Web3 is booming, and Arweave is becoming a popular infrastructure choice for developers. PermaDAO is a community where everyone can contribute to the Arweave ecosystem. It's a place to propose and tackle tasks related to Arweave, with the support and feedback of the entire community. Join PermaDAO and help shape Web3!

Author: Xiaosong HU @ Contributor of PermaDAO

Translator: Xiaosong HU @ Contributor of PermaDAO

Reviewer: Paul Bramas @ Contributor of PermaDAO

Unconsciously, our Arweave ecosystem project interviews have entered the second phase, and many people may wonder why we are doing such a program. I believe that with the 15th anniversary of the Bitcoin whitepaper approaching, the entire Web3 industry has always had an air of mystery. Many people who, like the author, have been involved in it for 4-5 years, may have an impulse to go all in on Web3. However, this industry exhibits strong economic cycles, and during such a bear market, by interviewing professionals from ecosystem projects and sharing their perspectives and experiences, perhaps we can provide some reference cases and templates for those who want to go all in on Web3 during a bear market. Of course, from another perspective, many people (including Web3 professionals) are quite unfamiliar with the term Arweave. Even those who have heard of "Arweave" often only know that they are working on distributed storage. In fact, from the results of the Arweave in Asia ecosystem conference, this ecosystem has attracted a large number of excellent developers, mostly from Europe and the United States, and is clearly distinct from the so-called "crypto circle" and "Ponzi schemes." We also hope to showcase and introduce the real status of Arweave's ecosystem projects and the partners of PermaDAO as much as possible. For our second face-to-face interview, we have chosen KYVE. KYVE is a blockchain storage middleware leveraging Arweave. With its decentralized data verification and archiving framework, it provides a unified solution for all kinds of deterministic data, especially blockchain data needs. According to the KYVE team, the project aims to facilitate customizable and trustless on-chain permanent storage and data retrieval for various blockchain projects without the need for development work nor reliance on centralized sources, thereby helping Web 3.0 projects achieve unlimited scalability.

The guest we invited this time is Paul Bramas, Head of Ecosystem at KYVE Network. The following is the content of our conversation:

1. Hello Paul! Glad you could accept my interview. My first question is: could you please introduce the background of KYVE and how it was established?

Paul: Hello everyone! In early 2021, KYVE’s founders Fabian Riewe and John Letey came together to participate in a bounty to bridge Polkadot data to Arweave, a permanent data storage solution. After creating a valid solution, they realized that if it was to be more decentralized, it could apply to other blockchains and, in turn, aid valid data accessibility for all for free.

From there, they created KYVE, the decentralized data validation layer, providing developers, node runners, data analysts, and more with a customizable, trustless, and free data experience, from sourcing to validation, and importation. Our team has also brought forward an entire network around it to provide a decentralized, streamlined data experience for all users.

  (Source： KYVE Homepage entrance：https://www.kyve.network/)  

2. Why would you want to name the project “KYVE”?

Paul: LOL! That’s a great question! Our co-founder brainstormed on naming in the first few days of development and thought about archiving data. From there, we abstracted the name into KYVE (ar-KYVE-ing). It's a great fit with the service we are offering, and we couldn't have a better name

3. What are some significant milestones in the history of KYVE? And what is the future vision and plan for KYVE?

Paul: Last year, KYVE had a very successful Incentivized Testnet, with over 40k unique users and over 20 testnet integrations with partners like Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche, Solana, Injective, Near, and more. KYVE has also had three successful funding rounds, raising ~$15M in total from VCs like Hypersphere Ventures, Coinbase Ventures, and Distributed Global, as well as foundations such as Arweave, Avalanche, Solana, Interchain, and NEAR.

Mainnet launched on March 14, 2023, and now has over 200 active validators, almost 3M transactions, and five mainnet data pools, actively archiving and validating the Cosmos Hub, Osmosis, Archway, and Axelar chains. Along with releasing unique data sourcing solutions such as the Data Pipeline which enables anyone to easily import KYVE’s trustless data into a preferred data backend, or KSYNC; imagine you need archival data for chain X between blocks Y and Z and need to wait 1-2 weeks for processing, by that time, you might not need it any longer. With KSYNC, it will be possible to sync a chain from any height within 2 minutes in a completely decentralized way.

The article about KYVE Mainnet Successfully Lauched：https://blog.kyve.network/kyve-mainnet-successfully-launched-paving-the-way-for-a-truly-trustless-data-future-58bde73ef59f

With KYVE, our decentralized data validation layer, in action on mainnet and supportive data tools around it, we look forward to continuing growing the KYVE ecosystem, branching out to new ecosystems, and validating as many chains as possible to provide a truly trustless backup of Web3. We have also started hosting hackathons and bounties to further collaborate with the dev community and motivate building with KYVE for a more secure data space.

4. Is there a specific timeline currently in place, and what additional resources are needed for its implementation?

Paul: Our team is constantly heads-down building and networking to bring forward useful integrations for our data users. KYVE has already integrated a lot of top chains in the Cosmos ecosystem. To be able to do the same for other ecosystems, it takes a lot of research and collaboration with their teams to ensure proper validation and archiving. We are also on a journey towards full decentralization. You can check our roadmap on our website which details the next steps for our tech.

The article about KYVE Roadmap：https://www.kyve.network/roadmap

5. How many full-time staff members are currently working at KYVE, and what are the ways for others to get involved? How do you incentivize participation?

Paul: KYVE has a team of over 15 members, all experienced in their fields and dedicated to bringing forward a truly trustless Web3 for all. We also have an Ambassador Program, currently with over 70 ambassadors to help support KYVE’s presence internationally, and a beta testers program for testing out upcoming features and tooling. Both programs are open to all to apply. We also host hackathons across the globe, recently co-hosting the Interchain Hackathon and LearnWeb3 Decentralized Intelligence hackathon. Stay tuned for more!

The article about KYVE Community：https://www.kyve.network/community

6. In your opinion, what is the biggest challenge that KYVE faces?

Paul： A current challenge that I think a lot of projects face is the fact that Web3 is still being discovered and developed. We aim for KYVE to be fully decentralized, which is a constantly evolving journey we are on to ensure that we take the right steps to ensure a healthy and scalable network and overall user interactions. Since we are leveraging Arweave as our main data storage solution (1TB of blockchain data uploaded through our mainnet in a fully decentralized way), we are also facing the challenge of educating people on how they can access trustless data. There are a lot of solutions and other teams innovating in this field such ar.io network, and we aim to collaborate more with the other actors of the ecosystem to educate around Arweave. The Arweave community is very talented and is lead by a philosophical mission with a real meaning. In my opinion, it’s a matter of when everyone will understand that this mission and vision is important for the whole Web3 ecosystem.

7. Could you please share your educational background and professional experience?

Paul: I have always been curious about the crypto space and officially started my journey five years ago as a Binance Angel. From there, I helped multiple crypto projects grow their international communities and marketing stance, eventually finding KYVE, where I currently lead as Head of Ecosystem, aiding overall partnerships, integrations, events, and community-driven actions.

8. How did you become familiar with Arweave, and how did you join KYVE?

Paul: Arweave was actually on my watch list since it launched. I really liked the idea of permanent storage, especially with the growing data access and retrieval issues in the space. But it was with KYVE that I truly learned more in-depth about Arweave and its capabilities. Actually, the story of how I joined KYVE is really funny, it’s because of my mom. Yes, my mom is in Web3, I mean not in Web3 as a builder, but she believes in the vision of a decentralized future. She saw the job offer online and forwarded it to me; I did some research and fell in love with the project. Some people may have seen me at some conferences; I even have a KYVE tattoo.

9. I want to ask a slightly heavy topic, In such a bear market environment, what advice do you have for those who want to enter web3?

Paul: It's true that market conditions can be complicated and that things aren't always rosy or at least green. (Candlestick chart can not always be Green)This is where we see the projects that are here to stay for the long term and that are the most serious. The world of web3 has many differences from the world of web2, but we mustn't forget that these are businesses with salaries to be paid at the end of the month. That being said, if you want to launch a project, I think the most important thing is to network and exchange with people who have been present in the ecosystem for a while, to see the mistakes and successes they've faced and how to avoid or reproduce these patterns with your product and your idea. It's also important to keep costs down and spend your money wisely. For example, if you wanted to build an accounting solution for Axelar, your option for accessing historical data would be either to maintain your archival node (it's going to take you a while to sync it if you want to do it decentralized) or to pay a third party to host one for you (you have to trust them, so it's centralized). In both cases, you're going to spend a lot of money, but if you use KYVE's data uploader, you don't have to pay a thing, and you're sure that the data is correct, so you've just reduced your operating costs for the same benefit. This is just one of many good examples.

10. How did you come to know about everVision?

Paul: KYVE and everVision have crossed paths many times at previous Arweave ecosystem events and meetings. It was great meeting their team in person and getting to be more involved with leading Arweave ecosystem projects. Our projects are both aimed at easing the overall building experience in a secure way, which is key in today’s ever-expanding space. We look forward to chatting more with you guys!

11. How do you perceive the team and business development of everVision?

Paul: We fully support projects aiming to help the overall Web3 data infrastructure for the better, and find everVision a great resource for the Arweave community and users in need of its services. I think EverVision is also one of the key components of the Arweave ecosystem globally, and even more specifically in the APAC region, you guys bring a lot of talented people to the ecosystem and all projects working in Web3 know how hard that is, so really, big shout out to your work and your involvement in the Arweave Ecosystem.

12. In your view, how should PermaDAO and KYVE collaborate in the future? Does KYVE want to create a DAO?

Paul: We already had the pleasure of collaborating with PermaDAO in organizing community events like, for example, Arweave Day in Asia, and look forward to other forms of collaboration that we can bring to life. Having originated in the Arweave ecosystem, we are huge supporters of its community and overall growth.

KYVE is actually its own DAO and is heavily governance-focused, but we are always open to collaborating with other DAOs and contributing further to the space and users’ overall interaction with Web3 data

13. Lastly, is there anything else you would like to say to the audience?

Paul: For anyone building, running a node in a network, or even just analyzing data, rely on KYVE, the decentralized data validation layer, to do all the heavy lifting in providing you with the trustless, easily importable data you need to bring your ideas to life and the best part is that the trustless data is accessible for free and, thanks to Arweave, forever. And we’re just getting started!

Join KYVE’s community: Twitter | Discord | Telegram

I want also, in the name of KYVE, to say that we are really impressed by all the projects working and leveraging Arweave, there are many good products and we are sure that Arweave is and will be the main pillar of the Internet of tomorrow.

I also met Paul at “Arweave in Asia” conference in Singapore this year, because he is one of the few French people I know in the Arweave ecosystem (the author lived in France for a long time before). From the exchanges with him, we can see the typical French people who pursue freedom and fraternity. He enthusiastically introduced me to the KYVE project and added me to their Chinese WeChat group. Although the WeChat group currently spends most of its time discussing market conditions, I believe that the ecological development of KYVE will eventually attract more high-quality users and developers.

After the interview, I also introduced PermaDAO's collaboration tools to Paul and invited Paul to board the ship to experience it and get incentives for his contributions. At the same time, with the growing growth of the Asian market, PermaDAO's various guilds can also help KYVE with similar website localization. Finally, we look forward to PermaDAO being able to provide high-quality services to more ecological project parties. Welcome all ecological bosses to contact us~~~

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