A new open-source blockchain co-operative society has been set up in France to operate a cryptcocurrency.

The business, ARK Ecosystem, was incorporated as a Co-operative Society of Collective Interest (SCIC) after other models, such as the Swiss foundation, were rejected.

The French SCIC model was suggested by François-Xavier Thoorens, one of the co-op’s 26 founding members, who was familiar with the co-op option. The team sought legal advice from a French law firm and realised the model would be the most suitable for their project.

The SCIC structure allows employees, users, volunteers, public bodies, companies, and associations to act together to in a legal framework to govern an entity. The format also allows public institutions to become shareholders if seen fit by the board. As with other types of co-ops, the principle of one member, one vote applies.

Another requirement is for a SCIC to keep at least 52.5% of the company’s profits as legal reserves. Since Ark plans to hold 100% of any profits for use in development, marketing, and operations, the model was seen as the perfect fit.

The co-op, whose members hail from a dozen different countries, raised US $750,000 via its ARK Token Exchange Campaign (TEC). This was lower than the $1m they hoped for but the team is continuing to develop the platform.

Its main objective will be to create blockchain ecosystems. The business will use technology to offer customers smart contracts, mobile wallets and faster transactions. They are also integrating different programming languages to allow more flexibility within the world of developers.

Via its smart bridge technology, Ark aims to position itself as the “cryptocurrency of cryptocurrencies”, creating a platform that connects currencies and blockchains so that token holders can have a unified platform to execute smart contracts and other blockchain-based interactions.

“RK has been envisioned as an ecosystem from its very beginning,” founder member and chief financial officer Lars Rensin wrote in a blog post. “The founders believe in decentralised blockchain technology — working toward a global and inclusive community.

“It is only fitting that our legal entity aspire to these same visions. Inclusion of all involved is the ultimate objective: companies, users, token holders, delegates of the DPoS network, technical staff, academic advisers, employees, as well as public institutions.

“The SCIC is a co-operative form of incorporation that addresses this objective. This type of legal entity offers the structural framework to achieve ARK’s innovative goals as an open source software project. The co-operative structure will naturally speed up development and adoption of the technology, and strengthen the value of the ARK Token.”