On the March 21, 2018, Ark celebrated the first anniversary of its mainnet. Although it has been relatively quiet on the Ark front in terms of major announcements, there are definitely still big things to come for the smartbridge platform. In light of Ark’s recent birthday and some developments of the platform, it’s a good time to explore the team’s vision, highlight Ark’s recent progress, and take a glimpse at the road ahead.
Ark’s Vision
The recent lack of frequent updates on the developments of the Ark team have given rise to the spread of FUD around the Ark project. In response to this, the Ark team posted an elaborate message on Reddit in which they fully explained their vision of the project and presented their perspective on the future of Ark.
The post reaffirms that the Ark core network, its mainnet, will be the center of all Ark activity. This mainnet is about to be upgraded to Core v2, which will introduce more features, a better architectural design, a number of technological advancements and a new whitepaper.
The team stated that, with this upgrade, they believe that Ark will become the best in its class. The mainnet will continue to use its native cryptocurrency for payments within the Ark ecosystem. This ecosystem will consist of different existing and to-be-created blockchains that will all be connected through the Ark core network using Ark’s highly innovative Smartbridge technology.
Furthermore, Ark’s technology will allow users to issue Ark-based smart contracts. This is done by the Ark Virtual Machine (ArkVM). The ArkVM will not be a part of its mainnet, in an effort to prevent congesting it. Blockchains that have enabled ArkVM can use this software to create applications that can be used by all participants of the Ark network.
Through this, chains can allow for these applications on their own chain without affecting other projects in the ecosystem. Holders of Ark will be able to employ the designed smart contracts on different blockchains that are part of Ark’s ecosystem using Ark’s Smartbridge.
Point. Click. Blockchain. That is the true vision of the Ark platform, indicated by the display of this catchphrase as the first thing you see when visiting Ark’s homepage. What they mean by this is that the Ark platform will make it possible for anyone, even those with little programming knowledge, to deploy a blockchain.
Presently, blockchains are incredibly complex to design, deploy, and manage, similar to the early stages of websites. Then WordPress came along, an application that made website building incredibly easy with a drag-and-drop system. Ark wants to create a tool of similar ease-of-use for blockchain creation, making it possible for all to make use of the incredible potential of blockchain technology. This tool doesn’t have first priority, however. Ark’s team is currently focusing on launching the core v2 and the ArkVM. But once these two functionalities are up and running, we can expect the easy blockchain deployment tool.
Initially, much of Ark’s blockchain proposition was focused on creating smart bridges between different blockchains through which they could interact with each other. This functionality has been given lower priority, as the team discovered more interesting applications of its smartbridge tech. Now, the team’s main focus is bringing blockchains to the masses by allowing them to use the technology in whatever way users envision it.
For details about the progress of Ark’s technology, click here.
Additional Progress
Besides the core developments mentioned above, there have been other developments for this project that is aspiring to create the internet of blockchains.
Mid-February, Ark expanded its team by hiring Jeremy Epstein as its marketing advisor. This move was likely motivated by complaints from within the Ark community about the lack of clarity and communication.
Epstein shared his vision in a blog post in which he introduces his vision and highlights some areas that he thinks can be improved on. He stresses the general absence of a clear Ark awareness, which entails how well the project is known and whether people in the crypto space actually know what Ark does.
To tackle this issue, he introduces several promising strategies that will help Ark enter the collective awareness. Another move to forward Ark’s brand awareness is attending and sponsoring of hackathons. Upcoming events Ark will be involved in are the Bitcamp and HackPrinceton events.
Additionally, Ark recently released an upgrade of their mobile wallet to v1.1. Finally, Ark also announced a new partnership with Blockport. Blockport is a new cryptocurrency exchange with the vision to make trading crypto easy and social. Ark will provide tools to the Blockport team that will help them make transfer of value from one blockchain to another an efficient process.
What the Future Holds for Ark
From its early days, the Ark team has always emphasized its focus on sustainability rather than hype. This approach entails a long-term vision which has caused Ark to slip under the radar as other projects embark on huge marketing and hype campaigns.
Even though the communication from Ark wasn’t too frequent over the last couple of months, there are multiple indications that the team has been working hard on building a highly innovative and unique platform, which needs time. The recent efforts of the team and marketing advisor to improve their communication with the community and to share their vision has reaffirmed that Ark is still far from done.
Once the core v2 and ArkVM are up and running, the team will start working on their envisioned point-click-blockchain application. With their easily deployable and manageable blockchains, cross-blockchain smart contracts, and smartbridge technology, Ark could change the dynamics of the blockchain industry as a whole and bring blockchain deployment to the masses, similar to how WordPress turned website building into something anyone can do.
There is certainly room for Ark’s value to grow once their three core elements are finalized and the industry is more aware of what Ark has been working so hard on creating.
