At DePIN Day Singapore, the spotlight turned to a core infrastructure layer quietly underpinning much of today’s decentralized web.
AR.IO Network, often described as a “permanent cloud,” is redefining how we think about storage — not as something rented by the month, but as data that lasts forever.
Arweave and AR.IO: A Permanent Cloud Layer
AR.IO Network is built atop Arweave, the blockchain protocol often dubbed “Bitcoin for data.”
While Arweave provides the foundation for immutable storage, AR.IO extends it with everything developers need to actually build on top — gateways, indexing, app hosting, RNS (domain system), and querying.
With more than 700 gateways live, AR.IO enables anyone — from blockchain teams to traditional developers — to upload, access, and host data across a resilient, decentralized infrastructure.
“We’re the deep-infra layer,” the team explains. “Other chains already back up through us — in that sense, we’re almost a layer zero.”
Who Uses It and Why It Matters
The network’s user base spans multiple ecosystems.
NFT platforms like Manifold, Drip House, and Plex rely on AR.IO for guaranteed file permanence.
AI teams store both generated datasets and LLM outputs.
Even other blockchains use AR.IO as their archival layer, making it one of the few DePIN projects that already serves thousands of real applications.
Crucially, AR.IO removes friction for Web2 integration: users can pay not only with the native AR.IO token, but also via Ethereum, Solana, or even credit cards.
“We don’t want people to think, ‘I need to buy a token first,’” the team emphasizes. “It should be as easy as any modern cloud service.”
Token Design for Sustainability
The AR.IO token is central to the network’s economics.
Users spend RIO to purchase RNS names and pay for services; those tokens flow into a protocol balance, which funds rewards for gateway operators.
Since launching mainnet in early 2025, the network has earned roughly $90 K USD in usage revenue and distributed nearly $190 K USD in rewards — thanks to an initial “boosted rewards” phase that tapers over 18 months.
Once it halves, the system should naturally stabilize, aligning income and output without inflationary pressure. Operators can stake AR.IO to join the network or delegate stakes to earn passively. Poorly performing gateways are removed — keeping the system both open and accountable.
“Our goal was to make a balanced economy — sustainable by design,” the team notes.
Bridging Web2 and Web3
One of AR.IO’s biggest challenges — and opportunities — lies in onboarding traditional data owners.
“How do you convince a Web2 company that their data will truly be there forever?”
That’s the question driving new partnerships with scientific archives, Wikipedia, and digital libraries to onboard high-value public datasets onto the network.
AR.IO is also experimenting with agentic payments (integrating Coinbase’s 402 standard), letting data consumers pay for high-volume access without depending solely on tokens.
This will enable tiered access — free at small scale, pay-as-you-grow for enterprises.
Security and Trusted Access
AR.IO is exploring Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to host some gateway services, adding an extra layer of verifiable security.
Running components inside TEEs would ensure even node operators cannot tamper with stored or retrieved data — a key step toward provable data integrity for institutional users.
The Broader Vision
Beyond tokenomics and partnerships, the goal remains clear:
to make data permanence accessible to everyone.
From NFTs to AI datasets, from archival projects to enterprise backups, AR.IO is positioning itself as the backbone of immutable storage in the decentralized stack.
“If your app depends on data, you can’t rely on centralized clouds,” the team says. “Store it once, access it forever.
In a DePIN world chasing the next “compute layer,” AR.IO quietly solves the simplest and most permanent problem of all — where the data actually lives.
Its mix of permanence, accessibility, and interoperability makes it one of the most tangible bridges between Web2 and Web3 infrastructure.
The future cloud may not expire and AR.IO Network is already building it.
