Ark, a Bitcoin scaling proposal, is moving closer to reality. After a year of research focused on refining its reference implementation, Ark Labs today announced the completion of a $2.5 million pre-seed funding round led by Tim Draper and his firm, Draper Associates. While the technical feasibility of Ark’s approach was initially debated, today’s announcement signals strong confidence in the future of the protocol and the developers behind it.
In an interview with Bitcoin Magazine, Ark Labs co-founder Marco Argentieri expressed excitement about the road ahead, suggesting that Ark is poised to give a major boost to existing scaling efforts.
“This funding will accelerate our efforts to make Bitcoin transactions as simple and user-friendly as possible, potentially enabling fast, low-cost, user-friendly transactions with Bitcoin to billions of people around the world.”
While initially envisioned as an alternative to the Lightning Network, Argentieri emphasized that the company’s immediate focus is on supporting the adoption of Bitcoin’s popular Layer 2 solution.
“Lightning has made incredible progress recently,” he said. “We are confident that we can leverage this network effect to bring Ark to market and enhance the self-management experience for existing Lightning users.”
Ark addresses these challenges by leveraging trustless servers, allowing Lightning users to mitigate the difficulties they typically encounter when operating Lightning infrastructure. A recent trend to reduce the costs of on-chain operations related to liquidity management is to rely on custody or federation options such as the Liquid sidechain.
“Unfortunately, this approach introduces custodial trade-offs that are inconsistent with Bitcoin’s original vision. Ark has the potential to overcome these challenges at scale without compromising trust,” Argentieri said.
Asked about his motivations for the investment, lead investor Tim Draper echoed the same sentiment.
“In the near future, many people around the world will be living by the Bitcoin standard. Today, we must focus not only on how to buy and store Bitcoin, but also how to use Bitcoin as a means of exchange for everyday purposes. Ark’s architecture enables seamless Bitcoin payments in a way that adheres to its core principles of decentralization and self-custody.”
One of Ark Labs’ early challenges was transforming the Ark Protocol from an unfinished concept into a fully realized solution. According to Argentieri, the initial documentation and parameters proposed by the creators were not fleshed out enough and sometimes hindered broader understanding of the technology.
“Many of the concepts are not well developed and the arbitrary numbers being discussed fail to capture the flexibility of the protocol, especially in addressing liquidity issues,” he explained.
Perhaps the most notable confusion was around the need for contracts. Bitcoin contracts are smart contract limitations that restrict how and where future transactions can be spent, enforcing security and control over funds. While contracts could greatly contribute to Ark’s user experience and improve capital efficiency, Argentieri argues that many use cases already benefit from a “contract-less” version.
“Various types of users can leverage Ark’s capabilities. Mobile clients are more difficult at the moment, but the use of pre-signed transactions is a viable alternative to online server contracts.”
He also believes his company is well-positioned to deliver the first production services that can demonstrate the potential of the technology: “Once Ark is capitalized and operational, with a large number of users benefiting from the infrastructure, that should provide a strong case for a deal.”
The team recently release An alpha version of the contract-free implementation has been published on GitHub. Ark Node, an Ark-enabled wallet, will be released soon, allowing users to send, receive, and exchange bitcoin via the Lightning Network within an easy-to-use dashboard. Interested users can Website A closed beta testing update will be available in early September, with a wider rollout expected later this year.
Participants in the funding round include bitcoin-focused funds Axiom and Fulgur Ventures, as well as prominent angel investor Stephen Cole. Axiom general partner Allen Farrington expressed his enthusiasm for the project: “We are pleased to back this project, which we believe is a major step forward in expanding the utility of bitcoin as a means of payment and facilitating the sophistication of the network’s financial infrastructure.”
Ark Labs is seeking developers, talent, and potential partners to contribute to its efforts.
