This time I had the pleasure to interview the ARK team. A project that aims to create a full ecosystem for blockchain solutions. Adaptability and flexibility are their main focus.

How​ ​would​ ​you​ ​describe​ ​the​ ​main​ ​pillars​ ​of​ ​the​ ​project?

Lean and quick mainchain

Constant development

Great community

Sending data in transactions for bridged chains to communicate over Ark

DPoS consensus, which has a lot of positives — quickly adaptable with majority of consensus from delegates, normal ARK token holders have a say in delegate choice, as opposed to PoW which consumes LARGE amounts of electricity, whole ARK network consumes less power than a medium sized office (of course in ARKs case this is decentralized and spread across the globe).

2. What’s​ ​the​ ​role​ ​of​ ​the​ ​tokens​ ​in​ ​the​ ​ARK​ ​project?

ARK token, like any other cryptocurrency can be used for a variety of things:

Payments (in ARK’s case this is a plus since block times are 8 seconds so can be used for quick transfers).

Data immutability (we have a special Vendor Field, where you can provide additional data / text within your transactions), can be used for document timestamping and verification, that same field will play a big role in our interoperability vision.

With ARK’s DPoS voting system you choose the network validators/forgers, creating a truly decentralized governance system. You can use ARK tokens held in your wallet to vote for your favorite delegate, and if he/she proves to be a bad actor/can’t run the network, you can help push them out of their position by unvoting, this means the system provides means to punish bad actors of the network. Kind of hard in PoW since normal users don’t have any say. And unlike PoS, you don’t need to keep your wallet open or anything, simply vote and keep an eye on your delegate to make sure they are doing their job.

3. About​ ​the​ ​team​ ​and​ ​supporters,​ ​what​ ​are​ ​your​ ​strengths?

Our strengths are definitely that we are totally diversified group (not just talking about variety of skills, but we cover the globe as our team members come from 10+ different countries) and we are total blockchain addicts, so working for us is not your regular 9 to 5 job where you clock in and wait for the day to end, it’s more of a way of life (this is also what we are looking for when we are hiring new people). We don’t like to limit people, but let them innovate, come up with creative ideas that allow the whole blockchain community to prosper.

4. For​ ​now​ ​ARK​ ​is​ ​listed​ ​in​ ​several​ ​exchanges​ ​like​ ​Bittrex​ ​or​ ​Binance. ​Are​ ​Bitfinex​ ​or Poloniex​ ​on​ ​the​ ​horizon?

We are in constant search of new ways to get listed on exchanges, but in the end it’s up to each exchange to list a cryptocurrency and up to each user to encourage these exchanges on ARK’s behalf to get it added by showing the exchanges that there is a huge swell of support.

5. Thinking​ ​about​ ​the​ ​future,​ ​do​ ​you​ ​have​ ​any​ ​roadmap​ ​with​ ​relevant​ ​upgrades?

Our roadmap is updated regularly with progress on: Roadmap. As for the next release, this will certainly be mobile wallets. We are also focusing development on Ark Core v2, which is a total rewrite of ARK backbone (you can find more info here ), that will also pave the way for future implementations like ArkVM, …

6. What’s​ ​the​ ​added​ ​value​ ​of​ ​ARK​ ​in​ ​comparison​ ​with​ ​other​ ​competitors?

ARK provides a means for other tokens to connect to each other, enabling direct exchanges from one token to another, sending messages between tokens, or sending functions to or from different blockchains. ARK also may be used to secure the Internet of Things, allowing devices to securely identify each other, communicate without the threat of being hacked by outsiders, send payments and data, and provide device owners a means to safely control their devices remotely, grant and revoke access to other ARK users, monitor the use and status of their devices, and transfer ownership. ARK is also adding decentralized data storage for use in applications like personal identification and allowing the owner of the ID to decide who has access to it and which data is shared with each entity given access to it, with financial institutions for KYC/AML as an example, academic institutions and their credentials, as another use case which is currently under development.

ARK has Quick block times (8 seconds), fair voting system (1 ARK = 1 voting weight), lean and non-bloated mainchain, Vendor Field where you can input additional data (used for SmartBridge/Encoded Listeners), and the greatest community ever. Although as a general rule we like to say, there is no competition to ARK, only future partners.

7. Evaluation​ ​of​ ​the​ ​current​ ​scenario​ ​for​ ​ARK​ ​and​ ​the​ ​blockchain​ ​ecosystem

ARK has grown tremendously (talking about development) since the start, 21st of March 2017. In less than 8 months we personally achieved more than we set out at first. All of that could of course, not be done if we didn’t have most awesome development community which helps on all fronts. Currently ARK is on track to have an amazing year in 2018 with even more potential than the incredible year of 2017.

Thanks for your time