The developers at blockchain solutions platform ARK call it a digital sandbox because it is designed for ease of use and collaboration.ARK has built a lot of momentum since its launch in 2017. The platform is fast and easy to use, which has led to wide scale adoption by the public, as well as corporate clients like Yahoo Finance.ARK currently has a market cap of over $600 million CAD, which makes it the 34th largest digital currency. Sitting at 34th is no small feat, considering the coin launched only about a year ago.In a statement to Coinsquare, Co-Founder Travis Walker said he founded ARK because he, “saw a need for a fast, eco-friendly blockchain solution for not just everyday users, but for small business or even corporate solutions.”Walker also stressed the need for a ecosystem that could easily connect multiple existing blockchains.
ARK is a fast, decentralized, scalable, collaborative system that allows for bridging between blockchains. Transactions on the network average around 8 seconds, much faster than the estimated one hour for Bitcoin transactions.ARK is based on the digital currency Lisk. The ecosystem runs applications on its network through smart contracts, adding functionality to the network. That said, idea of creating a digital currency that can also act as a network to run applications is not new. Ethereum made the idea popular when they launched the Ethereum network alongside digital currency Ether.The downside to Ethereum, though, is that programmers need to learn its sometimes complex native programming language. ARK’s, on the other hand, allows programmers to develop smart contracts with many existing and well known coding languages.ARK also goes a step further, integrating the ability to readily communicate between existing blockchains, with smart bridging. Through built-in smart contracts, funds can be sent from one blockchain to another, similar to atomic swaps on the lightning network.
Decentralization of the network is provided by 51 delegates who run nodes that process all of the transactions on the blockchain. Delegates run the network and receive block rewards, similar to the rewards given to Bitcoin miners.The community vote in the delegates, with each coin owned by an individual used as one vote. The process of voting is known as staking, and this system is a proof-of-stake network.A portion of the reward delegates receive goes to those who vote for the delegate. This shift provided incentive for people to participate in the network. In essence, the process works a lot like dividends. Staking ARK is as simple as storing it a wallet. In return, users receive roughly 9% more ARK per annum.
ARK’s website has a very detailed roadmap that is frequently updated to show their progression.They are 98% complete the production of a mobile wallet, according to the roadmap. The mobile wallet will have features to make it easy to use with merchants who accept ARK.The team is halfway done push-button deployable blockchains. The buttons make it simple to create a clone of the ARK ecosystem and personalize its functionality. The rise in demand for blockchain solutions for businesses could possibly be met by easily deployed customizable blockchain solutions like this.ARK also has plans for the Integration of Interplanetary File System (IPFS), a hypermedia protocol system. Essentially IPFS is a fancy way to say storing media on the blockchain. Once stored on the blockchain users could readily access media such as video or audio.This really is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the technology behind ARK. It will be interesting to see where the team takes ARK in the future.Image credit: ARK
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