Arweave (AR) Rallies After AO Network Native Token Announcement

Arweave (AR) traded close to its one-month high, with the highest trading activity for the past 12 months. Expectations of the AO token caused the rally, which took AR close to $45. A fair launch is coming soon. 

Arweave is a distributed computation project, which will also launch AO Computer, a dedicated app layer. The goal is to achieve security through Arweave’s existing blockchain while allowing AO to work at the speed of apps. 

Launching the new AO token will not require a snapshot, which means demand for AR will not stop after a certain date. Instead, all AR traders can choose to hold and bridge AR for the new token. 

AO Computer is already working at the testnet stage, reporting 10K users in the past week. AO creation will tap the supply of AR tokens, further boosting demand.

AO Computer Aims for 100% Community Distribution

AO Computer wants to encourage fair use of its network for building. Thus, the AO token will have no special premine or rewards and will be distributed over time. 

The only way to generate AO is to use the network while owning AR tokens. The goal is to encourage long-term AR holding and use AO Computer for building. Bridging and network usage will directly determine the growth of the AO supply. 

At the early stage, AO Computer’s testnet runs messages and checks the speed for connecting the project’s community. With the potential for fast message distribution and decentralization, AO Computer is also adding to the friend tech trend. 

Arweave and AO Computer have set up an open stage for deploying apps, where some of the network participants will provide computation services. AO Computer enables developers to deploy local resources while also utilizing the shared network to secure the data, thereby overcoming the bottlenecks commonly associated with decentralized computing.

AR Tokens Grow as Limited Supply Grows More Scarce

The models of Arweave and AO Computer are based on scarcity. AR has a total supply of just 66M tokens, of which more than 65M are in circulation. AR is already scarce since it is needed to pay for distributed data storage. AO will have a similar role, but to pay for the computation layer. 

AO will be modeled after Bitcoin’s supply, with a limit of 21M tokens. The Genesis event for AO is scheduled for June 13. 

AO will be permissionless in general, but will be created by a newly created non-profit organization. US persons and several sanctioned countries may not create AO tokens through bridging. 

Is Arweave Held by Insiders?

The AO Network launch will reward AR holders, and many whales with portfolios built soon after the Arweave launch are among them. 

The Arweave project raised around $7M from a public token sale. Additionally, in 2024, Arweave held several airdrops for its tokens, to popularize usage. The wallet rich list shows a different picture, that of a long list of “whales” that could transfer their influence to AO Network. 

There are no locked AR tokens, and all could be used in circulation. AR has shown no signs of being depressed by insider selling so far, due to incentives to hold the assets. However, the token distribution of AR allows for significant insider holdings, which are still held in large wallets. 

Arweave was one of the earlier projects, holding its ICO back in 2018. Since then, the AR token yielded up to 60X in dollar terms, and 5X against BTC. Arweave is considered somewhat undervalued at the moment, especially against its competitor Internet Computer (ICP). With the more active marketing of AO in June, there are predictions of another price rally and a long-term price hike as high as $100.

Some big whales also bought AR in the summer of 2023 and may be sitting on unrealized profits. The upcoming AO Network launch may convince some whales not to sell if they prefer to acquire AO. 

Cryptopolitan reporting by Hristina Vasileva