Sam Williams is a co-founder of Arweave. On his personal site, he says he now focuses on helping founders and builders create applications on the permaweb, a web of applications built on Arweave.
In-Depth Explanation
Williams is one of the named authors of Arweave’s technical Yellow Paper, alongside several collaborators. The paper describes the protocol’s blockweave, Proof of Access, and storage-endowment design. These mechanisms are intended to incentivize long-term data storage; “permanent” describes the network’s goal, not an unconditional guarantee that every file will always be available in every circumstance.
History
Williams’s own site says he co-founded the Arweave protocol and now supports builders developing on the permaweb. Arweave’s Yellow Paper and later Lightpaper explain the protocol’s technical design and economic approach. The papers are collaborative project documents, so they should not be treated as evidence that Williams alone created every part of the system.
Related Terms
See Also
- Arweave, Filecoin, and the Promise of Permanent Blockchain Storage — How Do They Actually Compare?
- NFTs and Digital Game Ownership: What Actually Changes (And What Doesn’t)
- OpenSea’s Trading Cards Tab: What Do You Actually Own?
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Sources
- Sam Williams, personal site — describes his role as an Arweave co-founder and current work supporting permaweb builders.
- Arweave, “A Protocol for Economically Sustainable Information Permanence” (Yellow Paper) — co-authored technical description of the blockweave, Proof of Access, and storage incentives.
- Arweave, “The Permanent Information Storage Protocol” (Lightpaper) — later project description of the protocol and its storage-endowment model.