Arweave (CRYPTO: AR)

Arweave is a decentralized storage network that seeks to offer a platform for the indefinite storage of data. Describing itself as "a collectively owned hard drive that never forgets," the network primarily hosts "the permaweb" — a permanent, decentralized web with a number of community-driven applications and platforms.The Arweave network uses a native cryptocurrency, AR, to pay "miners" to indefinitely store the network's information.The project was first announced as Archain in August 2017, later rebranding to Arweave in February 2018 and officially launching in June 2018.The core technology that powers the Arweave is the blockweave. Just as a blockchain is a linked collection of blocks containing transactions, a blockweave -- specifically designed for the Arweave protocol -- is a set of blocks that contain data, linking to multiple previous blocks from the network. This data structure allows the network to an enforce that miners provide a ‘Proof of Access’ (PoA) to old data in order to add new blocks.Unlike in a traditional blockchain, where miners are forced to expend electricity in order to earn tokens, in the Arweave network miners are also encouraged to replicate valuable data (the information stored in the network) in order to gain tokens. This mechanism offsets the value that is normally wasted in blockchain networks, with useful, energy efficient storage of data.Discord | Medium | Reddit | GitHubLightpaper