Ark has emerged as one of the major players in the altcoin cryptocurrency market. Introduced in December 2016, Ark has a stated goal of bridging blockchains and allowing faster transactions between users. Almost $6 million of Ark is traded daily, and the platform has an overall market capitalization of $295 Million. The developers of this digital asset are working to make the use of cryptocurrency more acceptable to the masses.

The same developers who were central to the creation of Lisk also participated in the launch of Ark. The platform is managed by 27 members, and its founders and lead developers include many luminaries in the world of cryptocurrency. Among these is Francois-Xavier Thoorens. Thoorens was a lead developer for Lisk and also founded Donat.io which is a platform for accepting charitable donations.

Mike Doty was also involved in the launch of Ark. Doty handles the technology side of the platform. He was instrumental in founding Crypti, a predecessor of Lisk, and has vast experience in blockchain technology. Lars Rensing serves as Ark’s head of finance. Rensing has a strong background as a cost estimator for construction projects. The entire team at Ark brings a lot of experience to the table. It is not surprising that the platform has elevated itself quickly.

Ark held an ICO in December of 2016 that raised 1,279.67 Bitcoin. At the time, this was equal to almost $1,000,000 in capital. However, the developers of the platform has established 2,000 Bitcoin as their initial target. After much discussion, the team decided to proceed and offer refunds to any investors who felt that expectations were not met. Few investors took advantage of this option, and the majority of digital capital raised was retained.

Following the ICO, 20% of the digital assets raised were put into escrow for the development team. It was stated that this amount would be used to pay for development and legal fees necessary to further expand the platform. Other funds have been allocated to create SmartBridge networks with other blockchains and also develop a SmartCard.

The developers have stated that their will be a total of 128,694,286 Ark coins created. To date, more than 97,000,000 of these coins are in circulation. Those who hold Ark coins are able to participate in a democratic system of governance which determines the ultimate direction of the cryptocurrency.

The hallmark of the Ark platform is something called SmartBridges. These are connections between Ark and other digital assets. These SmartBridges are designed to make it easier to exchange cryptocurrencies with one another. The idea is flexible and scalable and has the potential to grow along with blockchain technology.

The developers of Ark have also stated that they wish to create a physical card which can be used like a debit card. The card would allow those who hold Ark and other digital coins to spend them like traditional currencies. This would also be a nice solution for those individuals who do not have traditional bank accounts.

Ark provides users with its own proprietary wallet which may be downloaded from the Ark website. The wallet boasts advanced security and requires the creation of a seed which is a number of words. The seed is not recoverable and must be retained by the owner in order to open the wallet. 

Ark is not mined in the sense that other popular cryptocurrencies are. Instead, the platform uses a Delegated Proof of Stake model. This DPoS allows everyone that holds Ark as an asset to vote for delegates. The delegates who earn the most votes are then allowed to forge new blocks. When new blocks are created, the delegates earn rewards in the form of Ark tokens.

A delegate can then decide to share the reward they have received with those who voted on their behalf.  The weight of individual votes is assigned in such a way that it is virtually impossible for someone to take over the entire network.

Those who have an interest in the traditional mining of cryptocurrencies should be aware that this process can be time consuming and costly. Mining coins requires specialized computer equipment that uses intense resources. Mining is beyond the means of many cryptocurrency investors today. There is, however, an alternative for those who want to mine coins. That alternative is joining a collective like Genesis Mining.

At Genesis Mining, users pool their resources to purchase hash power at one of the company’s mining farms. These farms are located in secure locations around the world. Contracts are very affordable, and users can even claim additional hash power when they refer others to the collective. When coins are mined, all individuals share equally in the rewards.

Ark certainly has the potential to grow popular as a digital asset. At the present time, Ark is a coin that is not accepted by many merchants as a form of exchange. The potential of this coin lies in its ability to unite the blockchains of other cryptocurrencies to create cross-platform compatibility. When that happens, Ark will supply the means for individuals to more easily spend their digital coins.

For the moment, Ark remains a sound cryptocurrency investment. It can be bought and sold on many cryptocurrency exchanges, and the volume of trading for this coin is fairly high. What investors may like is that further development of this platform has the ability to affect the growth of other coins, so holding Ark in a diversified portfolio of cryptocurrency could reap significant rewards.