What are ArDrive Tokens?
What are ArDrive tokens?
Tokens may be new to you.
Even if they are not, tokens can be confusing because different applications use them in different manners. At this point it will be most helpful to say what they are not, before diving into the purposes of them.
ArDrive tokens (ↁ) are not for paying to get your data uploaded onto ArDrive. The token ArDrive uses to upload data onto the network is AR – the Arweave token. Although, ArDrive has made it easy for you to buy AR tokens using your local currency.
Then if ArDrive tokens are not used for purchasing storage, what are they for?
ArDrive tokens have two main purposes to date:
- Rewards: Receive a share of the tips generated from all ArDrive transactions on the network.
- For Governance & Ownership: Ability to vote in the strategic direction of the application and community.
Usage rewards
An exciting and unique way to get ArDrive tokens is through simply using the application and telling others about it.
This is what is being referred to as the ownership economy within the Web 3.0 landscape. These new applications are a paradigm shift that are aligning the interests of developers and users so that both can take part in the growth of the application.
For example, when ArDrive launched its application it gave away 150000 tokens over a two month period to the first users of the application. The community provided valuable feedback in directions that ArDrive can go to offer a great permanent file management system.
ArDrive will be releasing more usage reward programs in the future to reward those who use the application and want to see ArDrive gain a significant foothold into the online file management space.
For all our current programs check out our rewards page. (LINK)
Tips
Every time a file is uploaded to ArDrive a portion of the fee goes to the Arweave Network while another portion goes to the ArDrive community.
The tip is then randomly given to a token holder within the community holder. If you hold 1% of the ArDrive tokens, over time, you will receive 1% of the tips that are distributed.
Some of the tokens have been set aside for operations, marketing and development of ArDrive.
Governance and Ownership
There are currently ↁ7,172,550 in supply with a soft cap of ↁ10,000,000. All of this was laid out by the founders of ArDrive and the tokens have been used to give to contributors and users of the application.
If you own ArDrive tokens you can now put yourself into position to vote on community projects and the strategic direction of the app. This is done through a process called ‘staking’.
Staking is locking up your tokens into the community for a set period of time – between 1 month and 3 years. Locking up means that you cannot sell your tokens during that time, but it does give you voting rights within the community.
The number of tokens you lock up is the number of votes you receive for less than one year of locking them up. If you lock them up for more time your votes will multiple.
You can view all of the ArDrive token ownership and votes on the community page on community.xyz.
What issues will be voted on?
Votes within ArDrive are divided into Major issues, which affect the entire community, and Minor issues, which are smaller in scope.
Major votes happen on the first of the month. Major issues will include:
- Minting (or increasing) the number of ArDrive tokens in the system- Greater than 10,000
- Changes to the community improvement plan
- Setting of Fees
Transparency
ArDrive is committed to transparency of how it is run going forward, and values the engagement between the builders and users of the application.
You can see a detailed outline of how ArDrive has been setup and what the road map is going forward with our community engagement plan.
This is a great part about Web 3.0 – and increased alignment between the users and developers. All stakeholders will benefit.
Related: What are ArDrive tokens?
How is ArDrive being used and some final thoughts?