how many unique packed replicas a miner stores and can read. Blocks target two minutes and nodes follow the heaviest fork. Uploaders pay a fee plus an upfront contribution to a storage endowment that pays miners over time. 1571416171821

Design

System
Layer 1 blockchainIndependent proof-of-access chain for permanent data storage; it does not settle to another chain. Every block accepts new data and token transfers and also proves that the miner can read old data. Its early papers call the structure a blockweave. AO, a compute system whose messages are stored on Arweave, and gateway networks such as ar.io are separate systems built on top of it, so their features are not assessed as Arweave's own.
Settlement family
Its own design
Scarce resource
Other
State model
Accounts
Finality
Probabilistic
Who makes blocks
Any miner whose packed data yields a hash that meets the difficulty produces the next block; there is no stake, validator set or permission. Full efficiency needs a complete packed replica (about 373 TB in November 2025), so coordinated multi-node miners dominate and pool miners may hand their mining keys to the pool. Most miners use a VDF server; the docs list public ones, and trusted peers run by the Digital History Association. Rewards are held for about 30 days, and double-signing can forfeit them and revoke the mining address.
Fork choice
Heaviest fork: nodes select and advertise the fork with the most accumulated difficulty. A miner whose block is orphaned can rebase the same solution onto the new tip if its VDF step is later than the tip's. The reference node keeps a checkpoint depth of 18 blocks and does not perform fork recovery deeper than that, a node rule rather than a finality vote.

Qualifications

Tradeoffs

This view follows one way of thinking about design priorities, often called the blockchain trilemma. The design-priorities lesson sets out the counter-view. Read the design-priorities lesson.

Emphasizes
Decentralization and Security Contested
Gives up
Base-layer capacity and quick settlement. Blocks come about every two minutes with a capped number of top-level transactions, settlement is probabilistic, and the base protocol runs no contracts; bulk data scales through third-party bundlers that pack many signed data items into one transaction. Mining is open, but full efficiency needs a complete packed replica of a dataset measured in hundreds of terabytes, which pushes most miners into coordinated clusters or pools.The whitepaper presents the proof system as keeping verification light to maximize decentralization and says bundling lets throughput scale without practical limits; reading that as all three corners at once is contested. Permanence also depends on endowment economics, on uploaders seeding their data and on miners choosing to store it.
Full node at home
Unknown 567811Every Arweave node needs a data directory on an SSD (at least 256 GB recommended), and a validator that does not mine need not store the weave: it joins by fetching recent blocks and state from trusted peers and validating them. The docs give no other validator sizing and warn that a node falls behind if its CPU cannot keep up with validation and the one-second VDF. Mining at full efficiency needs a full packed replica (about 373 TB in November 2025), which is not home-scale.
Throughput claims
  • Theoretical peak: 1,000 51417Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Top-level transactions per block, with blocks targeting about two minutes; bundled data items are not counted.A design limit set in the node code and described in the 2023 whitepaper, not a measured rate. One top-level transaction can carry a bundle of many separately signed data items, so this limit does not bound how many uploads the network records. No observed transaction rate, method or hardware assumptions were found in the reviewed sources.
  • Theoretical peak 1423Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Data write throughput through recursive bundling; no figure given.The whitepaper says bundling lets throughput scale without practically applicable limits; this is a design claim with no measurement. Bundling is done by bundling services outside the protocol, so throughput beyond the base layer depends on those services and on trusting them to post the data. The claim covers data writes, not token transfers: bundled data items cannot transfer AR.
Headline figures are not comparable across chains. A theoretical peak is never a like-for-like number.

Scaling layers

No scaling layer recorded in this profile.

Capabilities

Capabilities of Arweave: how each one is provided, or its research status
CapabilityHow it is providedNotes and sources
Account abstractionStructured assessment pendingNot yet assessed for any chain.
Atomic swapsUnknownNo swap tool for AR was found. A base-layer transaction carries one owner signature, an optional transfer to one target, data and tags, with no script, hash lock or time lock, so the AR side of a swap cannot be locked on Arweave itself; designs that keep every lock on the other chain and link the two sides through signatures were not reviewed for AR. Bundled data items cannot transfer tokens, and trades of wrapped AR inside AO processes belong to that separate system. 21223
Authenticated data publicationBuilt into the protocolLimited scopeProtocol: the uploader signs a transaction committing to the Merkle root of its data's chunks, and the block's transaction root and block index commit to it (1). Miners, who produce blocks, mine by holding packed chunks of the weave and proving access to them, and nodes and gateways serve data over the HTTP API (2); anyone can check the data or a chunk's Merkle proof against the signed root (3). Limited: updates are new transactions found through tags and gateway indexes outside the protocol, and data stays retrievable only if it was seeded and nodes choose to store and serve it. 5910121427
Light clientsBuilt into the protocolLimited scopeProtocol, limited: miners embed the Block Index root, a Merkle commitment to every earlier block's hash, weave size and transaction root, in each new block, and the whitepaper says a node that has checked the proofs of the latest blocks can then validate any older block without downloading or validating the headers in between. Limits: no light client or wallet using this was found in the reviewed docs; new nodes fetch recent blocks and state from trusted peers, and apps usually read through gateways. 61114
Native staking or delegationStructured assessment pendingNot yet assessed for any chain.
On-chain governanceStructured assessment pendingNot yet assessed for any chain.
Parallel executionStructured assessment pendingNot yet assessed for any chain.
Payment or state channelsNone found Earlier definitionNearest feature: a plain transfer. A base-layer transaction carries one owner signature and no script, lock, multisignature or time condition, and the docs state that Arweave has no account delegation, so the protocol offers no joint or timed spending rule that a channel's dispute or refund path could rely on. 212
Programmable spendingNone found Earlier definitionAn AR balance moves only with a transaction signed by that account's own RSA or secp256k1 key; there are no scripts, multisignature accounts or account delegation. Nearest feature: AO processes, which are programmable but run in a separate compute system that stores its messages on Arweave and is not executed or checked by Arweave consensus. 21224
Protocol-verified messagingStructured assessment pendingNot yet assessed for any chain.
Reversible transfers or recoveryUnknown(a) The protocol cannot reclaim or delay a confirmed transfer; the nearest rule, the transaction anchor, only makes an unconfirmed transaction invalid once its anchor block is older than the last 50 blocks, a replay guard rather than a set cancellation window. (b) The docs state that Arweave has no account delegation mechanism, and the wallet FAQ says the team cannot help recover a lost wallet. Wander's site advertises social recovery for its accounts; whether that meets this row's recovery definition was not assessed. 2121338
RollupsUnknownAO and other systems store their messages or data on Arweave, but Arweave consensus does not check their execution; whether any system qualifies as a rollup anchored to Arweave was not established. 2425
Shielded transfersStructured assessment pendingNot yet assessed for any chain.
Signed partial offersNot presentNearest feature: a plain transfer. Each base-layer transaction has a single signer, its owner, so a maker cannot sign one side for a taker to complete in the same transaction, and bundled data items cannot transfer tokens. Order books or pools in AO processes belong to that separate system. 1223
Reading these values
How this feature is provided
Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
Structured assessment pending
The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
Unknown
The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
Earlier definition
Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
Reading across rows
The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.

Definitions, schema version and review history

Ecosystem & custody

Ecosystem products for Arweave
Product typeStatusNotes and sources
Automated market makersUnknownArweave's base layer has no contracts or pools, but Arweave's own docs count compute layers such as AO as part of the Arweave ecosystem, and exchange venues run there as AO processes: Botega, for one, is listed by its builder Autonomous Finance among 2024 AO products that are now unmaintained but still online. Which AO venues are live, and whether they trade AR itself or only wrapped AR, was not reviewed. 3122430 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Issuer-native stablecoinsNone foundNeither Circle's USDC contract list nor Tether's supported-protocol list includes Arweave, and the base layer has no token contracts. 3132 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Algorithmic stablecoinsUnknownNone can run on Arweave's base layer, which has no contracts; tokens issued by AO processes were not reviewed. 12 As of Sep 29, 2026.
BridgesUnknownNo bridge is part of the protocol. Wrapped AR used in AO depends on bridges run outside Arweave, and no bridge operator's documentation was readable at review. Risk: Any wrapped AR is only as safe as the custody of the locked AR and the bridge's signers, none of which were verified here. As of Sep 29, 2026.
Block explorersThinViewBlock (also serving arscan.io)Arweave's wallet FAQ points users to ViewBlock to check transfers. ArScan's page carries ViewBlock's page description, links to ViewBlock's blog, social and GitHub accounts and loads ViewBlock's assets, so it appears to be a second front end of the same operator rather than an independent explorer. ar.io's docs list turbo-gateway.com and Goldsky for GraphQL search, which are data search services rather than block explorers. Listing is not a quality or completeness check, and explorer data is provider-indexed. 13272829 As of Sep 29, 2026.
Hardware walletsThinKeystone (through Wander, formerly ArConnect)Keystone's own guide shows a Keystone 3 Pro on firmware V2.0 or later connecting to the Wander browser extension, named ArConnect before 2025, and signing AR transfers by QR code. Arweave's wallet FAQ still says Ledger and Keystone are working on integrating Arweave, and Trezor says it does not support Arweave. See the custody rows. 13363738 As of Sep 29, 2026.

Hardware-wallet custody

Hardware-wallet custody for Arweave
Device makerStatusWhat users can and cannot do
LedgerUnknownSame as native: UnknownCannot: Find Arweave in Ledger's published Ledger Wallet currency list (@ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0)
Cannot: Install an approved Arweave device app: the app-arweave repository in Ledger's GitHub organization says it is not yet approved and must not be used in productionLedger's Arweave page (modified 2026-02-20) is a generic template that invites users to manage Arweave in Ledger Live, but Ledger's currency list has no Arweave entry, arweave.app lists its Ledger support as awaiting release on Ledger's app store, and Arweave's wallet FAQ calls full support pending. No working path for ordinary users was confirmed. 1333343539 As of Sep 29, 2026.
TrezorNone foundSame as native: NoCannot: Manage AR in Trezor Suite; Trezor's Arweave page says it does not currently support ArweaveTrezor's page asks users who used this asset with Trezor before to contact its support team. 36 As of Sep 29, 2026.

Public data

iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Arweave yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.

Public-data lookups for Arweave
LookupStatusWhat it covers and its limits
Address or accountNot available yetPublic-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
Tokens and assetsNot available yetPublic-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
NFTsNot available yetPublic-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.
TransactionsNot available yetPublic-data lookups for this chain are not built yet.

A lookup covers one address or transaction from one provider. It is never a complete wallet, and an error or private value is reported as unknown, not zero. About public data · Connect your AI

Sourced developments

Developments: Reviewed Sep 29, 2026 Next review due Oct 9, 2026, 12:00 UTC.

Publication date · newest first

Topics your AI can explain

Your AI can explain these topics for Arweave through the connection, with sources.

Known gaps

What this profile's review did not establish:

Sources

Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 29, 2026 Next check due Oct 29, 2026.

All 40 sources were checked in the last 30 days.

  1. Protocol (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  2. ECDSA Keys (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  3. Motivation (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  4. Account Tree (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  5. How Mining Works (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  6. Node Types (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  7. Hardware Guide (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  8. VDF (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  9. Transaction Blacklist (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  10. Syncing and Packing (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  11. Trusted Peers (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  12. HTTP API (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  13. Wallet FAQ (external site)Arweave Docs · retrieved
  14. Arweave: The Permanent Information Storage Protocol (Draft 17, December 2023) (external site)Arweave (ArweaveTeam GitHub) · retrieved
  15. Efficient generation and dispersion of entropy during data preparation for Arweave (Draft-5, December 2024) (external site)Digital History Association (ArweaveTeam GitHub) · retrieved
  16. Arweave: A Protocol for Economically Sustainable Information Permanence (yellow paper, Draft-1) (external site)Arweave (ArweaveTeam GitHub) · retrieved
  17. apps/arweave/include/ar.hrl (master): protocol and node constants (external site)ArweaveTeam (GitHub) · retrieved
  18. apps/arweave/src/ar_block_cache.erl (master): cumulative difficulty and checkpoint depth (external site)ArweaveTeam (GitHub) · retrieved
  19. Arweave 2.6.0 release notes (VDF, pricing transition, delayed rewards) (external site)ArweaveTeam (GitHub) · retrieved
  20. apps/arweave/include/ar_pricing.hrl (master): replication target, assumed price decay, total supply and endowment latch (external site)ArweaveTeam (GitHub) · retrieved
  21. Arweave 2.9.1 release notes (2.9 hard fork, replica.2.9 format) (external site)ArweaveTeam (GitHub) · retrieved
  22. Arweave 2.9.6 release notes (format 1 soft fork at height 2,000,000) (external site)ArweaveTeam (GitHub) · retrieved
  23. ANS-104: Bundled Data v2.0 - Binary Serialization (external site)ArweaveTeam (arweave-standards on GitHub) · retrieved
  24. AO Cookbook: Concepts & Migration (external site)AO Cookbook · retrieved
  25. AO Cookbook: How ao messaging works (external site)AO Cookbook · retrieved
  26. The Dock Isn't the Lake (arweave.net operator change, published 2026-03-05) (external site)ar.io · retrieved
  27. Find Data (via GraphQL) (external site)ar.io Documentation · retrieved
  28. Arweave Explorer (external site)ViewBlock · retrieved
  29. ArScan - Arweave Explorer (external site)ArScan · retrieved
  30. Autonomous Finance (earlier AO products, including Botega, listed as unmaintained) (external site)Autonomous Finance · retrieved
  31. USDC contract addresses (external site)Circle · retrieved
  32. Supported protocols (external site)Tether · retrieved
  33. Arweave Wallet - Buy, manage & hold your AR (external site)Ledger · retrieved
  34. @ledgerhq/cryptoassets 13.56.0 currency list (external site)Ledger (npm package via jsDelivr) · retrieved
  35. app-arweave: Ledger Arweave app (README) (external site)LedgerHQ (GitHub; forked from Zondax) · retrieved
  36. Arweave wallet (external site)Trezor · retrieved
  37. Wander (Extension) | Keystone (external site)Keystone · retrieved
  38. Wander: wallet for Arweave and AO (formerly ArConnect) (external site)Wander · retrieved
  39. ArweaveWebWallet: the arweave.app source files (external site)jfbeats (GitHub) · retrieved
  40. arweave.net /info network read (height 2,011,130 on 2026-09-29) (external site)arweave.net gateway · retrieved

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Funding disclosure

Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding