GM fellow Arweaver!
ar.io recently refreshed its website and branding, pairing a new visual identity with a clear focus on project maturity. The rebrand coincided with the launch of Project Continuum, a masterfully designed digital preservation initiative.
Let's see what Continuum’s all about and why it matters for the permaweb.
The (intentional) elephant in the room 🐘
Imagine losing access to a decade of history because of a server crash or a platform sunsetting. Arweave was built to prevent such calamities, and it’s done this flawlessly for the past seven years.
The merits of the permaweb are well-known in crypto circles, but the extent of its utility is truly limitless. Think scientific research, academic archives, and public records; all forms of critical data that deserve to outlive their creators. The ar.io team’s been thinking hard about this too.
Jonathan Policke recently introduced Project Continuum, an initiative designed to make digital preservation truly permanent. By aligning Arweave storage and ar.io access with globally recognized archival standards, Continuum turns the “what if” of data loss into a preservation guarantee.
Mapping OAIS to Arweave
The Open Archival Information System (OAIS) is an international standard for long-term digital preservation, formally recognized by ISO reference 14721:2025. OAIS provides the framework for a trusted digital repository, but as a reference model, it only describes the what, not the how.
Project Continuum provides a common language for archivists and technologists, mapping OAIS concepts to Arweave equivalents. Several alignments are covered in the initiative, ranging from terminologies and functionalities to principles and conformance.
For the blockweave enthusiasts out there, here’s where it gets interesting. Continuum establishes a mapping procedure to bridge OAIS-compliant digital object identifiers (DOI) onto the permaweb. Continuum bridges these DOIs to Arweave TXIDs via the Arweave Name System (ArNS), ensuring records stay citable in institutional systems, while also gaining cryptographic permanence.
CrimRxiv proof of concept
Centralized repositories face the constant threat of obsolescence through platform sunsetting, shifting paywalls, or even funding cycles. Project Continuum’s first major pilot, CrimRxiv, demonstrates a decentralized alternative to circumvent these risks.
While the long-term continuity of hosting platform PubPub is uncertain, CrimRxiv’s criminology repository is migrating over 3,700 open-access publications to Arweave. By utilizing the Continuum framework, CrimRxiv is transitioning to a one-time funding model for perpetual storage. This migration ensures that scholarly records maintain verifiable provenance and remain tamper-proof, independent of any single institution or vendor.
You can learn more about CrimRxiv’s migration in ar.io’s case study and explore the criminology repository in their live demo.
Expanding the permaweb’s utility
While Project Continuum is in its early stages (last month’s publication was v0.1.0), it’s proving to be an excellent example of Arweave utility extending beyond the typical use cases seen in Web3. By meeting institutional users where they are and speaking the language of archival standards, ar.io opens the permaweb to a new class of mission-driven builders.
Several exciting milestones lie on the Continuum horizon, including the creation of a formal Decentralized Preservation Framework. You can dive deeper into the vision and technical details of the Project Continuum here: Continuum: An Ar.io Digital Preservation Initiative
The ar.io team is accepting feedback from researchers, archivists, and digital preservation officers, so feel free to get in touch with them directly if that’s your area of expertise.
Finally, ar.io also has storage grants available for pilot projects and is ready to answer questions about standards, workflows, or implementation.
ICYMI 👀
Here’s a quick snapshot of what’s been unfolding across Arweave and AO.
- First Out of Context Winner Revealed
- Bazar orderbook token trading goes live
- Decent Land Labs launches multisig wallet
- Alex Fisher’s notes on Permastructures and cybernetics
This week's community feature 🧑💻
Who monitors the monitor when systems are down? Tate Berenbaum built a resilient status page that guarantees zero downtime for monitoring services.
PermaDown Detector leverages permanent storage and decentralized gateways to remain accessible when other detection systems fail.
Thanks for reading!
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The Longview Team
This is not investment advice. No profit guarantees. If in the U.S., ensure compliance with U.S. laws and seek professional advice.