WeaveVM Explained: The Hyperscalable EVM Network on Arweave
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1. Introduction
2. WeaveVM overview: key features of WeaveVM
3. WeaveVM Components and Innovations
4. Team
5. Partnerships and Integrations
6. Backers
7. Conclusion
1. Introduction
WeaveVM is a hyperscalable storage and DA-focused network that solves the EVM storage bottleneck and the problem of slow, expensive temporary DA.
As a high-performance parallel EVM network, WeaveVM maximizes scale and transparency for L1s, L2s and data-intensive dApps by aiming to offer 1 gigagas per second capacity, 47,000 TPS, parallel execution, and data throughput of over 125MB/s.
Thus, WeaveVM offers scalable, cost-effective storage, using Arweave as a decentralized hard disk at both node and smart contract levels. This enables storing large datasets and running web2-like applications without EVM high on-node storage fees. WeaveVM data storage costs approximately $0.05/MB compared to Ethereum’s $450/MB, which is 10-15 times cheaper than EigenDA and Celestia. Check out the data storage pricing calculator here: https://www.wvm.dev/calculator.
WeaveVM can be considered as an L0 for EVM L1s/L2s. As a sovereign EVM rollup, WeaveVM can be utilized for either high-throughput DA or data settlement (e.g., how Ethereum’s calldata is used by L2s). Due to its comparatively low data storage costs, WeaveVM positions itself as L0 for other L1s or L2s, offering independent DA secured by its network economy and a permanent data archive secured by Arweave.
2. WeaveVM overview: key features of WeaveVM
Centralized Block Production
WeaveVM achieves enterprise-level performance by centralizing block production while maintaining trustless and decentralized block validation. "Centralized" here means that anyone with sufficient WVM tokens meeting PoS staking thresholds, along with necessary hardware and internet connectivity (supernode, enterprise-grade equipment), can operate a node. These “beefy” supernodes producing blocks facilitate the creation of a high-performance EVM network.
Large Block Size
Increasing the gas limit enhances block size and operations per block, impacting both historical and state growth. WeaveVM Alphanet V1 raised the gas limit to 300M gas (producing 300 mg/s) and reduced the gas per byte to 8 (from 16). This led to a theoretical maximum block size of 37.5 MB, translating to a network data throughput of 37.5 MB/s. And in the current release, Alphanet V2, the network is running at 500 mgas/s translating to ~62 MB/s data throughput. Such high throughput is achievable due to the centralized block production approach using supernodes and hardware acceleration.
High-Performance DA
A truly scalable DA layer capable of handling high data throughput has been absent (EigenDA reached 10 MB/s in its testnet). In WeaveVM Alphanet V2, 62 MB/s has already been achieved, with mainnet expectations at 125+ MB/s.
Parallel Execution
To minimize gas fees during EVM operation execution, parallel execution clients are intended for mainnet.
EVM Interface for Arweave Data: Permanent History
WeaveVM employs Reth execution extensions (ExExes) to serialize each block in Borsh and compress it with Brotli before sending it to Arweave. This provides economical, permanent history backup on Arweave, crucial for other L1s/L2s using WeaveVM for data processing.
Bidirectional Data Pipeline with Arweave
The WeaveVM team developed the first precompiles for a native bidirectional data pipeline with Arweave. This allows smart contracts (Solidity, Vyper, etc.) to read from and send data to Arweave trustlessly, natively from the contract API level
3. WeaveVM Components and Innovations
ERC-7689: Smart Blobs – Introduces "smart blobs" and standardizes the SmartWeave protocol on EIP-4844 blobs, providing EVM compatibility and addressing SmartWeave protocol isolation and lack of DA guarantees in Arweave. Smart blobs enable standardized SmartWeave execution deployment for any EVM network supporting EIP-4844.
WeaveVM Archiver – An ETL pipeline tailored for EVM networks, simplifying interaction with WeaveVM’s permanent data function without redeploying smart contracts or altering sequencers. This allows chains to utilize WeaveVM’s permanent storage seamlessly.
exex.rs – An open-source directory for Reth Execution Extensions (ExExes). WeaveVM utilizes ExExes for data transfer to Arweave, MEM transformation in L2, and block data serialization, simplifying ExExes development for Reth clients.
DA ExEx – Introduces a novel DA interface for EVM accumulators, requiring no sequencer-level changes and managed through an ExEx that can be integrated into any Reth client with about 80 lines of code.
rusty-ao – A fast SDK for ao, an actor-oriented computing machine that operates across a network of nodes adhering to its main data protocol within Arweave. WeaveVM developed the first Rust-based ao client for seamless interaction.
wvm:// Protocol (WeaveVM Data Retriever) – A data retrieval protocol from the WeaveVM network, leveraging its DA layer and Arweave’s permanent storage for secure data access across both networks, whether originating from WeaveVM or L2 data established within it.
4. Team
Development is spearheaded by decent.land, a team with a proven web3 product track record and significant technical expertise. Integrated products now part of WeaveVM include:
Ark Protocol – A comprehensive web3 identity layer enabling dApps to access verified user attestations for social, DAO, reputation, and whitelist purposes, now deployed as Ark Lambda on WeaveVM L1.
Namespace – A chain-agnostic solution for custom name service deployment and interoperable web identities.
Molecular Execution Machine – Serverless web3 developer functions with permanent storage, interacting with MEM contracts like an API. Now operates as MEM Lambda on WeaveVM L2.
Benjamin Brandall, co-founder & CEO
Benjamin is the CEO and co-founder of Decent Land Labs. Before crypto, Benjamin worked in Head of Marketing and Growth roles at B2B SaaS startups based in Silicon Valley. His name is hidden somewhere in the genesis block of Arweave.
Rani Elhusseini, co-founder & CTO
Rani is the CTO and co-founder of Decent Land Labs. Prior to founding the labs after the first Arweave Open Web Foundry hackathon, Rani worked for Poloniex exchange and led the platform’s decentralization pivot to a DEX. Rani has been building inside the Arweave ecosystem since 2019.
Max Knivets, Lead Full Stack Developer
Max is the lead full-stack developer at Decent Land Labs. Max joined the Arweave ecosystem and Decent Land Labs in 2022 after work on the BTC Alpha exchange.
Nil Medvedev, Senior EVM Engineer
Nil is the senior EVM engineer at Decent Land Labs. Nil works on WeaveVM's reth stack and has contributed to Paradigm's reth repository as well as Suave and Alloy. Before crypto, Nil worked as a core backend engineer at Strikerz and Vizor Games.
Andres Pirela, Senior Rust Engineer
Andres Pirela is the senior Rust engineer at Decent Land Labs. He is a veteran inside the Arweave ecosystem, having built the 3em library upon which MEM depends, and worked at Community Labs. On the web2 side, Andres has worked on the Rust team at Supabase
5. Partnerships and integrations
Chains such as Metis, RSS3, and Sei utilize WeaveVM for on-chain data storage, functioning as decentralized archival nodes. WeaveVM boasts extensive integration and partnerships:
MEM – A web3 serverless functions protocol now serves as an L2 on WeaveVM via MEM Lambda ExEx, enabling EVM-level data accessibility and censorship resistance while exposing MEM capabilities to EVM global variables like msg.sender.
AO – Inspired by actor-oriented paradigms, AO supports parallel processes communicating through messaging, also relying on Arweave for storage. In May 2024, WeaveVM launched elciao, an EVM light client indexer for AO, feeding a continuous EVM data stream into AO processes and preserving block metadata and proofs on Arweave.
Metis has adopted WeaveVM to host a complete active copy of its registry, archiving new blocks on Arweave as they are produced.
KYVE Network – Offers a decentralized data lake on Arweave for data archiving and validation, facilitating trustless data access from L1s and L2s via solutions like KYVE’s data pipeline. Integrating KYVE’s Trustless API into WeaveVM allows smart contracts to access BLOB data and L2 permanent storage.
5. Backers
WeaveVM has backers such as: Dewhales, Big Brain Holdings, LongHash, TsingTech, LD Capital Ltd, Foresight Ventures, J17, Wise3, Old Fashion Research, Audrius Kucinskas, John Scianna, Spicy Capital, FrensDAO, CSP DAO, Web3 Venture Capital, ChainVision, Initiate Capital LP and others.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, WeaveVM offers a significant advancement in addressing the challenges of data availability (DA) and on-chain storage within the EVM-compatible blockchain space. By integrating with Arweave, WeaveVM offloads storage to a permanent, decentralized layer, effectively reducing data storage costs and facilitating high-throughput operations. The use of Reth Execution Extensions (ExExes) allows seamless serialization and compression of data for efficient transmission, bolstering WeaveVM’s capacity to function as a DA solution with a throughput far surpassing current alternatives.
The architecture, featuring centralized block production via supernodes, enables enhanced data throughput and large block sizes, critical for data-intensive applications. However, this centralization model raises potential concerns about trust and governance that need to be monitored to ensure resilience and decentralized integrity. Additionally, WeaveVM’s ERC-7689 standard and bidirectional data pipeline provide essential interoperability and native data access between Arweave and EVM environments, further cementing its technical appeal for dApps and other blockchain layers.
While WeaveVM’s technical framework addresses pressing issues in DA and scalability, its reliance on supernodes and Arweave introduces dependency and centralization challenges. The network’s real-world performance as it transitions to mainnet, alongside these trade-offs, will be pivotal in determining its long-term viability and impact on blockchain decentralization. Future studies should focus on evaluating these aspects to understand WeaveVM's role in a broader, multi-layered blockchain ecosystem.
WeaveVM links
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