Once you have a wallet, you'll need to add Arweave tokens (AR) to your wallet. ArDrive is based on the Arweave network and the digital currency AR is used to pay the global network of operators who maintain the permaweb.

Remember, ArDrive only requires a one time fee. There are no ongoing subscription fees for storage, and never will be.

Here are a few ways that you can obtain AR to pay for your permanent data:

Cryptocurrency Exchanges
Cryptocurrency Swap Exchanges

And remember that before you can get AR you will need an AR wallet. This is a simple process that can be walked through on our ‘Get Started’ page.

Cryptocurrency Exchanges

A growing number of major digital currency exchanges enable you to buy additional Arweave tokens (AR):

Several smaller crypto exchanges also offer AR trading pairs:

Once you have purchased AR tokens from one of these exchanges you can make a simple transfer to your AR wallet using your wallet address (a string of about 40 letters and numbers).

Also see: How to buy Arweave tokens ($AR) in America and worldwide

Cryptocurrency Swap Exchanges

Another easy way to fund your wallet with AR tokens is to use a crypto exchange swapping service like SimpleSwap.io

SimpleSwap is great because it supports many trading pairs and does not require that you create an account. [Note: ArDrive does not have any affiliation with SimpleSwap]

SimpleSwap is easy to use. After navigating to the website:

Select to receive AR and then choose a supported token that you would like to exchange such as BTC, ETH, XLM, etc.
Then select your exchange amount and click ‘Exchange’.
You will be prompted to enter your Arweave wallet address (make sure that you have one created beforehand!).
Once ready, click “Create Exchange” and follow the transfer details on the next page.

Tips for using SimpleSwap:

Depending on which tokens you exchange you might have to wait a bit before sufficient block confirmations are acquired - on both the send and receive ends; however, SimpleSwap’s customer service is very responsive if your exchange does seem to be taking excessively long.
To that point, many users prefer to use Stellar Lumens (XLM) since they are quick and cheap to send. (Don’t forget to include the MEMO if you are sending XLM!)

Here are some screenshots of the workflow: