Permaweb Pioneers

There's an energy in the air with regards to Arweave and now AO Computer, and Jonathan Policke, COO of Permanent Data Solutions, is right in the middle of it in the best ways. Permanent Data Solutions is the parent company behind projects like ar.io, which provides a decentralized gateway service to access data on Arweave. In addition to this, they run arweave.net, a massive gateway which handles huge amounts of traffic and load. In addition to gateways as mentioned above, PDS Inc. is behind ArDrive, which continues to be a staple in the onboarding process into the Arweave ecosystem. ArDrive provides a Dropbox-like interface to Arweave. PDS doesn't stop there; with file organization protocols, and now a massive bundler, there's so much to talk about, and Jonathan was kind enough to give us the opportunity to explore these topics in-depth. Enjoy!Visit: PDS.incFollow Jonathan @JonnieSparklesAnd stay in the loop about all things Arweave @OnlyArweave on X. 

We speak with Tate Barenbaum, Founder of Community Labs, a venture studio focused on Arweave and now ao computer. We explore Tate's story into the Arweave ecosystem and the wild ride of  launching ao Ventures, where there has been $35MM USD committed from investors dedicated to support the burgeoning ao computer ecosystem. The program aims to provide a tight feedback loop and peer support for early-stage projects, as well as capital and resources to help them sustain and grow. Tate is both great to speak with and a clear thinker, and over the years has made some great progress with Community Labs and the 'fellows' he continues to collaborate with. Follow  @TateBerenbaumCheck out @aoTheVenturesAnd of course follow @OnlyArweave for all things Arweave related. 

In this episode we speak with Sai Kranthi, a fellow at Community Labs and the lead builder of Protocol.Land. Protocol Land is a decentralized code collaboration and version control platform built on top of the Arweave blockchain. Sai explains how Protocol Land offers the benefits of permanence and blockchain's native features, making it an alternative to centralized platforms like GitHub. Currently, Protocol Land is being utilized for hosting permanent static websites and rewarding open-source contributors through a system than enables bounties and rewards for contributions. Sai is dedicated to making code more resilient through decentralization and of course, permanent storage of information on Arweave. He has a respect for centralized services like GitHub, while also acknowledging clear limitations - this is where Protocol Land shines. Sai go over the various methods of getting code on Arweave, one of which uses Github actions. It's a great episode for those that care about where code actually lives and for those who care about the fundamentals. Check out Protocol.Land.Follow @OnlyArweave for all things related to Arweave. 

There's a lot happening in the Arweave ecosystem, and Jonny Ringo is right at the center of it with his work on ao computer and his dedication to providing support, invention, and playfulness. In this episode, you'll hear directly from Jonny about his path to Arweave, his experience working in customer service at Apple, and his unique life experiences that make him ideally suited to the work he does. Jonny has a lot of energy, and you'll likely note that not only does he have a lot going on, he loves it. He's thriving in the fresh ecosystem of ao computer and doing everything he can to support newcomers and those who have been in the Arweave community for years. Jonny Ringo is the creator of the first memecoin on ao computer, called $TRUNK. Hear about his story creating it and what motivates him to do this work. You may be surprised to hear about the genesis of this idea and the trajectory it has taken in just a few days and weeks.Follow Jonny Ringo on X. Be sure to follow @OnlyArweave for all things Arweave :). 

In this episode, we dive into the world of Context Protocol with Alex Puig, a builder and 'punkpreneur' passionate about the semantic web and access to humanity's knowledge. Alex is fully energized, with funny anecdotes and a fresh perspective on why things need to be built purposefully and with a long term perspective. He's been in software development for many years, and knows what it takes to make something simple enough to use, and important enough to care about. We explore the potential of the semantic web to revolutionize the speed and accessibility of blockchain interactions, with Context Protocol serving as a potential social network for data. Alex emphasizes the importance of context in providing guidelines and structure for data interactions, ultimately enabling a more efficient and impactful future for humanity's knowledge. And of course, all stored on Arweave. Follow Context Protocol here: twitter.com/ContextDaoVisit their website: https://www.ctx.xyz/And of course, follow @OnlyArweave on X to keep up to date on all things Arweave.  

Josh Benaron started building on Arweave back in 2021, the year when things went wild with NFTs, thanks to his work and many others optimizing or 'bundling' transactions. The number of uploads skyrocketed, and both speed an scalability increased immensely for the Arweave network. The introduction of 'bundling' sparked massive interest from Josh, and he went after it and built what became known as Bundlr.network. Bundlr (without the 'e') became the go to for uploading anything to Arweave. With a simple CLI for developers, platform creators, NFT artists, and more had access to Arweave (and extremely fast confirmations) like never before. We discuss the early stages of Bundlr, and also dive deep into the transformation of what is now Irys.xyz, the strong provenance layer for social media, audio, and you-name-it. It's an exciting journey and Josh is an open book. Enjoy!Follow Josh @josh_benaronKeep in touch with all things Arweave @OnlyArweave

We speak with Tiago, one of the Co-founders of the Fair Protocol. This protocol presents a promising solution to the problem of centralization in AI computation, offering a decentralized approach that can promote more significant equity, access, and transparency in the development and deployment of AI technology.Tiago and his team have been building on Arweave from the very beginning. As three Co-founders who met in university, they form a tight-knit group on a mission. Fair Protocol provides the infrastructure for an entire marketplace of AI models. It operates on a pay-to-prompt model, enabling model creators to earn profits from their work while also maintaining integrity and decentralization. It's an engaging discussion with someone who deeply cares about AI and humanity.Follow Tiago here @FairTferreiraCheck out ArweaveHub.com and stay in the loop @OnlyArweave.

Ryan Soury, founder of Usher Labs, discusses his journey from participating in the Open Web Foundry to developing Usher and the Log Store Network. Usher Labs aims to build decentralized infrastructure for data management in Web3. Initially focused on referral systems with Usher, they found a gap in handling custom event data, which led to the creation of Logstore Network. This network opens doors for various use-cases like DeFi strategies and real-world asset management. Ryan highlights the potential for Log Store to revolutionize areas like advertising tools and DeFi by providing a trustless data layer, all on Arweave. Ryan is a clear speaker, with a great deal of patience while explaining complex topics. Enjoy!Visit LogStore.Follow @ryan_souryFollow @OnlyArweave

Greg Ogun is a kind, thoughtful, and exceptional front-end developer with a keen eye for beautiful design. He emphasizes meticulous details often overlooked by others. Conversations with Greg are intriguing; he values time to distill concepts, ensuring usefulness and elegance in what's built. As the founder of Darwin Framework, he enables seamless creation of evolutionary apps on the Permaweb. We discuss his journey from retail work to blockchain front-end development, his openness and engaging speaking style. A full-circle moment for Greg, an avid Permaweb Pioneers listener who used episodes to acquaint himself with the ecosystem.Check out Darwin.Arweave.devAnd follow @OnlyArweave

This episode features David Phelps, a thinker and doer to the nth degree. David is not only the founder of jokerace.xyz, he's also a prolific writer, exploring a massively wide range of topics from Bitcoin to personal life experiences and macro-economics. You can find his writing here. We discuss his entry into the blockchain space via Bitcoin and a wild story of a "friend-of-a-friend" who introduced him to Bitcoin. We traverse a number of topics, from what makes a community function well, to some existential questions about why Arweave matters and a potential path well into the future. We think you'll enjoy David's way of speaking, and his ability to weave topics that at first glance may not be connected.Enjoy :)Follow David on Twitter @divine_economyGet the Arweave Community Hackathon details here: ArweaveHub.com

In this episode, we talk with a Co-founder of ArConnect, Marton Lederer. ArConnect is an Arweave native wallet that allows you to manage your $AR and much more. We discuss ArConnect's role as a gateway to the Permaweb, with a keen focus on UI and security. We dive into the details on the latest beta release and get into some of the design and architecture decisions that led to permission settings ArweaveKit integration, and more. We also hear about Marton's personal journey from high school to decentralized blockchain development, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It's an inspiring story of focus and being open to learning new things despite some challenging circumstances around the world. Find out more about ArConnect at ArConnect.ioAnd be sure to follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave.ArweaveHub.com

Othent enables easy logins and wallet generation for Arweave transactions. By utilizing familiar social logins like Gmail, there's no need to download browser extensions or go through complex processes. Lorimer Jenkins, the founder of Othent and a builder at Community Labs, has been immersed in the world of blockchain practically his entire life. We discuss his childhood conversations about Bitcoin with his father, and the impact that these experiences have had on his career transitions, from acting and drama, to becoming a blockchain developer.This episode was a lot of fun - Lorimer is a great speaker with an interesting upbringing and an amazing amount of determination. We dive into his initial crypto story, and his logic on why he has decided to build on Arweave. Follow Lorimer @lorimer_jenkinsAnd of course, keep in the loop with @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related. 

Get an inside look into Vincent's career path, as he takes us through his work experience with startups from Silicon Valley to Europe, and how these adventures led him to the world of blockchain. Vincent shares why he thinks being serious all the time isn't the path forward - we need more fun! 0x3.Studio puts playful language within powerful concepts and products, and it works.We dig deep into the concept behind JellyBots NFT, an innovative project that uses digital tokens to unlock access to a suite of apps built by 0x3.Studio. Vincent explains how their project differs from others, by providing real value with utility at its core.We also explore products like IRON Drive, a decentralized storage solution that works a bit like Dropbox but with a crucial difference: you pay just once for access. This reflects their commitment to providing sustainable, customer-first experiences.We discuss SOLID, a platform set to revolutionize content publishing on Arweave. And we delve into other intriguing projects such as Hotmint, a tool for real-time analysis of NFT projects, and Tap.xyz, a platform for searching .eth domains.Vincent and the team at 0x3.Studio have an amazing eye for design and product. It's great to have them as part of the Arweave ecosystem!Be sure to follow the project @0x3studioAnd of course, follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related. 

In this episode, we explore the STAMP Protocol with Tom Wilson, the creator of PermaPages and Permanotes. STAMPS, or Signature Timestamp And Metadata Protocol, introduces a universal approach to content curation, similar to 'like' buttons but with a tradable reward system for creators and of course all on the Permaweb. Tom is an inventor through and through, and this conversation was a lot of fun because of that!Tom walks us through the core components of a STAMP, including the signer, data-source, and timestamp, highlighting how they contribute to the protocol's functionality. He emphasizes the community-based and open-source nature of STAMPS, fostering collaboration and widespread adoption.A key highlight is the reward component, where creators receive tradable STAMP tokens based on the popularity of their content on the permaweb. Tom explains the mechanics of the reward cycle, outlining how qualified wallets are rewarded with STAMP tokens and their tradeability using Verto Flex and Approve/TransferFrom mechanisms.We discuss the potential use cases and benefits of the STAMP Protocol for creators, developers, and users in the contentFi ecosystem, emphasizing its scalability and opportunities for content curation. The content blockchain that is Arweave is an ideal pairing for the STAMP protocol!Follow @rakis_me to stay up to date with Tom.Also, follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave and Permaweb related.

It's a big commitment to leave one's full-time position, and that's the story of one of the co-founders of Capsl8 after realizing the importance of archiving vital data permanently. Co-founders Sahil and Pete are on a mission to enable super easy archiving of data, while also creating communities around important topics to facilitate the use of Arweave. "Information wants to be free - so join us in preserving humanity's most valuable data for future generations." Their site at Capsl8.com clearly illustrates their mission of preserving vital data permanently. Their first foray was to archive 50,000 public domain books, and they are already well on their way to achieving that goal with over 12,000 archived pieces of content via Project Gutenberg, which offers thousands of free ebooks. The Capsl8 team utilizes standards like ANS-110, which allows for better discoverability of content, and they're also working on an index and search feature. If you have a look at their site, you'll see the opportunity to sign their "Open Letter," which is dedicated to the preservation of vital content via the Permaweb.Be sure to follow the project @capsleightAnd of course, follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related. 

The Indexing Company provides simple and tailored data access that enables faster build times and cost savings for infrastructure and engineering. It is stored on the Permaweb, ensuring the data is secure and permanent. In this discussion, we delve into the world of composable datasets. These datasets can be curated and re-articulated over and over again to achieve extraordinary data access for super niche use-cases. The Indexing Company's technology opens up a frontier full of new business models. In the near future, we may see datasets shared by builders, similar to influencers sharing products they like today. We explore the various experiments and first examples of the power of The Indexing Company's technology, including mirrormirror.page and a few others. These initial web experiences show the potential of how one's own perspective can shine through massive datasets to enable hyper-focused emphases. With so many raw datasets closed off and nearly inaccessible, The Indexing Co is making strides in creating a more composable and approachable set of infrastructure. Be sure to follow @indexingco on Twitter, and @onlyarweave for all things Arweave-related.

In this conversation, we speak with Reffo, the co-founder of ECHO. We explore the origin story of ECHO and why this commenting protocol may enable the next important step in NFTs as we know it (comments and engagement as NFTs and communities!). What started out as a wild ride in the world of NFT trading has progressed into what is now known as 0xEcho. ECHO is a decentralized social engagement protocol that's designed to promote free and open communication in the Web3 ecosystem. By providing a simple comment widget that any website can use, ECHO makes it easy for individuals to share their thoughts and connect with others in a permanent and simple way.What makes ECHO extraordinary is its commitment to permanent data storage for all comments. Unlike other commenting systems that may delete comments or alter them over time, ECHO ensures that every comment remains accessible and unchangeable, creating a valuable archive of user-generated content that can benefit our digital civilization. Be sure and give Echo a go here: 0xEcho.comAnd of course, follow @OnlyArweave on twitter for all things Arweave. 

In this episode, we dive into the world of decentralized and privacy-preserving personalization with the founders of FirstBatch, Ömer and Kerim Kaya. They discuss the creation of their SmartWeave-based similarity search engine, DANNY, and their key-value database, HollowDB, which utilizes zero-knowledge proofs to provide privacy protected storage. There was so much to discuss as they are building something massively new and audacious.We explore the potential implications of their work for the future of blockchain technology and decentralized data storage, as well as their plans for the future, including building AI pipelines for persona generation and content matching with interest graphs. FirstBatch is off to an impressive start in the Arweave ecosystem, already with two product launches and several partnerships in the works. Check out FirstBatch.xyz and give it a go!Follow @firstbatchxyz_And as always, follow @OnlyArweave for all things Arweave related. 

It's rare to come across founders that are family members, too. In this case, Nick and Vince are brothers and the founders of alex.arweave.dev. Alex. is a decentralized archival platform that leverages the immutable and permanent data storage of Arweave to preserve important digital artifacts. Forward Research [https://forward.arweave.dev] has been an important ally as the protocol that is Alex. continues to be more fully featured and intuitive to use. The brother duo (Nick & Vince) are working around the clock to delivery new opportutnies for pool operators and more. In this conversation we talk about what it's like to build in a decentralized ecosystem (when you come from a more corporate background), the coming and likely surpassed millionth digital artifact created on Alex., and so much more. It's a profound episode with notes of fundamental importance for the history and future of both our digital and physical civilization. Archiving important information is becoming increasingly important, and this team is leading the charge.Follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related. 

Hibiscus.tech is on a mission to make the garment industry more accessible, transparent, and equitable for all of the creators involved - from manufacturing to textile design and more. Founders Vishnu G. Kumar and Jeremy Karl are leading the way with their love of fashion and their deep appreciation for all individuals involved in the process of making beautiful clothing and more. We had a fascinating conversation, covering their backgrounds in both fashion and tech, working with major brands and "influencers", and the massive need for change in an industry that has so much room to improve upon. Hibiscus' focus is to build a decentralized, community-curated apparel brand and create "Fashion Legos," an open-source garment library for apparel production. The traditional business model of maximizing profit by minimizing returns to stakeholders leads to exploitation of manufacturers, designers, and the environment. Hibiscus DAO aims to return power and ownership to creators and producers and verify that products are made ethically. The company plans to use consensus-driven blockchain technology to achieve this goal, of course storing all of it on Arweave. Enjoy this thought-provoking episode.Be sure and follow Hibiscus on Twitter @hibiscusdaoAnd follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related.

Databases are the workhorses behind everything we interact with on the web, and in this episode we dive deep into WeaveDB - a NoSQL database as a smart contract. While that is quite the combination of words for those unfamiliar with databases, we go through the basics and build from there.  In short, SQL databases are similar to spreadsheets in design - you have to reference columns and cells and relate the database in that type of format. This isn't always ideal when handling "unstructured data" like images and videos which may not fit well into this table structure. NoSQL databases thrive on unstructured data and can process massive amounts of data very efficiently - especially important when scaling up operations with servers located all over the world. WeaveDB levels up the whole game of NoSQL by being built with Arweave and leveraging Smart Contracts to manage data indexes and more. The team has already built out their own language with a massive course to learn how to utilize this database to it's full potential. Learn more about WeaveDB at https://weavedb.dev/And of course, follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave and Permaweb related :)

Speaking with Sam Williams, Founder of Arweave protocol is always full of energy, ideas, and a great sense of purpose. In this episode, we explore some of the emotional side of the process of building a community, along with some great stories on invention and perseverance. It really is a fun episode with a mix of tactics and wild imaginative landscapes of what may become in the years to come and what is intriguing and top of mind for builders to create from Sam's perspective. Sam speaks to the topic of both ecosystem decentralization and protocol decentralization with the upcoming Arweave 2.6 and more. We dive into the topic of "inventors", along with Sam's ideal "meeting" (let's just say it's not a typical style).There is so much happening in the ecosystem, it really is inspiring to reflect a bit on where Arweave started and what it has become today - we touch on this and get some of Sam's thoughts on the process and tips for builders looking to start the next big thing on the Permaweb. Enjoy this ride as we traverse topics and travel through Sam's mind a bit in this conversation. Follow the Arweave Ecosystem on Twitter: @ArweaveEcoAnd keep in the loop with @onlyarweave

Hansa.network invests, incubates, and accelerates networks that power the future of open societies on web3. We speak with Hansa Founder Anthony Ryan and explore his philosophies on investing, vision for Arweave, and what's to come for 2023. This conversation explores ideological frameworks, to practical takes on what is happening in our digital civilization and what Hansa is doing to create a more prosperous and equitable future. With name origins from the Hanseatic League from around the 13th century, there is an emphasis on creating strong connections between the founders Hansa invests in - creating alignment mechanisms for all involved. Hansa appears to be ramping up their Arweave investments on all fronts, and a soon to be released Accelerator will further this mission. Anthony has a kind demeanor with a focus on what may become our civilizations greatest asset -> and open society. We speak to the topic of "sponsoring" abundance and what a world may/will look like where the Permaweb shines as the grand "data lake" that is accessible to all. It's an inspiring conversation, with great one liners that will keep you thinking well beyond the episode itself. On that note, be sure to have a look at their site and be in touch, they are always open to conversations: Hansa.networkFollow @OnlyArweave on Twitter for all things Arweave related.  

Permafacts is building the world's first provably neutral journal on Arweave. We discuss Founder Justin Shaw's background in the insurance, his composable-first development process, and his vision for what may become the standard for fact checking and high quality journalism, reporting, and more. Justin's story is both extraordinary and surprisingly common within the Arweave community - it started with a concept shared openly and has become a fully fledged product currently in ALPHA at the time of the recording. He's gone on to become a Founder In Residence with Forward Research and has sparked a whole new world of assertion-based journalism.It's always great to hear about new developers to the ecosystem share their experience - via Justin, "what I've noticed about Arweave is it's the least drama and the most how do we work together to build things?". It's great to have another builder that represents the ethos of openness and integrity. Tech stack: Account Protocol (Metaweave) Stamps Protocol ReactArConnectBe sure and check out Permafacts.Arweave.dev and follow @OnlyArweave for all things Arweave related!

With a mission of blurring the line between web2 and web3, EXM.dev has already made strides by making easy-to-use developer tools to connect with the Permaweb. Adding layers of abstraction can go a long way in the onboarding process for many things, and that is also the case for EXM - devs don't even need to interact directly with a wallet or any crypto. A builder looking to use EXM doesn't even need to know how to create a smart contract, once again demonstrating the elegance of what this platform is going for - simplicity and accessibility. Born in Venezuela, Andres Pirela is the first 'Founder' via Community Labs - an Arweave focused venture studio. You can hear his enthusiasm and dedication to this project as a means to unlock blockchain development for just about any developer. It may prove to be an important tactic to enable growth of the Permaweb and Arweave. Andres first collaborated on Verto.exchange, then 3em.dev, and now of course EXM. While it's an audacious project, Andres is committed to seeing it through and the developer community reaping the benefits. Keep in the loop with EXM on Twitter @exmbuildFollow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave! 

beta.OLTA.art is platform and marketplace for interactive Dynamic NFTs, built with Polygon and Arweave as the storage layer. Founders Terence Reilly and George Baldwin have created a place for developers to express themselves through code. The opportunities are essentially endless, leaving a massive canvas open for the next great generative artist to come by and "wow" the world. What's especially cool about OLTA is the interactive component to the pieces. There are parameters that both collectors and viewers can play with, bringing a game-like experience within abstract and conceptual pieces. The interplay between games and art is a place where George in particular resides. As the lead developer on the project, there's a keen interest that the pieces be exploratory, up for interpretation and interaction. Of course, all assets are uploaded to Arweave, which provides an elegant experience for full websites that run on code and generate beautiful pieces of art. The duo that is Terence and George are inspiring - they have a vision in mind for enabling technologists to express themselves freely, while also respecting the artwork by enabling massive experimentation to occur and storing all contents on the Permaweb for very long term storage. Check out beta.OLTA.art to learn more and experience the world of interactive and experiential NFTs.Also, be sure and follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related.

To paraphrase one of the Co-founders of Metaweave, if you're thinking of making something then "it must be built". These thoughts among many factors led Cromatikap to the Open Web Foundry (visit forward.arweave.dev) to go and build social utilities specifically designed for the Permaweb. The journey has not be straightforward, especially the formation of their legal entity which is now based in Portugal, also known as "Silicoin Valley" or the "Silicon Valley of Europe". Like many founders, it can be overwhelming to start a new company, manage legal needs, and sort out investments. They've adapted and now have operations up and running, becoming defacto "Arweave Ambassadors" as they connect with all of the web3 builders in Portugal. In our conversation, we discuss the Account Protocol, Permatweet,and the Twitter Bridge. These tools make it easy to both explore the dApps on the Permaweb as well as connect web2 platforms with web3. Check out Metaweave.com to learn more and experience the discussed tools first hand.Also, be sure and follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related.

Tate started building on the Permaweb while in high school during the middle of the first wave of COVID. His foray into Arweave began with storing study guides that were being repeatedly deleted from the students' shared drives. He subsequently built nest.land, where developers can store code modules on the Permaweb for safe-keeping. In short, this was just the beginning. After creating both Verto Exchange and ArConnect (the popular browser extension), his latest venture is Community Labs.Community Labs, also referred to as "CLabs" just raised $30 million to fund their efforts in creating fundamental technology and protocols geared towards the Arweave ecosystem at large. This is a significant raise (possibly the largest to date in the Arweave ecosystem), and one that represents the opportunity available for both developers and entrepreneurs looking to build the next web. With an emphasis on both "structured" and "unstructured" time throughout his day, Tate continues to actively invent and collaborate with his growing and distributed team. Considering the fact that most of what is being built has never been done before, the model of unstructured time can enable more creativity and freedom to think differently. While the company is relatively new, those involved via investments/advisors and beyond have a lot of experience that they are bringing to the table. CLabs already has four ventures underway, three of which are protocols enabling further enhancements for the developer experience. Enjoy this episode, Tate shares his story, philosophy on building, and the path forward for the Arweave ecosystem and CLabs. Check out CommunityLabs.com, in addition to ArConnect.io.Also, be sure and follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related.

There are some individuals who have shown both a level of commitment and innovation within the Arweave that is next-level, Phil Mataras, Founder of ArDrive and AR.io, is an exemplar of this. His journey into Arweave started back in 2018, after having explored (and mining) Ethereum for 8 months. He needed to change direction, to get closer to utility at a fundamental level. After discovering the Permaweb, he quickly realized it's potential, building first versions of ArDrive.io; a Dropbox-like service that massively levels up the experience, providing decentralized and permanent storage. After growing his team and bringing in a total of almost 20 individual investors and just about $20 million USD, the mission has grown to provide decentralized (and incentivized) gateways for the Permaweb with AR.io. Gateways are the "front door" to the Permaweb and currently the arweave.net gateway is subsidized and in need of decentralization - something that is already happening with AR.io infrastructure!We cover a ton in this episode, and Phil is truly a Permaweb Pioneer having been one of the early internet explorers to find out about this technology and subsequently build a widely used app that is ArDrive.io. Follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related :)

Co-founders William and Aaron provide a deep look into their inspiration for creating Releap, a Solana and Arweave based music NFT platform created to "empower emerging and major artists with new ways of gaining exposure, engaging with fans, and monetizing their work". When building a service, it can be a major benefit to intimately know the issues with the status-quo that the founders are looking to improve upon. In Releap's case, this is part of the genesis for creating the service. As a band member playing gigs in Hong Kong, it just wasn't enough to financially sustain the group's efforts - and that's where William became inspired to look to an entirely new model of music - NFTs. Releap has done an amazing job with their UI/UX, and they're continually making improvements to lean into the social components of listening to music. Borrowing from the likes of SoundCloud with timestamped comments, it does feel inherently social while enjoying a fresh track. Be sure and listen to some tracks at Releap.ioAlso, follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave related :)

Memory Gardens secures your memories for 200+ years through Arweave on a platform that you can experience with a VR headset, mobile device, or computer. Founder Ben Peeri has combined his years of technical experience at large corporations with his innovative perspective to create MemoryGardens.xyz.The impetus for creating Memory Gardens stems from his personal experience - he lost a loved one and was mourning that loss and in need of a place to remember events, stories, etc. At first, Memory Gardens was a place exclusively for pets. After speaking with a number of individuals interested in the service for humans, he's now opened it up for any memory, including those featuring humans of course. Today, you can create customizable spaces and place images and various forms of media on what look like picture frames of these digital buildings and walls. It's a visceral experience and one that lends itself to recalling events that have even have themes, like a holiday setting that features imagery from those specific times. The team at Memory Gardens is being very mindful of the onboarding process, with options to pay with crypto or a credit card. The intention is to enable access to this technology so that individuals can easily share and store these memories for generations to come. Be sure and visit MemoryGardens.xyz if you're interested in creating your own Memory Garden. Follow @onlyarweave and check out OnlyArweave.com

Blockchain continues to elevate legacy systems (like referral networks) with more robust architecture. Usher is a partnerships platform for web3 - you can also think of it as a referral network for web3. If you're a builder and want to create your own referral campaign, use our Usher link here to sign up: https://app.usher.so/inv/kjzl6cwe1jw146m7un34t705z20e84pxqhdsi31b4gh33dz66u0qkl7vwsptl0xUsher enables both community builders and developers the ability to create incentive mechanisms to power growth and awareness. In the current world of business, referrals constitute a massive amount of new customers, and the same can apply in web3 - this is what Usher has built (and stored on Arweave). Usher merges the benefit of a referral system with the integrity of the immutable blockweave. Those that share their link as referrers can be confident that the terms won't change on them mid-campaign, and if there is any change it will be accessible on the blockweave. In short, Usher is providing transparency beyond anything we've seen prior with partnerships and referral platforms. This has the potential to quickly establish credibility, considering transparency shows all what is happening behind "closed doors" which are often opaque in the current web2 way of doing things. Be sure and visit Usher.so if you're interested in creating your own campaign or if you want to earn by sharing. Follow @onlyarweave and check out OnlyArweave.com

At first glance it can be a bit of a challenge to understand the breadth of what founder Joe Berenbaum is building with AFTR.market - Is it a multi-sig? Is it a governance tool? Is it made for managing bounties? These questions (and more!) are explored in this deep dive into AFTR.market and the builder behind it all. In short, AFTR does a lot, and as a platform it has the possibility of un-locking high volume and collaborative building on Arweave well beyond what we see today. AFTR Market allows you to create and group Arweave assets together inside of a “vehicle.” By grouping these assets together on-chain, one can then put governance around them to manage their profit streams. There are layers when going through these concepts, we unpack them to deliver a conversation that is both informative and imaginative.Give AFTR.market a follow @AftrMarketVisit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter and Metaweave for all things Arweave!

Music on Nina can be publicly streamed by anyone - it can also be released as digital editions that can be purchased to both support artists and enable collector-only experiences. In a world where traditional record labels have received criticism for the lack of transparency and allocation percentages to artists, Nina is building both a transparent protocol and an artist-first platform that enables very high levels of artist equity in everything created and distributed via Nina. On Nina, the artist receives 100% of the initial sales, and just 1.5% goes to Nina Protocol for secondary sales. In addition to a much more artist-oriented and equitable business model, Nina is built on web3, featuring Solana and of course Arweave for storage. A simple one time fee enables permanent storage of the tracks, making it easy to have piece of mind that the music will be sticking around for collectors and fans. The power of the Nina Protocol is that it can enable both artists and fans to earn. Their recently introduced "Hubs" feature brings an entirely new form of earning via referrals and much more. A hub can be just about anything imaginable, and the use-cases are just beginning to come into fruition. Founders Mike and Eric have been long time friends, and the entire Nina Protocol team is tight-knit, all with a deep love for music and artists in general. There is a lot more to come, enjoy this episode!Visit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter and Metaweave for all things Arweave! 

Hear directly from the founder of wordcel.club, Shek Dev, and his wild journey building on web3. Wordcel is a publishing platform built using Solana + Arweave, a powerful combination of both accessible and robust technology. Shek's journey to building full-time in web3 is inspiring - it shows that you, yes you, can put resources out into any community and receive some great results (especially in the Arweave ecosystem!). His commitment has been aided through his involvement in SuperTeamDAO, a community and source of feedback that has proven invaluable to his efforts building in web3.What started as a list of projects and a tweet within the Solana ecosystem, has led to Shek taking home the winning prize for the Solana Riptide hackathon (web3 category) just months after his intro entry into the community. The $50k USDC prize not only provided initial funding, it also created a significant spike in growth - there are about 1,000 individuals on the beta list. Worldcel has big plans, and Shek's commitment to open source, decentralized, and censorship-resistance is inspiring as he and team build out what may become an integral component of the future of publishing. From an empathetic perspective on user experience (UX), and an attention to detail regarding the brand and identity, keep an eye out for what Shek and wordcel.club do next!Wordcel's intro blog post is here. Follow Shek on twitter @shek_devVisit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter and Metaweave for all things Arweave

Co-founder Sherlock Shi takes us on an adventure, ultimately arriving at why meson.network exists, what is here today, and what is in the pipeline. His experience as an Arweave miner, his knowledge of Proof Of Work, and analogies of electricity distribution via Bitcoin and how it relates to bandwidth definitely brings some fresh thinking to how nodes can power the world.In this episode we dive deep into what meson does and why it's important for the decentralized internet going forward. Fundamentally, meson is built to deliver content faster (content delivery network) by enabling individuals with idle bandwidth to participate and earn meson tokens. While at the time of recording meson is currently in an incentivized testnet, more opportunities will likely be arising soon. The team at meson is committed to making the process to sharing bandwidth so easy that someone will not need any manual or walkthrough on how to do it. They see this as an important step to further access and adoption of this technology. Give meson a whirl here and experience the speed they can already deliver -> https://meson.network/#demoFollow Sherlock here: @SherlockShi_AHAVisit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter for all things Arweave

You'll quickly understand that Tom Wilson is dedicate to providing resources to other builders, and most recently, those building on Arweave. What started as an initial tutorial for 8pin, has grown into Permanotes.app, with regular tutorials on Youtube and more. He's also the founder of Hyper.io, which enables developers to build just about any application by taking advantage of Hyper's single API entry point and composable services. In short, its the "easy button" for creating back-end services. Tom has been building software for several decades, and he has a long and impressive history of creating value. We dive deep into how Permanotes works, what's to come, why it's important to give to the community, and what the future looks like of what may be called "DataFi" on Arweave. Our guest is an inventor, he sees opportunities and gets to building with a curiosity and drive that creates an energy wherever he finds himself online. If you're looking for a great experience diving into application development on Arweave, Tom and @onlyarweave collaborated on an entire tutorial to build a decentralized "Permaweb-pinning" geolocation app. Find the tutorial here, and have a go on the app at dev.8pin.app.Visit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter for all things Arweave

The world of institutional digital preservation has been going on for decades, and Peter Van Garderen has been a leading force as the founder of Artefactual Systems. His company has produced the most widely deployed archive management solutions in the world - Archivematica and Access-to-Memory. Peter's journey has led him to web3 and he's now working on a number of projects that require archiving of data, including Landano (land management dApp) and Orcfax (Cardano oracle)."My agenda is to apply record-keeping and archival science research and standards to web3. While blockchain document notarization and Arweave's permaweb design solve some fundamental issues for long-term access to authentic digital information, there is still a layer of (professional standard) record-keeping business logic that is missing from web3 platforms. I plan to tackle this shortcoming in Arkly." - Peter Van GarderenArkly.io is in the early development stage (at the time of this recording) and the plan is to open access to the Arkly API for other Web3 projects in Q4 2022 and launch a user-interface in early 2023.Visit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter for all things Arweave.

From building dApps to joining the core Arweave team, Cedrik has touched just about every aspect of the development process when creating on Arweave. He's gone on to create Textury.org, where he and a team continue to make key tools for creating Profit Sharing Tokens (via community.xyz), uploading to the Permaweb (via arkb), and most recently the launch of a new gateway (arweave.live). "Our main priority right now is Arg8, the new gateway that we have released...we want to help as much as possible for the managing the Arweave ecosystem load... the only gateway that everyone was using is arweave.net. The current version of the gateway is not easy to get started... so with Argate with want to bring more possibilities and hopefully anyone will be able to start their own gateway with Arg8 (arweave.live)" [paraphrased]. Gateways are an important ingredient in accessing the Permaweb, they are basically the "doors" to the Permaweb. Historically, one gateway has been managing a massive amount of traffic and at times there have been challenges due to the load. Arg8 is looking to make it easy to spin up a gateway which in turn will likely increase the accessibility of the Permaweb and continue to expand the decentralized nature of Arweave and the Permaweb. Visit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter.

Duncan Brown is a blockchain engineer and team lead at Veritree, a reforestation initiative that is built on Cardano and Arweave. Their mission is to create the technology to verify and amplify the world's best Nature-Based Solutions. The team partners with established tree planting organizations, and they go several steps further by adding on-the-ground data to the blockweave to store it permanently. From APIs, custom built dashboards, and trackable tree codes, Veritree appears to be doing just about everything to keep a cohesive ledger of their tree planting efforts in order to maintain a high standard of verification and planting authenticity. Duncan is an inspiring individual who cares deeply about both blockchain and the environment. When looking for solutions to manage the tech side of the project, he and team decided upon Cardano and Arweave - a combination we're seeing more of in the world of "web3". The Veritree team has experimented with a number of methodologies for drumming up interest, one of which is what they call an ITO or Initial Tree Offering. They've successfully launched one already, you can find the details here: ito.veritree.com.Visit onlyarweave.com and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter. 

Benjamin's curiosity in "web3" technologies made a big leap once he decided he was done with "web2" after some great conversations with Sam Williams which eventually led to Benjamin becoming a co-founder of Arweave.news.As a budding programmer, the possibilities of Arweave sparked many thoughts, one of which was archiving the internet as we know it. "The robust promises of Arweave got me really interested in it as an alternative to the Way Back Machine... I thought wow, can't we just port all of this information over to Arweave instead?".After further exploration and discovery, another big "aha!" moment occurred in conversation with Sam regarding front-end interfaces and development on Arweave, "all you really need to do to make a Permaweb application is to be able to write front-end code and use a couple of libraries that query the Arweave blockchain for data". This insight enabled a huge leap in thinking through the potential of what can be built on Arweave and the accessibility of it from his set of already known tools, languages, and emphasis as a developer. Of course, the insights have continued on and Benjamin is now on his path in founding PermawebDAO, which currently represents a collection of products and services built on the Permaweb. There is more to come on this front, so be sure and give @xylophonezy a follow on Twitter. And of course, follow @onlyarweave on Twitter for all things Arweave :)

You'll notice something immediately unique about this podcast recording; our guest, Sirgulator, uses a voice modulator to remain anonymous. Gridacity.io creates fully on-chain games and interactive multimedia experiences. The team has already released two games - Pulsar79 and Reveries of Ymatar. Each of these games have a very retro feel, including the background music, movement, and general game design. Of course, the biggest difference is that these games are stored on Arweave and utilize Ethereum as well."We wanted to create something that was more similar to how it was in the 80's and the 90's, where you bought a game console and game cartridge, and the game cartridges is yours forever... being able to play it 20, 30, 40 years down the line."Sirgulator is dedicated to enabling actual game ownership, which is why they've chosen the Permaweb for their storage layer for these game NFTs. They've built out an interesting suite of tech that enables each game to be completely unique to any other version of their games. Imagine playing a game that is connected to the larger "theme" and also completely unique for you only... pretty cool to think about. The opportunities are massive as more individuals become frustrated by the closed source world of games and the inability to move assets or games outside of specific marketplaces. Gridacity intends on opening up the world of game ownership, propelling it to a whole new level where you can do whatever you want with a game after purchasing it, and keep it for many years to come. Be sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

Dive deeper as we speak with the founders behind some of the featured projects from the Open Web Foundry 6. This cohort (OWF 6) introduced incredible concepts and implementations, all built on Arweave. If you're unfamiliar with the Open Web Foundry, it's a 6 week intensive program/incubator where you can start with a concept and build out your MVP to present to potential investors. Along the way, you receive mentorship and assistance in building your entity. Learn more here: https://owf.devFeaturing:-- JB of contributor.town: Better coordination through data science. Building tools and "super teams" for DAOs and Profit Sharing Communities. -- Rees and AJ of fora.co: Social Web3 built on Solana (and stored on Arweave). Earn on every action. User Owned. Uncensorable.-- Ameer and Erika of kipengine.com: A Web3 game engine for the metaverse, all built on Arweave. -- Ross Peili of rarecandy.xyz: A publishing house that supports all types of artists. Also, possibly first to do an "NCO", or NFT Coin Offering. Be sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

"It's one of our goals to educate them [artists] what's possible with web3, if they lack that knowledge..."Artby.city CEO Jim Toth shares his perspective regarding artists and the need for a more transparent and equitable platform for those that create both physical and digital art. Their intention as a protocol and platform is to give back the power to the artists and the Profit Sharing Community (PSC) members. COO Slava recognizes the creative potential of uncensored and open source, pillars of Art By City from the start; "I believe that we collaboratively can build more than we can on our own... we can see more creative things happen in this ecosystem than we can without these tools... an open environment gives way for more innovation." Art By City is dedicated to providing an open and accessible entry into the Permaweb - their easy-to-use UI is both welcoming and inspiring. Explore what the several artists are posting by visiting: https://artby.city/discoverThe Art By City DAO (aka PSC) governs the Art By City protocol, which artists, collectors, and enthusiasts can interact with to publish art permanently, monetize their publications, and support artists.Be sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

The NFT rush has introduced a new community of investors in digital art, while also enabling the "art world" of the past to participate in this wild new landscape. Boris Pevzner, CEO of LiveArt, is building bridges for the "art world" and the physical pieces we've all known for centuries to the fresh landscape that is digit art and NFTs. Utilizing a number of mechanisms, including their team's vast experience via Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses, they have already amassed a large collector base and recently introduced a fresh artist on to the NFT scene. It doesn't stop there for the LiveArt team, they've built out a comprehensive price analysis and prediction tool for both digital and physical art, again, with the interest in bridging and growing the pool of opportunity for artists and collectors. While it's an audacious vision, things are already underway, with 750,000 signups for their genesis NFT drop which enables individuals to make claim to their $ART token after a year lock up from today. Boris and his team see a much larger vision for even what they've already built out, including the formation of a DAO to run things going forward. Find out more at liveart.io and liveart.xyzBe sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

Redstone provides customizable DeFi data streams delivered quickly, reliably and cost-efficiently, all stored on Arweave. Jakub, founder of Redstone shares his prior blockchain experience as an auditor and what ultimately led him to the Arweave ecosystem and the Permaweb. We hear from Marin, Head of Growth at Redstone, and learn about his transition from web2 to web3 and his interest in seeing this technology deliver good to the world. From data regarding physical crops to decentralized exchange data, Redstone is building an important bridge to provide reliable data streams stored on Arweave. Of course, it doesn't stop there, their developer tooling and optimizations for their Smartweave SDK demonstrate impressive skills in recognizing opportunities to deliver better building experiences on the Permaweb.Visit: redstone.financeBe sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

"What were trying to do is complement that [proof of humanity] with proof of contribution. The way you prove your contribution to the collective knowledge commons is by getting attention from other people who have a higher reputation."Koii is building out what they see as core infrastructure for the future of the attention economy. Al Morris, founder of Koii, shares his background exploring robotics and blockchain before finding Arweave and recognizing its massive potential. This interest has ultimately led to the building of several components of what Al and team call, "the web 3.0 attention economy".  A primary thesis for this vision is that creators deserve more equitable opportunities for the attention they generate. Current web2 companies exploit these creators for their own revenue and benefit, part of Koii's message is to do the opposite - enable creators to earn directly from the attention they create and generate from their work. Visit: koii.network and koi.rocksBe sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

In this episode we feature to primary topics directly with the founders themselves; DeFi data on Arweave, and photography NFTs. Jakub, the founder of Redstone.finance walks us through the data dashboards from both a philosophical vantage point and real-world use case implementation. We also hear from Marcin, their Head of Growth, about their path forward in DeFi and beyond. Their mission is massive, coupling data streams of crops and cryptos in a holistic approach to enable unprecedented access to DeFi data streams. We learn about the growing world of Arweave-stored photography NFTs via the ImmutableImage founders, Bjorn and Jeff. Utilizing Metaplex, they are providing high quality and curated photo collections for purchase via Solana, with all metadata stored on Arweave. They discuss their plans for the future, including expanding the number of photographers on the platform and broadening their collector base by offering accessible pricing and more. Check out Redstone.finance and ImmutableImage.comBe sure and follow @onlyarweave to stay in the loop!

"We wanted to make sure that we're building an actually decentralized social and not just a social media that uses cryptocurrency... Being totally decentralized is our guiding mantra." Decentralized communication platforms are nascent and becoming increasingly important in the fabric of our civilization. Explore this topic with Brennan Lamey, Founder of Kwil. Their team is focused on starting fully decentralized instead of a progressive decentralization model present in several communication platforms in the space. KwilDB is the latest tool the team is building out, a general purpose decentralized relatable database that can be used for anything being built on the Permaweb. The implications of this are potentially massive, enabling other founders and developers to ramp up their development speed and efficiency while building on Arweave. There are a number of layers that we walkthrough; including nodes, gateways and user interfaces on Kwil. Visit: kwil.comBe sure and follow @onlyarweave on Twitter to stay in the loop on all things Arweave and Permaweb related. 

This conversation is both technical and design-oriented as we navigate what it's like to build with Polygon + Arweave, and delve into the design ethos of NiftyPixels. Matt, aka "pencilflip", shares his technical learnings building on Arweave and creating an NFT marketplace. Kat, aka "Katherine" shares a bit about her design philosophy and approach to creating a pleasing aesthetic, while also being super functional and easy to use. This duo has gone on to create amazing NFT-oriented platforms, including their most recent projects: mycoverse.xyz, and Solana-based formfunction.xyz. They continue to build on Arweave as their storage layer for all NFTs :).Be sure and follow @onlyarweave to stay in the loop!

Dive deep into the world of NFT "unlockables" with Chris Seline, Founder of Darkblock.io. From pay-per-view, to thumbnails and hi-res formats, we discuss the current state and the possibilities going forward with this technology built on Arweave. Chris shares about his vast experience as a technology founder in the search engine space, branding and the importance of getting a great message out, and the (what seems to be) inevitable market for unlockable content for all types of media and assets stored on the Permaweb. Be sure have check out Darkblock.io and follow @darkblockio on Twitter. And of course, follow @onlyarweave for all things Arweave :)