GM fellow Arweaver!
With the Arweave network inching closer to 25 billion transactions, we thought it was a good time to explore ViewBlock’s statistics. Today, we’re testing your blockweave knowledge with five unique data visualizations.
Let’s jump right in.
Arweave in 5 charts 📈
As a blockchain explorer, ViewBlock enables you to see the usual information, such as blocks, transactions, and addresses, but the site goes deeper, offering much more insight into the Arweave network.
After seven years of uptime, Arweave’s network statistics are telling their own stories. ViewBlock data reveals remnants of historical events and insights into the landscape of the permaweb.
Let’s see how well you know the blockweave’s characteristics. Can you correctly guess what each graph represents?
Chart 1
This weekly chart is a curious one, as it shows continuous growth up to a certain moment, then suddenly it drops. What’s interesting to note is that this sudden change is actually tied to efficiency improvements, something we love to see :).
Hint: Jonny Ringo tweeted about this phenomenon in October last year.
Chart 2
Here’s another weekly chart that dates all the way back to 2018. It might look flat, but look closer, and you’ll see that it’s rising ever so steadily. This one’s all about network security.
Hint: It grew so much in 2019 that the unit of measurement went up by three orders of magnitude.
Chart 3
This chart shows a very different picture, with a significant difference in values between the network’s earlier days and current metrics.
Hint: The macro environment has caused a slight rise in recent weeks.
Chart 4
We’re switching over to a monthly chart now, which offers a more rounded view of a very dynamic chart (switch to the daily chart and see for yourself).
Hint: Smaller numbers catching up to the larger numbers show signs of a more resilient network.
Chart 5
The final chart we’re sharing today is another monthly view, and possibly the most important of them all. Let’s just say, we love to see this one grow as it is.
Hint: When we say block, you say?
Answers
Did you manage to guess what each one was? Let us know :). But here are the answers anyway (with some additional insights):
Chart 1: Weekly transactions. According to Jonny Ringo’s research, RedStone optimized its bundling process a few months ago to send more data in fewer transitions. As Jonny noted in his tweet, it’s like sending 10 packages instead of 100 postcards.
Chart 2: Cumulative difficulty. The RandomX update in 2019 introduced a hashing formula that was incredibly difficult to run on GPUs or ASICs. Before this update, extra hashpower gave certain miners an advantage, which brought centralization risks to the network.
Chart 3: Storage cost. While the Arweave network is chugging along as it should, macroeconomic factors are having an effect on the price of $AR. As storage is calculated in Arweave’s native currency, the cost per GiB rises dynamically in $AR to match its fiat equivalent.
Chart 4: Nodes by country. It’s important that the Arweave network is as geographically diverse as possible, and not too concentrated in a single region. The U.S. (orange) and Hong Kong (blue) currently represent the two locations with the most nodes.
Chart 5: Weave size. Currently measuring 350 TiB, Arweave’s “weave” represents the total sum of unique data uploads stored permanently on the network. This number is smaller than the total network size, which carries several duplicates of each uploaded item.
How many did you get right?
ICYMI 👀
Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s been unfolding across Arweave and AO.
- Sam’s update on arweave.net transition
- AO’s mint and delegate pages get an upgrade
- Jim Toth’s Dockerized setup for HyperBEAM nodes
This week's community feature 🎬
A new X account, @arweaveclipped, has popped up on the feed, sharing short, insightful clips from recent Sam Williams interviews.
Check out this snippet where Sam breaks down the parallel frontend and backend development tracks for the PermawebOS.
Thanks for reading!
If you know anyone else who would find this information and our insights helpful, please share this newsletter with them.
Follow us on X at @onlyarweave to stay updated on all things Arweave. Want to dive deeper into AO? Check out @aoComputerClub.
The Longview Team
This is not investment advice. No profit guarantees. If in the U.S., ensure compliance with U.S. laws and seek professional advice.