Mask Network is a portal to the new, open internet that bridges from Web2.0 to Web3.0 . With Mask Network, you can send encrypted posts to your friends, trade your best token on X, enjoy NFT pfps, participate in crypto lucky-draws, and share encrypted files on the platforms you are already using.
A unique feature of Mask is that it brings various decentralized storage options natively inside social networks you already use. This sidesteps the centralized storage options offered by platforms like X, and offers encrypted onchain options.
What is Load S3
Load S3 (LS3) in the ao-HyperBEAM powered, Arweave aligned, temporary storage layer. Load S3 allows you to use S3 with ANS-104 natively, preserving data’s provenance and integrity, with one-click anchoring to Arweave for the very same S3 object (ANS-104 DataItem). Learn more about Load S3 and HyperBEAM here
LS3 in MaskBook’s File Service
Since October 18th, with Mask Network Extension version 2.34.1, the LS3 is available as a storage option in the MaskBook’s File Service, an integration introduced in PR #12268.
You may wonder, Arweave is already supported in the File Service storage providers set, then what is Load S3 doing? And that’s a fair question!
Arweave is supported in MaskBook with a 10MB upload size limit given that the Mask team subsidises the upload fees, Load S3 uploads have a higher limit (30MB) given the temporary aspect of the storage.
And the simple answer to the fair question is, xANS-104. Load S3 objects are Arweave-aligned, as stated before, S3 objects are natively stored as ANS-104 DataItems. So incase you want to use MaskBook with Arweave, but with a larger file size limit, or you may use Arweave in the future for the very same data piece but you aren’t sure yet (permanency reasons, given that Mask team subsidizes the fees then cost isn’t an issue), then LS3 uploads fit your usecase, a flexible proxy to Arweave permanent storage.
At the end of the day, LS3 DataItems follow the xANS-104 state transition paradigm, they are temporarily stored, could be deleted, or anchored permanently to Arweave.
You could think of LS3 for Arweave as Klarna, cost wise; the RAM and the harddrive durability wise.
Just like Klarna lets you “buy now, pay later” – offering flexibility before committing to a purchase – LS3 lets you “store now, anchor later” – offering temporary, flexible storage before deciding on permanent anchoring to Arweave.
And just like RAM serves as a fast, temporary workspace before data gets written permanently to the harddrive, LS3 provides a temporary, mutable layer before committing the same data immutably to Arweave, along its integrity and provenance thanks to ANS-104 data transaction type.
LS3 is like a flexible staging layer for Arweave’s ANS-104 data ingress, it bridges the gap between ephemeral cloud-like convenience and permanent, decentralized, and battle-tested immutability.
Demo
Try it out:
- Install the Mask Chrome extension
- Go to x.com
- Click the Maskbook icon in the post box
- Go to the File Service
- Upload data to Load Network
Conclusion
Mask Network joining the Load Network ecosystem reflects the interest in Arweave’s permanency, S3-compatibility, storage-state flexibility and ANS-104’s provenance. Built on ao-HyperBEAM, Load S3 is setting the ground for the temporary storage layer on Arweave and HyperBEAM.