Arweave and AO: The Future of On-Chain Autonomous Agents

Arweave is a decentralized permanent data storage network. AO is a decentralized "hyper-parallelized" network that breaks through the traditional limitations of

This article deeply analyzes the permanent storage architecture of Arweave, the hyper-parallel computing model of AO, and how the two will drive the future development of on-chain autonomous agents. At the same time, it will also explore the challenges faced by AR and AO, market dynamics, and how to participate in them.

Arweave Overview

Arweave is a decentralized permanent data storage network. Users only need to pay a one-time storage fee to obtain permanent data storage services. Unlike other storage networks (such as Filecoin) that require continuous payment, Arweave uses a unique block structure called "blockweave". Each new block is not only linked to the previous block, but also randomly linked to earlier historical blocks, ensuring that miners must hold complete historical data to generate new blocks, thereby achieving long-term data preservation.

Arweave's native token AR is used to pay for storage and reward miners. When users upload new data and pay fees, about 85% of the tokens are deposited into a fund for future miner rewards. This design ensures that miners' incentives are independent of user activity and enhances confidence in the permanent storage of data.

Growth trajectory

Since launching in June 2018, Arweave usage has grown significantly in 2021. The following chart tracks weekly data uploads since the network launch:

Data storage peaked in September 2021, bottomed out in June 2023, and has been climbing steadily since then. The chart below breaks down the type of data uploaded each month.

Arweave usage over time (by size)

In 2021, the rise of NFTs drove the first major increase in demand for Arweave data storage. Creators began uploading JPEGs and images to Arweave instead of relying on centralized hosting services, a trend that has led to a surge in Arweave usage. Due to its permanent and decentralized nature, Arweave has become an ideal choice for NFT artwork data storage.

Since 2023, a range of new use cases have emerged. Of all the categories, applications take up the most storage space. These are mainly packager applications that package multiple transactions and data together and publish them to Arweave. These include Bundlr (the team has changed its name to Irys.xyz and will launch its own data chain in addition to the packager application) and Ardrive Turbo. The data packaged by these applications includes content that may have previously been classified as pictures, videos, or other blockchain data. In addition to these packager applications, there are other projects that are taking advantage of Arweave's permanent storage capabilities, including Lens' social application Hey, content publishing platform Mirror, and AI application scenario Ritual.

Judging from the number of transactions, although Arweave charges fees based on the size of the stored data, the growing number of transactions may indicate the future development direction of Arweave.

Arweave usage over time (by number of transactions)

Transaction volume data shows that the two fastest growing use cases in the blockchain ecosystem are Redstone and AO.

Redstone is one of the fastest growing oracle networks in the crypto space, providing price data for multiple assets across all major EVM chains. The network’s rapid growth is due to its expanding partnerships and product features.

AO is a parallel computing and proxy messaging layer built on Arweave. Although it is still in the testnet stage, its mainnet is scheduled to be launched in February 2025. AO is designed to provide efficient computing infrastructure for proxy applications and use Arweave's permanent storage capabilities to support on-chain autonomous agents.

Criticisms of Arweave

Although Arweave’s storage model has been recognized, it has also faced some criticism, especially its low fee income. The following is a comparison of the PE ratios of different blockchains:

Looking at the price/fee ratio, Arweave outperforms only Avalanche among L1 chains. A lower ratio indicates that users pay higher fees relative to the fully diluted value (FDV) of the network. These figures reflect the total fees generated but do not take into account miner payments or Arweave's endowment fund contributions. Because Arweave allocates a larger portion of fees to miners, its short-term profits may appear smaller than other chains.

AR Token Performance

In 2024, AR saw significant growth after the announcement of the AO project. After the announcement, the price of Arweave tokens soared from less than $10 per token to more than $40. The market showed strong interest in the possibilities that AO brought to cryptocurrencies and the expected growth in Arweave activity.

AR holders can accumulate AO tokens by holding AR in their wallets starting in February 2024. Currently, 33% of newly created AO is in circulation to holders, and these tokens will be available for transfer when the AO mainnet is launched in February 2025.

After the mainnet launch, AR holders will continue to