ARK is a new approach to scaling Bitcoin and is intended as an alternative to the Lighning Network and its shortcomings. Faced with the challenges of scalability, discover here ARK, its advantages and its operating principle.
The scalability of Bitcoin is a crucial issue for its credibility. In this register, we know of course Lightning Network, but also other solutions that we have described recently, such as Liquid Network and Drivechain. Ark presents himself as a new candidate to meet this challenge.
“Ark enables recipients to receive payments without acquiring inbound liquidity while maintaining the privacy of their receiver. It’s as private as WabiSabi, as convenient as on-chain payments and as cheap as Lightning. It allows to receive payments without acquiring incoming liquidity while preserving the confidentiality of their receiver”. It is with these words that the developer of Ark, known under the pseudonym “Burak”, presents his project.
He wants to offer an alternative solution to Lightning Network, which he is somewhat skeptical of in the case of widespread scaling: “The self-custodial Lightning solution is not working for obvious reasons, and on-chain analytics companies pose a significant threat to user privacy. The numbers tell us that it would take over 100 years to onboard the entire population into Lightning in a non-custodial fashion, assuming 4 channels per person. And the Bitcoin blockchain cannot handle channel shutdowns on a scale of 150,000 people dying daily. »
How ARK works and its key benefits
The main advantage of ARK lies in its ability to significantly reduce the footprint on the main blockchain. Unlike Lightning Network, ARK does not use opening and closing channels, which saves valuable resources.
Ark is a trustless layer two protocol. It enables anonymous and scalable off-chain payments through an untrusted intermediary called the Ark Service Provider (ASP). ASPs are always-on servers that provide liquidity to the network, similar to Lightning Service Providers.
ASPs cannot steal user funds or bind senders and receivers. Users retain their own custody and can roll their funds back to the base layer if something goes wrong on the second layer.
Ark offers a higher level of privacy than Lightning. Every payment on the protocol takes place in a coinjoin process. This obscures the trace from the sender to the receiver.
ARK is based on innovative principles to make transactions simpler and more efficient. When a user makes a payment on ARK, they select and destroy their existing coins, then create new coins for the recipient. These new coins are accompanied by a secret proof of payment, which guarantees the security of the transaction.
The advantages over the Lightning Network
ARK offers several advantages over the Lightning Network:
- Fewer liquidity constraints: Unlike the Lightning Network, ARK does not require opening and closing payment channels. This means that there are no liquidity constraints for ARK users, as they do not need to lock funds into specific channels.
- Fewer interactivity requirements: ARK allows users to receive payments without having to be constantly connected or maintain active servers. Unlike the Lightning Network, where participants must actively monitor payment channels, ARK offers a smoother and less constraining experience.
- Enhanced Privacy: ARK provides an additional level of privacy over the Lightning Network.
- Interoperability with the Lightning Network: Although ARK is an independent solution, it is also compatible with the Lightning Network. This means that ARK users can enjoy the benefits of both protocols.
ARK thus offers an alternative approach to blockchain scaling, with benefits such as reduced liquidity constraints, simplified interactivity, enhanced privacy, and interoperability with the Lightning Network. These characteristics make ARK a project to follow…
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