ArDrive data-storage app developers raise $17.2 million

The team behind the decentralized data-storage application ArDrive closed an investment round of $17.2 million. It was led by Arweave Team, Blockchain Capital, and Sino Global Capital, Bloomberg reports.

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The corporate-focused ArDrive solution runs on the Arweave protocol. The latter is positioned as an eternal “collective hard drive” with a one-time payment for storing data at one cent per megabyte.

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Millions of files from around the world are stored on Arweave, including texts, articles, photographs and videos. Preserving history “with a guarantee of 200 years,” the service prevents subsequent alteration.

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According to Arweave founder Sam Williams, the technology “is similar to blockchain,” but uses a blockweave structure that is better suited for storing large files. Network users earn AR tokens.

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Earlier, the Arweave team привлекла $8,3 млн from Andreessen Horowitz, Coinbase Ventures and Union Square Ventures

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The app gained popularity in the summer of 2021 among Hong Kong activists. They used it to store content that was suppressed by the local government during the crackdown on pro-democracy media. Enthusiasts managed to preserve 5,600 fragments of Apple Daily’s local news coverage.

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“The impotence of China’s authorities to destroy the media” was praised by U.S. Senator Pat Toomey.

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Sen. Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) praised the applications of crypto beyond a form of currency by mentioning @ArweaveTeam in a senate hearing on Tuesday.

“This technology makes it impossible for the Chinese govt. to destroy Apple Daily’s work, no matter how hard it tries”. 💣 pic.twitter.com/e0Y7rycOHn

— arweave.news 🐘 (@ArweaveNews) July 29, 2021

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In recent days, 6.6 million items related to the latest events in Ukraine have been posted on the Arweave network. The rate of content growth rose fifteenfold from February 15 to 24.

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Binance has allocated $10 million and begun raising $20 million to aid Ukrainian refugees and children.

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