Welcome to ArkThoughts.com

Bluffet • December 2, 2018 • Source

I think bold visions are fine. There is however one thing that separates ARK from all others. Simplicity. I'm saying this as a non-technical person, even my mom would understand how to set up, use and have fun with it. The amount of time spent on maintenance, upgrading, accounting and worrying is significantly less than any other chain I interact with. And I expect it to stay this way as more options come available.

Bruce_Alien • December 2, 2018 • Source

I see ARK as a global currency. Each country can maintain its own sovereignty and have its own coin but all interconnected through the SmartBridges. Instant payments and also autonomy on a global scale. Also with smart contracts linked in countries could be doing trade and other treaties all on blockchain.

ARKjd • December 2, 2018 • Source

ACC member here (Ray.Alva). One of the main reasons I believe in ARK is because of the team's vision. I believe as an advocate of blockchain tech that this technology has a vast number of applications from finance to law to everyday life.
It isn't often that the world sees a technology where its potential uses can permeate nearly every industry and the daily life of individuals. When it comes to adopting technology and its ultimate success, I believe in the need of aligning the technology with the need of individuals and businesses.

The beauty of ARK is that it will put the power of blockchain into the hands of EVERYONE. In my opinion this is what will be the catalyst for mass adoption. When we can lower barriers of entry and have everyone contributing, I believe great things can happen.

When people come to ARK, they are not going to see an idea or a belief in how the tech will work, they will see code, use cases, and value in using the tech to better their businesses or daily life. Blockchain should be available to everyone and by taking this 'Wordpress' approach where it's simple to use and implement, how can you not be excited?

EvdK • December 2, 2018 • Source

What I find interesting about the vision of ARK is the ease of use the ecosystem has to offer. A one point blockchain, which can create a chain with some simple clicks, will not only create possibilities for developers, but also for businesses and educational institutions to encourage people to get to know blockchain.

The collaboration of different ARK chains will ensure the ecosystem will run fluidly while scaling. In addition, the business entity ARK created, a cooperated business, is unique in the blockchain world. This shows investors, businesses and society that the crypto world is to be trusted and here to stay. The way users vote for delegates is a way to make the ecosystem fair and democratic.

On one hand, the votes earn more coins by staking their own. On the other hand, delegates, like Jarunik, are motivated to stay in touch with their voters to earn a top 51 spot which offers the right to forge blocks. By offering a decent proposal, which varies between delegates, voters chose how to keep the ecosystem running.

Zane_TLI • December 2, 2018 • Source

I'm the author of this writeup https://turbolab.it/1497 (in Italian) and long timer of ARK. I really like the SmartBridge concept: one thing that crypto will be missing in the future is the ability to make the various ecosystems able to exchange data.

In this regard, I think ARK would be similar to the BGP protocol in the Internet routing: every system works as an autonomous system (AS), but then every AS can communicate with each other as long as they implement BGP. This allows both self-governance in the AS and the ability to communicate worldwide. ARK could do the same, but with blockchains.

Moreover, I think the mutiple SDKs available makes it easy to build blockchain project in the language one already knows, without requiring a 60-hours deep course in Solidity. On the user-side, DPoS is the way to go- still decentralized, but no need for the end users to waste energy or even keep a software up and running just for staking.

cnnssr • December 3, 2018 • Source

In a midst of ubiquitous emerging blockchain technology, I think ARK's most important feature is its interoperability. Allowing the communication of different blockchains will become paramount with increasing adoption. Although many projects will not survive this pioneer phase, there will never be only one blockchain. Also, blockchains will be employed in more and more different sectors, which adds to the previous point. The acceleration will come from ARK's accessibility, I think. Nevertheless, a very exciting project for sure!

jeronimek • December 3, 2018 • Source

As for me, sidechains are the key technology of ARK. Combined with SmartBridge, ARK delivers what other coins are missing and connect them into one ecosystem. Yes, there are other coins with sidechsins, but not developing as good as ARK. ARK - you have my keyboard!

Azure-Infinity • December 3, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. We can all agree the vision of the ARK team is very ambitious. In my opinion this can be a good and a bad thing. The good is definitely trying to offer All-in-One blockchain solutions. ARK literally tries to do everything. I think trying to describe exactly ARK's vision is difficult and the bad.

On my first few visits to the ARK website and a quick glance on the whitepaper, I thought: 'oh, another project trying to provide blockchain solutions.' Or as I heard others say: 'trying to connect blockchains.' Cool. Then what?

Something, and I still don't know what, kept attracting me to the project. It's like having a crush on that beautiful girl you see walking in the park. You can't stop looking. I wanted to know more. I finally decided to spend more time trying to understand what ARK wants to achieve.

I think especially the Delegated Proof of Stake consensus is one of the most beautiful things of this project. ARK is decentralized, open source and runs by the top 51 delegates. The community has a say in what matters. What I personally find mind blowing is the way the ARK team works.

To be successful you need a dream, a vision, and more importantly: a plan. It's one thing achieving a lot of different goals but it's another thing to do it properly and to keep everything simple. I feel like ARK does it right.

DTTD_Bo • December 3, 2018 • Source

A easily deployable and easily scalable solution to blockchain is essential to the future of a tokenized economy. The goals of ARK are right in line with what is required to build out the infrastructure for this future. The use cases will come when the technology is accessible to everyone. It's crucial for those who can conceptualize a use case for blockchain to be able to easily make one without being required to understand the technical details on the backend.

While ARK can be thought of like WIX or Wordpress, I see it more like a podcast service like libsyn who takes care of all the hosting and publishing required, you just upload your audio file. These services make creating a podcast accessible for everyone. I see ARK and ARKVM as the foundation behind the future of blockchain.

Instinxz • December 3, 2018 • Source

Personally I feel like we are still in the early adopters stage of blockchain technology in general. As an early adopter, I think most of the people have good understanding of how everything works and understand the impact that blockchain can have in people's everyday lives and in various different business sectors.

However, since we are still in the early adopters stage, it is also risky to determine which blockchains/cryptocurrencies will survive and which ones will die off. The reason I invested in ARK in the first place is because of their vision with the SmartBridge technology.

Ultimately it doesn't matter which chains survive because ARK will be able to communicate with them and connect them and I think that is a great way to position yourself from a business point of view. When I invested in ARK, I fell in love with how simple everything went which I think is another great point why ARK will thrive when we get to the late adopters stage (Non-technical dads and grandmas).

With the flawless release of mainnet v2 and the new desktop wallet, I think the ARK team and community (delegates mainly) have already proven that they can turn this vision of simplicity into reality. The best point of it all is that they are not even done yet building the ecosystem which is why I'm very excited for the future of ARK!

yahtzee_NL • December 6, 2018 • Source

Their SmartBridge technology will give them the edge. And obviously, the very capable development team and board. ARK is here to stay!

ledgerdary • December 12, 2018 • Source

Focusing on interoperability is perfect, I think, with all these blockchains emerging. ARK has some very nice objectives to make their blockchain technology accessible to almost everyone. In the long term, this will probably catalyze to mass adoption.

windrip • December 20, 2018 • Source

I try to keep up on a large number of crypto projects and I love the ones that are bold! The projects that get me the most excited are the ones that are ambitious and are tackling numerous issues at the same time, and have experienced teams who have the technical skills to actually make it successful.

I believe that ARK has such as team and community. Last I checked, there are around 1,500 tokens and coins listed on CoinMarketCap and countless others have died over the years on the journey to where we are today. Personally, I believe that the projects that are most likely to do well and succeed in the future are the multi-faceted projects...the platforms...the ambitious ones.

If I were to get involved with crypto as an investor or user in 10 or 20 years, it seems much more likely that I would want to invest or use just a few crypto networks instead of dozens. Why would I want to use a separate Messenger coin and VPN coin when I could use one ambitious coin's network that would do have so many more uses?

I am excited to see where the ARK team and community take us in the future as we continue to develop ways for the public to make more frequent and easy use of blockchain technology.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 21, 2018 • Source

I would like to start by saying that I am quite new to ARK and I still have a lot of catching up to do, but nonetheless, I would like to share my perspective so far: ARK is aiming to be an ecosystem rather than a regular blockchain. They have managed to build a lean and fast backbone on which sidechains can be deployed for standalone operation.

I think this is a great way to create specific, on demand and modular chains for various types of businessess. Furthermore, their vision is to connect different blockchains with SmartBridge technology. This is the main thing I like about ARK, as it allows for the ever increasing amount of blockchains to communicate and work together.

To me, this makes the ARK Ecosystem invaluable compared to any competition. It will be interesting to watch the development over the years in order to see if they can pull it off! Nevertheless, I have high hopes that they will be able to do so, but time will tell.

Presence_Numerique • December 28, 2018 • Source

I am following the project for quite some time. I am particularly interested in the bridge aspect capability. Crypto world is vast with a lot of different digital money, and I think we need a lot more interoperability to ease the process of using them without the hassle of managing a thousand wallets for example. I would add that, there are not so many solid french blockchain projects out there with an ambitious roadmap and I would like to support it.

Elgondir • January 3, 2019 • Source

Our current society is suffering of a major step back with the incentivization of racism and wall building, while our objective as a species should be to demolish whatever walls separates different communities and build bridges instead so we can travel, communicate and interact between us. ARK's vision feels much bigger than any other, with the intention of connecting all other cryptos, working as the bridge I just spoke about, ARK's objective is to have space for everyone, to serve everyone. There's no denying, ARK is a solid project with devs that can actually turn this vision, into reality.

SftT1 • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK's revolutionary vision is ahead of its time (this is good because now the crew/community can focus on building), hence its vision is both visionary by now (it will be at the right time and right place when things go fast and intertwined technologies by different blockchain are simultaneously needed at once by businesses.

Apart from this, ARK might also need that other blockchain project mature and reach their full potential so ARK can intertwine those technologies into its ecosystem and/or serve as the connector among blockchain technologies).

ARK's vision is also prophylactic businesswise (because it will be inconvenient and/or difficult not to use ARK in the future once ARK accomplishes the heart of its vision, if that is the case, people/businesses will very likely use ARK before using any other system within and outside crypto, so ARK's vision, if fulfilled, will prevent failure of its own ecosystem, this is a win-win situation).

It is clear that ARK's vision is important for blockchain tech to make its mark in the world. I strongly believe this because some specific blockchain ideas/projects will have the NECESSITY of INTEROPERABILITY with EASY/FAST ONBOARDING that ONLY ARK can provide (okay, a few other project are working in the same space as ARK, but ARK can partner with them if needed or provide it's unique version of interoperability, adaptability and versatility).

Here is where ARK can make mainly its mark and find its niche in my opinion. Apart from this, the ARK'S vision can be accomplished mainly because the ARK community is a mature community (this can be seen how by the most part they handle with kindness the inpatient people who just focus on the price and start speaking negatively about the project).

The ARK community (crew and users) treat each other like a family during good and difficult times alike. This is very important and key for survival and eventually for thriving, so yeah, I think that ARK's vision will in time be accomplished. A critical use case with multichain and/or interoperability necessity through the ARK Ecosystem will ignite the flame of mass adoption in my opinion, and this will come in time.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

ARK's vision is the best in whole crypto space as far as I know. This project got me immediately and I am just more and more conviced in its success by watching its growth during this bear market while many other projects stopped giving updates. Blockchain tech will be (and slowly becoming) next economic breaktrough and I believe ARK will be one of few leading projects.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

I am pretty new to this space, so take my opinions with a grain of salt, please. Although I do believe that a fresh look every once in a while could be fruitful. I will only comment on the topics that I have any proficiency in and/or do my due diligence by studying the matter beforehand.

One of the main reasons I like ARK so much is because it is trying to integrate blockchain platforms. While all these crypto projects try to come up on top, ARK realises that there will be more than one that will get adopted in the end. Therefore, in the end, the remaining cryptos will need to work and communicate together.

This is where I think ARK can come in. It can provide the means to interact by using its SmartBridge technology. Together with a fast blockchain and modular sidechains, I think ARK will be very successful in the (near) future, after some of the initial crypto space dust has settled.

cnnssr • December 3, 2018 • Source

I've been a follower of Lisk since late 2016. When Francois Xavier Thoorens then started ARK, I was first puzzled as to why he would leave such a great project. However, nowadays, I think ARK is a far more interesting project and although it's apples versus oranges in many aspects, I also think they outperform it. FX's experience combined with Mike Doty's (from Bitseed and Crypti) has proven very fruitful. Not to mention the legion of other (apparently) very talented developers. A great team with an inspiring vision. A very good combination indeed!

Mattay252 • December 3, 2018 • Source

From what I have seen, the ARK team looks like it is filed with a lot of good people. I like the fact that the ARK team has kept this project going for a few years now, with less funding than they originally were hoping for. It gives me confidence that they will keep making progress, even if the markets stay downward. I also like the fact that they act as individuals sharing their own opinions, and avoid corporate-speak.

yahtzee_NL • December 3, 2018 • Source

Diversified but still operating as one. That's the ARK team's key. Also, a lot of them have loads of experience from previous (blockchain-related) ventures.

Azure-Infinity • December 3, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. What the ARK team achieved so far with ARK Core v2 specifically in mind, proves to me they are capable of getting anything done.

Just look at how many projects tried setting up their own blockchain project and how few succeeded. Then there are also multiple projects (not naming them) that can't solve 'easy' problems. Or there are issues in terms of security, scalability, cartels and such.

It certainly takes a lot of determination to decide and rewrite your whole core from scratch. The ARK team is very active, not only when it comes to development, but also on social media and platforms such as Discord and Slack.

In my eyes they are always professional. It is fun to see some of them having discussions with community members, even when half the time I have absolutely no clue what kind of rocket science they are talking about.

I love listening to interviews, for example by: Scott, Justin, Lars and Travis. You can always hear how passionate they are and it is clearly visible the team wants what is best for ARK. I also love that the ARK team members are located in many different countries. As far as I know they don't show up in the same office daily from 9 to 5. It sounds lenient, as long as everyone gets their stuff done.

I would like to give two special shoutouts. One goes to Justin. He's the member that never sleeps, apparently. He does a weekly ARK podcast, runs his ArkStickers business, leads the ARK Community Committee and is always available to listen. One of the best as a Communication Specialist.

The second shoutout I want to give to Oleg. He does the UI and design work when it comes to ARK. Oleg is responsible for the face of ARK. The website, UI, images, spicing up the blog posts with the headers and more. I love all his work and I am trying to slowly study his style and get inspired by it.

whatisark_com • December 3, 2018 • Source

The eclectic ARK team is one of, if not the THE, main reason for my continued interest in ARK. They have an exciting bunch of people with backgrounds ranging from project lead on EU maritime satellite radar imaging technology (FX) to assisting in saving RBS - the nearly failed bank following the 2008 financial crash (Stena).

Technically, there is a wide range of talent, IOT hardware guys Mike and Simon, numerous software and blockchain specialists, and one of the tastiest graphic designers in the biz, Oleg. New hires have emboldened me even further, a good mix of full stack, UI and network architecture developers have been taken on and ARK seems to be getting the balance right.

Team hierarchy has also changed, better suited to the tech guys. Putting Krijstan in the CTO was a brave, wise move. Just take a look at the EduCTX project to find out why.

Worries have been voiced over the commitment and knowledge of the team, mainly during the recent network outage. We must remember that these of family people, they aren't there 24/7 and nor should we expect them to be. The whole point of a decentralised crypto is the community, its you.

Chip in, chime in, be heard, make your mark! Take a look at the team page on whatisark.com under FAQ. I don't mean to toot my own horn, but its the most extensive look at the team anywhere. It doesn't include new hires yet but come the new year, new update.

Zane_TLI • December 3, 2018 • Source

Zane from TurboLab.it here. I reviewed many crypto projects (in Italian) and one of the first thing I always look at is the team. When the identities are not clear, it's always a big red flag for me- only once I ignored this, because the rest of the project seems very good. It was with Oyster Pearl, and we all know how that went down. ARK is one of my top project for 2019.

One of the reason is the market it addresses. When (not 'if') the enterprise sector will embrace blockchain and distributed ledger, there will be a strong need for a 'Point. Click. Blockchain.' solution- everyone will try to get there first, and with a shortage of talents.

Easier and language-agnostic (Solidity-less) will be king, but the team really seals the deal for me. Thoorens wasn't CEO when I reviewed the project the first time, but it has a strong technical background (I appreciated that, since this space is still highly tech-oriented). I mean, he goes by 'Fix' on Github and actually does commits!

Never saw a C-level using Git before! Košič and Valkov I'm keeping my eyes on. Strong background and good work so far, I hope they sill remain with the project for some more years.

Apart from the team, there are the delegates. TheFoundry's guys were extremely helpful and there is a very good environment.

One thing I miss a bit is marketing: I really don't like all-hype project like Verge or Tron, but some more mainstream communication by the ARK team would be great to kickstart the brand and get some meaningful long-term association as 'the' blockchain solution.

cambo666 • December 4, 2018 • Source

I am a delegate, commenting from a personal point of view. The ARK Team keeps delivering. I like multiple facets of the ARK Team as a whole, as well as individuals... but would rather comment on them as a team.

I like that the majority of them have been in this space for quite some time. The experience they have here is regularly made evident by their calm, objective, and melodic approach to things. I'd like to cite how, on a few occasions, the inexperienced may demand exchanges, complain about price, gripe about a number of things... then, without fail, one of the team members will step in and answer in a rational manner, and bring everyone (mostly) back down to earth.

It's easy sometimes to get caught up in the emotions and get a little down on ourselves when we know how much better ARK is than other projects. I'm grateful we have such a level headed team leading the charge.

EvdK • December 4, 2018 • Source

As a blockchain noob, I can not properly judge if the team is capable of achieving their goals. What I can say is that I notice ARK has been true to their word in making everything as easy as possible for the user. Downloading and managing the wallets, both desktop and mobile, has been super easy.

In addition; the ARK crew has been steadily developing their product. They seem to be knowledgeable on both blockchain and general IT development. For me, a reason to keep faith in the team and regularly look for info on the next developments. If that means hiring more talent, then by all means, let them expand their crew.

Instinxz • December 4, 2018 • Source

I must admit personally that I haven't really researched the individuals in the team as much as I should have, but I think the whole team together has proven to be very capable of achieving their goals. With ARK, I have a really good feeling that everything is safe.

This feeling, combined together with community engagement the ARK team and delegates have on various platforms (Reddit, Slack, Podcast) makes me feel very welcome even though I cannot really contribute to the ecosystem as much as they can. Looking into the future of the ecosystem, I think ARK has done a great job with the sponsorship of various hackathons.

Since the demand of people with blockchain skills has increased significantly over the years, I really think they have found a unique way to get the ARK name out and create engagement with new technical talent which some of might end up working for ARK.

windrip • December 11, 2018 • Source

I've only had minor interactions with the team members in the past, and don't hang out in the ARK Slack, but I will say that on the few occasions when we have interacted, it has been a positive experience. I'm involved with a number of different crypto projects, with teams that range from very professional to very carefree/freewheeling, and I have always been impressed with the professionalism and responsibility of ARK's team. There are numerous examples I could give, but I would like to comment on just two of what I feel may be the most positive attributes that I've seen from the team:

Ability to Execute: I have watched the various progress bars on the project continue to advance over the months and I have seen the results of the developers' work. The project really has a very diverse and competent group of developers who are able to complete the job that they say they will do. Most recently would be the example of ARK v2 which is an impressive feat since most crypto projects still do not have their own blockchain that they've built from the ground-up.

Level of Engagement: I always appreciate reading the ARK blog posts which sometimes come two-in-a-day and always multiple per month. The team also does a great job of interacting with the community on other online forums and at other events and meet and greets around the world. I think that is awesome and I always love to see that level of positive engagement with the community.

ledgerdary • December 12, 2018 • Source

Very efficient team that seems to have loads of experience. The latest transition to core v2 happened almost seamless and is an excellent example of the team's capabilities. They are ambitious people that set out challenging objectives and get the job done.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 21, 2018 • Source

Before I wrote this comment I did my due diligence- I read the team page and several other links. While I do not (yet) know any member of the team very well, I do think I can say a thing or two about their ensemble. In order to do so, I have looked at one key indicator: the score board.

ARK has already accomplished various important milestones, the most recent of which is the very smooth transition to the Core v2 upgrade. This tells me that there were very capable people that carefully planned and executed the aforementioned upgrade. The second indicator is the overall impression of professionalism I got when I looked at their main 'products'.

The website, the desktop wallet, the mobile wallet and the explorer all work very well and are a treat for the eye as well. Although I think they are assisted by a very devoted community too. Lastly, looking at the faces on the overview page of the crew, in all likelihood, I see a large level of diversity and a rather large team at that.

Presence_Numerique • December 28, 2018 • Source

If I am not wrong, the ARK project is some phoenix that rose from its ashes. Only a strong team, with ambitious and experienced believers, may achieve this and it is quite impressive. Besides, the team keeps on delivering, but, at some point, it seems reasonable to recruit more talent to maintain the growth.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

Much more reliable team comparing to other projects. Also clear vision and path, efforts visible on Github. That makes me calm in the field of people standing behind ARK!

Elgondir • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK's team is one that emanates confidence, developing ARK into the tech marvel it is, (both back-end and front-end), as well as the awesome work that is done marketing-wise. For some reason, everyone feels part of the crew, both those that actually do as those that don't like myself, yet it's easy to feel part of it when you have the power to vote for delegates, you can truly have an impact on the ecosystem and steer ARK according to your own personal vision.

SftT1 • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK's crew has been prepared beforehand for this task: ARK, the blockchain of blockchains. I remember that ARK was one of the very few projects I read and investigated about back in the day way before the last pump of the end of 2017 and the credentials/talent were all there, very clear and marked (underrated in my opinion).

No doubts in the ability of the crew to make the ARK's vision tangible. However, even as talented as the crew initially was, they early and clearly understood the enormity of the task, hence, they continued hiring more talent through bull and bear market so the pillars of the ARK Ecosystem can be built in 'season and out of season'.

This understanding of investing in people is what will make ARK's vision possible through its crew. The crew is like a self-propagating system that builds and rebuilds itself to become stronger and stronger so the vision can be fulfilled time and faithfully.

I don't have any favorite member of the ARK crew, but I know that good traits and manner in an entity are usually transmitted vertically and/or laterally, in this regard I will say that I SEEM to see/feel/perceive the same good trait in each member of the crew every time they express themselves), and this trait is CAMARADERIE (for the most pary this means a real friendship and even family-like friendship among the crew, loyalty,etc) which is one of main traits for the success of any crew, in this case ARK's crew.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

The 2018 bear market has proven to be utterly brutal and was the nail in the coffin for more than just a handful of projects. Although this is obviously quite harsh, it is good to see that in times like these the wheat is separated from the chaff. Meanwhile, ARK has had a very productive year I think- judging from the amount of updates and upgrades that have been posted. This is a clear demonstration to me of what the ARK team is capable of.

In spite of this bear market, they have powered through and kept working on the fundamentals and devloped their technology. A very remarkable feat, which I commend the team for. It is things like this that give me the confidence that the ARK team has what it takes to deliver on their ambitions and the roadmap to become a very successful ecosystem in the long term.

EvdK • December 4, 2018 • Source

In a space where most people are not critical but condescending about coins they do not own, ARK seems to be on another wavelength. The community is nice and focused on the technical aspects, not the value of the coin. In addition, the delegate system makes it vital for the forging party's to stay in contact with the voters. Something which adds to the professionalism of the community.

Mattay252 • December 4, 2018 • Source

I would describe the ARK community as positive and active. People are frequently tipping new people, answering questions, creating websites, joining committees, etc. Compared to other crypto projects, there are very few people asking, worrying, or speculating about price, unfounded fud, etc. I hope the community stays positive as it grows.

yahtzee_NL • December 4, 2018 • Source

I have not been part of this community for long, but I have felt very welcome from the beginning. Furthermore, the inclusiveness is great; everyone does their part and is recognized as a part of the team, it feels. When I entered here as a novice to the project, my questions were answered swiftly and to great extent. It seems that everyone is genuinely and selflessly trying to help each other out. It feels great to be part of this community and to be able to contribute now as well.

cnnssr • December 4, 2018 • Source

The helpfulness and the proactiveness are the key traits of this community, I would say. From the beginning, people have been helping me with my initial questions and problems. The length that they were willing to go for me to get me started here served as a great incentive for me to also help others out.

Besides this, I feel that ARK, compared to other projects, is focused more on the fundamentals and technological advancement than on price action. I have seen some price swings happening without anyone mentioning a word and just continuing building and progressing. That to me is just phenomenal. I was already getting sick and tired of projects like ETN, where for most, all that mattered was the price. Not with ARK, great project!

Instinxz • December 4, 2018 • Source

The ARK community is a very welcoming community, I must say. I'm trying to cut down on my social media use but I find myself browsing reddit.ark.io quite a lot just checking on new things. When new people arrive and have some questions people always welcome them warmly and share good information/videos with them or even tip some extra ARK.

If I had to name one point of improvement though it has to be that the community could try and share this love out a little more in other communities such as /cryptocurrency and introduce new people to ARK! (Something I should be doing more as well)

Zane_TLI • December 4, 2018 • Source

The ARK community really has a higher profile then the rest of the crypto projects I follow. While a see a lot of 'when lambo, when binance' everywhere, the ARK community really seems more mature.

I think that part of this is due to the different target audience: while something like Doge it's all playful and Verge it's all about 'fam' (as long as the fam makes money, otherwise it's every man for themselves), ARK looks like to gather grown-ups.

We still are a few years away from true enterprise interest, but I'm pretty sure that big tech will carefully evaluate the 'mood' of the community before join in, and ARK is one step ahead.

fortuitous2018 • December 5, 2018 • Source

The ARK community (especially on Reddit) seems to be one of the more insightful and helpful groups of people I've seen in this space (with less financial focus). I do think there has been a great momentum in encouraging further talent and community involvement. As an additional note, I think the very visible aspects of marketing (i.e. sponsorships and charitable donations) will serve as a great indicator of the goodwill of the combined community.

Azure-Infinity • December 5, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I got to know ARK around the summer of 2017. I was looking into many - literally hundreds - of different projects. I wanted to get involved in a way and be part of something. Once I found a cool project, I would research the community because that equally matters as much to me.

On places like Reddit, you can quickly find updates. Many communities seemed really inactive (on Reddit especially). Other times, I got very disappointed because of toxicity of some members, sometimes even from team members. Besides that there's the usual Lambo, moon and meme posts.

Then I found the ARK community, and I felt at ease from the start. I started lurking daily, and I was surprised how professional the average community member acted. It still took me a few more weeks till I finally decided to open a Reddit account. The ARK community has a lot of active members located all over the world.

This is a great thing, because you can post a question any time of the day and someone will be around to provide an answer. It doesn't even matter if you ask this question on Twitter, Slack, Discord or Reddit. This community isn't just about the team or the delegates either. Literally anyone can contribute in a way. I would say this all makes this community quite unique.

cambo666 • December 5, 2018 • Source

I'm a delegate speaking from a personal point of view. I feel like the ARK community is a direct reflection of the ARK project itself. Ambitious, inclusive, hopeful, and has a vision. The community is really what drew me into ARK. I remember first getting into crypto and finding ARK and thinking, 'Hmm, well, this project seems pretty neat.' Then after lurking for a few days, I requested an invite to Slack, and that's where I say I met my ARK family.

There are far too many personalities to list here, and they're all important for our community. Every optimist Oscar needs a pessimist Pete. Every conspiracy Carl theorist needs a realist Randy. We've got them all and then some. It's been a while I've been with the ARK community, and I still love checking in every day.

Matthew_DC • December 5, 2018 • Source

I am Chief Strategy Officer on the ARK crew. I say this all of the time, but I honestly believe we have the best community in the industry. The contributions from our community developers are just mind blowing each and every month. Our Slack, Discord, Reddit, and other social platforms are far and away more interesting, informative, and in general more fun than any others I know because of our community.

We have the ACC, ACF, and other contributors who are constantly writing articles, building websites, doing competitions, etc, all of which just continue to help push ARK forward. I don't know any other community that gives back more than the ARK community. From a team perspective, you often keep us on our toes with honest and critical discussion and I value that immensely.

When it comes to open, decentralized development, community is more important than anything and we hit the jackpot when it comes to our community. I am so glad that we have all of you here on this journey with us!

I was talking to CJ earlier today and we were discussing the community. I was saying that it really just feels like one big family. Sure, there are a few creepy uncles and some annoying cousins, but that's family! Thank you to all of you for supporting us and continuing to be here each and every day, bear market or bull, and for helping to push ARK forward!

ledgerdary • December 12, 2018 • Source

ARK simply has one of the tightest, warm and helpful communities out there. Ever since I joined here, I have felt very welcome and most members here went the extra mile to help me out as a starter. Seriously, thank you all very much and keep it up!

windrip • December 21, 2018 • Source

I subscribe to a lot of different crypto projects on Reddit, and I always enjoy reading through the trending threads on the various projects. I don't have time to read through all of the news on all of the projects, so for the most part I tend to rely on the popular posts to gain the attention of other users and then I check those out. ARK is one of the projects where I actually read through the Subreddit to catch up on news and see what other poeple in the community are saying, even if I don't comment too often myself.

There is a wide variety of communication channels for ARK, and it's really too many for the average person to keep up with, so I don't follow all of them such as the Discord, Slack, Telegram, Twitter, and the others. I think it's fine for a community to have different places to chat about the project since different kinds of platforms appeal to different users, but when that's the case, it's possible for information to get scattered. Because of this, I think there needs to be a conscious effort to make sure the main news articles are spread over all of the communication channels so that the community can stay informed, no matter which platform they use.

There is a lot of dedication and commitment in the ARK community to continuing building upon the quality of the project and to help increase it's adoption and growth. One quick example that comes to mind is of the delegate Jarunik, who not only takes the time to moderate the Subreddit but also gets involved with video education, informative write-ups, and also has a bounty program to help strengthen the community. Recently, Jarunik stopped paying out the new ARK that his delegate forges and he has instead committed to using the majority of those funds to continue to improve and expand the community. I think that is very admirable both for him as well as the community that votes for him since they are willing to give up a share of their rewards in order to benefit the community as a whole and help it to grow. This approach may not appeal to everyone, but this is very worthwhile and I think its likely that over time this will help to increase the value of the network.

Presence_Numerique • December 28, 2018 • Source

For a project, particularly in the crypto space, having a strong community is a strengtht. Support, developer involvment, tests, communication... This helps push the project forward again and again. As for the ARK community, I am too new to be able to raise a firm opinion, but it seems solid so far.

mtb1314 • December 30, 2018 • Source

Best community in the crypto space, hands down. I've said this in other posts but this community is what makes ARK what it is. They are quick to answer questions and do so always in a respectable way. I lurk other crypto Subreddits but there are only a few that I have actually commented in due to the toxicity of them. I know I can ask any question and never feel ridiculed for asking it.

I have never seen any other communities welcome newcomers like ARK does. Such warm welcomes and even tipping them! It is truly amazing. I have narrowed down on the projects I believe in and want to be part of throughout the last year or so and ARK is one of my 'keepers' and near the top based on this community and the way they conduct themselves.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

Due to small price of ARK, community is focused mainly on technical aspect. There are voices that ARK is underrated (I agree), so that's maybe the reason why the community is quite small.

Elgondir • January 3, 2019 • Source

When the only complaint I've seen about ARK is that the price doesn't fluctuate enough, I know I'm invested in the right project, a project that doesn't unnecessarily hype, a project that doesn't need to deliver with a bang because whatever they deliver will have a bang by own merit.

Being part of this community for over a year, even tho I didn't interact much, I couldn't be prouder of it, there's no toxicity at all, just will to help whomever needs it or efforts to give morale boosts to those that actually need it, like the team. I'm proud of being part of this community, and I can't see that changing.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

I do not think I have yet encountered a friendlier community in crypto than this one. Frankly, quite often the people in crypto communities are a little too selfish. They are too busy with the price of the coin to be able to really be there to help each other out. Not the case with ARK.

Members are helpful and active in guiding others, even the newest and most novice among them. I know this from personal experience, as I was fairly new and novice not too long ago. That did not matter to most and they answered even the silliest of questions and even repeated themselves without losing patience. Yes, patience is a real virtue here.

SftT1 • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK community is both well meaning at heart and mature (most people inside the community seem mature as individuals, very few negatively and vocal and 'lovely' moon and lambo boys and girls that seems to eventually and gradually mature as they interact more and more with the ARK community). It seems that by the most part, the majority of people in the ARK community understands the ARK's vision, and that this is not a sprint but a marathon.

I would say that the ARK community is made of TRUE BELIEVERS (99% and up if not 100%) and it seems to me that this is some form of fuel for the ARK crew to keep moving forward in a sense.

In my opinion, there are really very few communities that are at around the same level as the ARK community (Nano, Vechain, Omisego, etc). I have interacted with the community very little but I am more of the type of person that sees and hears than talk and interact, even in 'real life' I don't interact with people that much, for example if there is a party ONLY in the first floor, I rarely go and interact with the people in the first floor (even if they are family members), I rather go alone to the second floor and see the whole party as a whole and watch how all is going.

I have been in the ARK community since last quarter of 2017 by reading posts through Reddit and ARK website as well as any blog, video and interview I could find (I only got into Reddit a few months ago, I also recently got into Twitter, I am not big user of social platforms,nothing wrong with these structures/systems/platforms, it is just that I don't interact much).

The ARK community is self-driven (it doesn't need babysitting) and very helpful when welcoming, on-boarding and helping newcomers. This is absolutely true. The ARK community (everybody) is very helpful in different ways through their own talents individually and collectively speaking. I am very happy in overall terms with the ARK community, no complains, just thankfulness to the ARK community for being the way individually and collectively speaking.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

ARK has really good community with constant help to new members. Whenever someone new has a problem or just general questions about project, there are numerous responses on his thread. I am part of this community for like 1-1.5 year. Everybody was very helpful when I had questions (especially in the beginning). Constant discussions about updates and big responses to prize games helped me stay really positive about project through whole bearmarket.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

The ARK community may not be the best and is for sure not the biggest community in crypto, still I am confident that it is easily one of the friendliest communities out there. I have been kindly welcomed by lots of members ever since I first joined here. I have asked several pretty silly questions that were answered swiftly and politely nonetheless. It is very remarkable.

Besides that no one seems to be nagging about the price of ARK being down or how they are down on their investment. Such a relief. It is like no one really cares about the price here, and are only focused on the long term prospects of the project. A real relief and very refreshing to see this in crypto nowadays.

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

This community is really helpful. Whenever someone has questions about the project there are bunch of people trying to help him with really great responses. I am in community for about a year, but wasn't so active till now. This is great thread to got into community while participating in discussion which is also a chance to earn some ARK for long term hold.

Bluffet • December 5, 2018 • Source

Despite the criticism raised, I am of the opinion the outreach has been good. However, with v2 currently running, I think the effort should be on business, partnering, and eating market shares from Ethereum, Lisk and so forth. I do not believe in the crowd as a target to achieve adoption. ARK is a workhorse and emphasis should be where significant adoption can be made. Find the use cases and highlight where it can be applied. Then tell the story of what can be achieved.

EvdK • December 5, 2018 • Source

In my view, ARK is perfect as educational tool. I would focus on schools so students get access to an easy blockchain of their own. All those blockchains will easily connect to ARK if necessary. Successful student projects can be further developed after the student is graded for his or her class.

cambo666 • December 5, 2018 • Source

I am a delegate posting in my personal opinion. I believe the hackathons are a great way for outreach. First impressions are everything, and although a lot of these students may not be seeing blockchain for the first time, interacting with the pioneers of a specific blockchain project will very likely leave lasting impressions. Excellent initiative.

However, I have a caveat... I believe the hackathons are a great long play, but we won't see any near to mid term results as far as adoption or use. These students could very well go into the business tech world in as soon as 4-5 years and then be in the position to say 'Hey, we're using ARK for this need.' Please excuse me as I speak candidly on my next point... the 'cons', 'fests', and big 'meet ups' that are all basically pay-to-play is a bunch of flash behind smoke and mirrors.

I could absolutely be wrong, for I don't actually know what kind of relationships are formed at these events, but, I see very little value coming from them. Every blockchain project and their mother's blockchains seem to be there, and it makes me wonder, how much impact could our presence make being there as well? However, I do see it as a necessary evil. Without showing up to these glam pay-to-play events, a project could very well be forgotten and fall off the map.

I hope the team keeps going and representing, but I just hope it doesn't burn too big of a hole in the team's funding. I see way more value in smaller to medium sized events, like the ones Justin spoke at, namely the Seattle Meetup where he was on stage, talking casually, but professionally and knowledgably to an audience that is more engaged. The people at these smaller scale events are there to learn and there for a purpose, in my opinion. They will walk away with something they heard and saw, like Justin sending ARK over the mobile wallet. Whereas, the large events like Consensus, (it seems to me) a bunch of those people are there for the prestige of being there, and not with an intent to really seek answers or explore a project's worth.

Again, that is my perception of the large scale events, I could be way off base. But to speak to my experience, when I attended the ARK NYC Meetup... it was awesome. We had an entire room full of people from all walks of life, some had no clue what was going on, others were asking really engaging questions to the delegates... there were people there to learn about something and have a takeaway. I think that small-medium sized grassroot engagement is harder to initiate but could prove to be more beneficial.

Instinxz • December 5, 2018 • Source

I think the sponsorships of hackathons are a great idea to connect with new talent in the field. I do agree this is more of a long term strategy, but since we are at the beginning of blockchain adoption in general, I don't think it matters too much. What I do think matters a lot is getting aboard some big companies which I think ARK is lacking in a little bit compared to other blockchain projects.

I think both parties can benefit a lot from a partnership so the focus should be on that. In the meanwhile, the community could help get the ARK name out a little bit more in the positive style we are known for.

excitedWallrus • December 6, 2018 • Source

Keep going to hackathons. That's how I became involved!

Mattay252 • December 6, 2018 • Source

As for hackathons, I'm glad they are doing them. I would much rather see ARK do outreach to people who might legitimately use ARK for app programming and creating blockchains, rather than speculators.

Azure-Infinity • December 6, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Near the end of last year, I wasn't disappointed by the lack of outreach although I saw a lot of critical posts regarding marketing and exposure. It's not that nobody had a valid point, but I wanted ARK to have a better product first, so I remained patient.

It didn't take very long until I saw ARK starting to work on these points. I think we did well on sponsoring and attending conferences.

More importantly in my eyes are hackathons. ARK did amazingly well when it comes to those. Inspiring and teaching the youth, making them curious and eager to learn.

I think there is a real shortage of blockchain developers and experts. At hackathons, you can introduce people to ARK, providing them a toolkits and some knowledge and let their creativity do the work. I think there is a high potential that these young developers will want to build something on top of ARK in the near future. Mainly because ARK is focusing on being easy to use and understand. I would like to know if anyone reading this got to know ARK through a hackathon.

moazzam2k • December 6, 2018 • Source

Full disclosure: I am an ARK delegate so my point of view might be a bit biased. I am one of the people who have criticized the ARK team's marketing strategy in the past. Perhaps it is because I am not privy to the team's internal discussions that I have had a feeling that the marketing strategy being used was not good. Though I admit that their strategy has become a lot better during the last few months, there is still room for further improvement.

First of all, I would like to point out that ARK has had to fight an uphill battle in establishing a brand identity because the silly dinosaur game is competing for the brand name and spending a lot of money in doing so. As a result, while other cryptocurrency projects can establish a brand by spending a few thousand dollars on buying adwords and optimizing their website's SEO, competing on the same strategy for ARK would cost tens of thousands of dollars if not more. This means that the ARK team has had the choice of either going all out in marketing and spending enormous chunks of their budget for negligible returns in terms of brand awareness or focusing on their technology for the time being and spreading awareness through grass roots efforts. In this scenario, ARK team chose to go for the second option by sponsoring hackathons and other community outreach events and I think that was the right choice to do. Furthermore, we saw some effort in advertising the ARK platform during Consensus and other events though it feels to me like the team wasn't happy with the impact of this advertisement drive and has since scaled down their efforts in sponsoring crypto events (I could be wrong here, just a feeling after all). Additionally we saw that the team attempted to run a video advertisement which was received by the community with mixed feelings. So I think the claim made by some people that ARK doesn't do enough marketing or doesn't care about marketing is outright false.

Now let's come to my criticism regarding ARK's marketing strategy. Since I don't like criticism for the sake of criticism I would like to suggest a possible solution to ARK's branding nightmare as well. I think the ARK project suffers from a lack of clear and targeted branding, not a lack of advertisement/outreach. In my opinion the ARK project has multiple different products that need to be tied to user stories and branded separately from each other. For instance some of these products are:

1. ARK Core as a development platform for programmers

2. ARK chain/pay as a payment platform for merchants

3. ARK Ecosystem as a utility/service for normal users

4. ARK token as a fiat gateway into the ARK Ecosystem

When you try to explain ARK as a single thing to someone they won't get the full grasp of it, and you're more likely to overload them with information and lose their attention as a result. What ARK needs is precisely targeted brand identities for each of these separate products. For instance all media material and public engagement/interaction needs to use these keywords (e.g 'ARK Ecosystem') instead of the generic term 'ARK'. Doing so also solves our original problem of competing against the game for ranking since anyone who will search now will use the additional keywords. An additional keyword has been used in each of these products which is easy to remember and not only helps create a solid image of it's use case in the mind of the audience but also it helps getting better ranking in search results. Anyone who is searching for 'ARK Core' instead of 'ARK' is more likely to go to the cryptocurrency project and as a result improve its branding. Over time, as these keywords get used more and more with the keyword ARK, they will help capture the main brand of ARK as well.

yahtzee_NL • December 6, 2018 • Source

Compared to many of the cryptocurrencies out there, I think ARK focuses far less on marketing and outreach. Although it's great that ARK's more about the fundamentals and technological progression, still I think there's some room for improvement in terms of promotion and education of the project. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying we need to become like some of these ICO shillers, not at all. The aim should not be to influence short term price action.

However, it would be a shame if people didn't hear about the great things ARK's doing. I think there are still loads of people who could benefit from a lot of things ARK has to offer, but are currently unaware. Or even better, these people could allow for new ideas and means of progression to enter the project, once they're involved. Let's get those people informed and educated with regards to ARK!

cnnssr • December 6, 2018 • Source

While I think marketing and outreach are paramount to raise awareness and involvement in a project, I do think it shouldn't become more of a priority for ARK right now. If anything, I think the focus could be even more on development of ARK and creating more and more use cases, at the moment. This will ultimately trigger adoption, which can then be accelerated by more marketing.

With that said, I do think ARK should definitely keep up some of the promotional efforts to increase its sphere of influence. In this case the focus should lie on the educational side of things, in my opinion. Hackathons and conference are both great options, keep it up!

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

I saw many times ARK as a sponsor in various events and I always thought that it is a good way to spread cryptocurrency manifesto and gain attention from different social groups. Even the Fortnite tournaments backed by ARK may have great value especially for future and younger generations.

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

In order to make more and more people aware of the crypto world, blockchain innovations, and, of course, the ARK project, one need to attend several meetings and events. Generally what I would like to see more for a project are security challenges. Of course, most projects have bug bounty programs, but I think special events focused on security help the industry to level up their security. Anyway, I find ARK team communication on the project is great and the pace is good too.

Zane_TLI • December 6, 2018 • Source

Hello, Zane from TurboLab.it here. ARK is among my top project for 2019 and I'm doing some outreaching myself among my fellow Italian community (website and Youtube). I truly believe that a strong focus on tech/finance conferences is the right way to go: at its core, ARK is a business/enterprise solution and the first target as of now should be to spread the word among developers and enterprise architects: the latter will be the decision makers of tomorrow, while the former must be ready and well-formed to respond to the demand that will be generated.

I also strongly advise the team to fully leverage these conference to gather feedback from the actual people that will use this technology: my main job is as a backend developer and I see daily that things work best when we are included in the discussion. You'll here how important a good documentation is for professionals, how enterprises really consider a good support plan a priority and how important it is to provide clear lifetime and compatibility roadmap from the start. I didn't see any outreach in Italy as of today (or maybe I missed it): clearly USA and major worldwide economies are a priority, but some kind of tour in the north-east would be great.

Personally, I really hate all-hyped project (sorry to always mention Verge, but it's the worst over-promise, under-deliver of this space IMHO) so a lower profile a-la-ARK is pretty good. Nonetheless, don't forget to push a bit in the consumer sector immediately: not too much, but some investments in broad brand awareness would be good. What I saw with the poker tournament was good, but please also pay attention to be associated with poker or other non-business stuff too much.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

These conferences and hackathons sound great. Too bad that they are usually too far away, judging from the previous occassions. If there is ever one in the neighbourhood, then I will definitely join in. Discussing on a forum is great, but nothing beats a good old fashion face to face meet up.

I would really like to meet the actual people behind these Reddit accounts and talk to the team and delegates for example. These events can also be a great vehicle to raise awareness and get more people informed or even involved with regards to ARK. Hopefully they can occur on more and more places across the world in the long term.

ledgerdary • December 12, 2018 • Source

I'm all up for hackathons and conferences. They're an excellent way to raise awareness and involvement in a project. ARK seems to put decent efforts into these forms of marketing. In my opinion, the main priority should still be technological advancement. This seems to be the case with ARK.

windrip • December 28, 2018 • Source

I think hackathons and meetups are a great way to increase involvement and interest in the ARK Ecosystem. Since hackathons are aimed at more technical folks, that is a great way to get coders involved so that they can get familiar with the project and hopefully continue to support it by staying involved in the development. Meetups also provide a way for the community members to interact with one another and share ideas, and that has a positive contribution to the cohesiveness of the ecosystem, and I think it's worthwhile that the ARK Community Fund supports those events.

In addition to those events, ARK does do some marketing although not as much as other projects. I recall seeing the ARK marketing that was done at Consensus 2018 in New York. Marketing programs like that help to increase awareness of ARK in the crypto space which is positive although I'm not privy to the financial costs so hopefully someone has done a cost/benefit analysis for that approach. I know that ARK also sponsors a NASCAR vehicle which helps to get the name out to the general public; I'm not actually sure how much that contributes to the ecosystem since the average person still doesn't know too much about blockchain let alone specific projects apart from Bitcoin, but all exposure is good exposure I suppose as long as the cost is reasonable.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

I would love to join one of these events of these days, does not matter if it is a conference or a hackathon or whatever. I think it is all a fantastic way to get to know the project and the members a little better. So far, however, it seems there has not been any event close by. Too bad. Hopefully, in the future when ARK has become larger, they will expand the events to more different areas.

Being able to talk to members of the team and the delegates and seeing some nice presentations about ARK appears to be kind of invaluable to me. I will keep an eye out for any future events. Please organize some events in Norway some day. I also heard there is someone that distributes stickers. Such small things are also great for marketing I would say.

SftT1 • January 3, 2019 • Source

I think that ARK outreach efforts through hackathons and conferences (I still remember the ARK logo that could be seen while looking up when using the escalator in Consensus) and partnering synergically with other solid projects is spot on because the focus of this strategy is primarily at driving developer's and businesses' network effects. This is fundamental because a or a series of critical use-cases and/tech that uses the ARK Ecosystem is necessary for driving adoption.

This is extremely important, so in this regard I think that ARK crew is using the funds wisely because this empty space is still needed in ARK (as well as it is needed in many blockchain projects). I think, however, that in the ARK website, there should be more details on what the partnerships and/or projects are working on, at least a general idea (even if it is testing) so a new comer can be aware of the possibilities.

For example, I remember there was a very good looking ARK commercial in which a woman in a bike appeared talking about how easy was to use ARK and how helpful the community was. All this is true in regards to ARK, but what I wanted to know is what she working on, what the project was regardless of how big or small the project was. I honestly think this part was missing.

If you could put more projects that are using ARK or at least testing it, that would be very beneficial to attract potential developers and community members in general.

Again, if the projects using ARK are small or just testing the ARK Ecosystem, it is alright, it should be mentioned with more emphasis as well as their progress (and departure if that occurs) that way we can honor the days of small\first beginnings as well as continue with the process of iteration and progress of the ARK Ecosystem. Those would be some of my suggestions (please keep in mind that I am not a marketing guy).

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

As I mentioned in one of previous threads, hackathons and simmilar competitions (conferences also) are vital for attracting new smart and aspiring developers. I can't stress enough how important are fresh people for young projects like this. ARK team can't let possible saturation of some developers (not saying there is something like that at the moment) slow down this project.

As more people hear about and 'fall in love' with ARK, there will be more great developers, more new ideas, faster and better development... which will lead to better product, more partnerships and this will just go on and on. Maybe ARK should increase the presense in best IT universities to attract even more young minds.

alfonped • December 6, 2018 • Source

With the delegate system, you can decide who is the best option. You want to promote development? Do it. You want to promote dapps? Do it. You are only here for pure profit? Do it. Just select your delegate according to your goals but remember to vote! ARK on exchanges can't vote and receive nothing!

Instinxz • December 6, 2018 • Source

I think both PoS and DPoS are better consensus algorithms in the long run compared to PoW due to the high energy costs of PoW while it's not even being used that much yet. I think 51 delegates is a good number to maintain security and decentralization to the network while also giving chance to new delegates to start forging.

In general I think the delegates are doing an awesome job with several delegates offering different services, and I remember some delegates helping out tremendously when there was a network outage so big compliments to them overall. I'm not sure if this is only the case for DPoS, but I love the fact I can vote for a delegate and leave my computer offline and only have to worry about my delegate staying in the top 51 to earn my staking rewards.

Zane_TLI • December 7, 2018 • Source

Hi, Zane from TurboLab.it here. I named ARK as one of my best coin for 2018/2019 for multiple reasons: the enterprise-oriented target is what I like the most, but DPoS is a close second. I truly believe that DPoS is the most practical, consumer-friendly consensus algorithm available in the space: it both creates a good incentive to hold coins long-term while also staying away from many complexity that most end user just cannot handle.

Let's face it: going forward I see less and less decentralization in Bitcoin, Litecoin and Ethereum (until Casper). Big mining operations with 1000's of ASIC makes it very hard for your everyday computer geek to mine at home, and even joining a mining pool is a not-so-valuable proposition. Even if mining at home would still be valuable, I don't see the majority of people buying and configuring ASICs, GPUs and stuff while regulating voltage and be cool when they see a thousand real-world fiat electricity bill. I know I don't (and I'm a developer/DevOps and computer enthusiast, for God sake!), and this is why I never mined in the first place.

Of course, you can say that PoS is also an alternative, but installing and maintaining a running software on a PC is still too much for the average Joe/Jane: I'm also into NavCoin and, while the project is excellent as a payment method, I see daily a lot of discussion around problems with the staking wallet or the download/syncronization of the 3 GB full-local-copy of the blockchain it needs. ARK beautifully solves all of this: with DPoS, one just buys and votes. End of story. Maybe the software could become better in the future at helping people find a delegate, but this shouldn't be a priority now. Is this really by-the-book decentralization? Of course it isn't, but it's the most piratical way of doing it, and it also shields the project from any 'non-green! wastes energy!' critics I see a lot lately.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

The consensus mechanism was one of the main reasons for me to start checking out ARK. I have been involved in various Proof of Stake projects, but I like staking my ARK coins the most. It is very simple to start staking, and it offers pretty great returns. Furthermore, Delegated Proof of Stake is one of the more efficient ways of reaching consensus.

There are more cryptos that use this system, so ARK will need to keep on improving to keep an edge over its competitors. I can only imagine that having a good mechanism will become more and more important when the networks start scaling up. Already there are many projects that have to deal with serious scaling issues, but ARK seems to be doing fine so far.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

Definitely it can be said that ARK's Delegated Proof of Stake it is not just eco-friendly (better than PoW), but equally important: ARK's DPoS gives back the power to the people. It was cleverly designed to avoid different problems that occurred in previous crypto-projects such as the cartel problem, it helped also to incentivize community participation as well as to desincentivize malicious behavior by those in charge of validating transactions and protecting the network and who were chosen by the people/community (basically by the users) democratically, freely and openly.

Compared to other DPoS. I would say that in my opinion, what ARK shines the most and will shine the most in the future is in the possibilities that might arise from its proposal-based selection method of the 51 delegates (which by now seems just mostly based on how much a delegate voluntarily rewards its voters) which in my opinion might in the future include a business-based aspect in which voters can fund businesses opportunities offered by delegates and get dividends in the form of 'voluntary rewards' in exchange for their support (support that could have been in the form of funds or technical help to develop the business).

I think this selection method can derive into an area where there will be business opportunities and this is what will give ARK a business advantage over other DPoS projects. I really like the proposal website arkdelegates.io.

I also think ARK delegates as a whole are trustworthy and perform well, just to mention, a few months ago, there was a problem with the ARK Ecosystem and took the help of the delegates (in particular one delegate) and even the community to help solve the problem. This says a lot about the care and integrity of our delegates. I BELIEVE IN THE DELEGATES. MORE INTUITIVELY THAN INTELLECTUALLY, BUT I DO BELIEVE IN THEM. One more thing about the 51 delegates in the ARK Ecosystem, I would like to see this number to be increased, maybe just doubled at least.

Mattay252 • December 6, 2018 • Source

I own a handful of DPoS coins, and I can say that ARK is the only one that got it DPoS right. There are no cartels, the delegates are active and useful, and there is no governance drama that I have seen. ARK is literally the only DPoS coin that got the system right, and I hope other coins use ARK as an example.

windrip • December 7, 2018 • Source

I was intrigued by the DPoS model when I first came upon it, and I think it's a great solution to some of the challenges inherent in other consensus models. On a personal level, I appreciate receiving a payout of ARK on a weekly basis from my delegate and the network has some great technical minds supporting it as Block Producers. I have seen the BPs work together multiple times to solve issues that arise in the network and I think it's a great indication of the strength and potential of the network since so many independent groups who love the project have come together to support the network.

In addition to ARK, I own EOS and Blockpool DPoS tokens as well. One improvement that I think could be made with ARK is offering a share of the inflationary rewards to standby Block Producers that are outside the 51 BPs who are forging--similar to the way EOS pays out rewards to BPs outside the top 21 in that network. I believe 51 BPs is a reasonable number of delegates for a network to have. For comparison, Blockpool has 201 delegates and that network is still in need of additional Block Producers; there are a number of genesis (not independent) block producers on that chain. On one hand, a higher number of BPs allows more people to get involved which can be a good thing for a large community, but on the other hand, it would tend to allow less technically skilled people to join as BPs, and it is always more difficult to coordinate a group of 200 for example than it is to coordinate a group of 50. A more limited number of Block Producers encourages greater competition which I think is beneficial for the network.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

In my opinion, number of delegates is too small. If we want real decentralization, ARK needs hundreds of delegates to avoid problem with team of delegates controlling the network.

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

The 51% attack on ETH Classic the other day got me thinking about consensus algorithms and I made a conclusion that DPoS is the best. Most of the ARK coins are in wallets so it is virtually imposible to collect enough of them to run 26 delegates and attack ARK's consensus. Compared to other DPoS networks, ARK's is the best because you can choose from variety of delegates which offers all kinds of different features. I think they are doing great job at securing the network.

Bluffet • December 6, 2018 • Source

As you might expect, there are both pros and cons: Pros: dealing with cartels, earnings are good and zero effort, voting makes you part of 'the team' and the delegate a voice further up the ladder. Cons: for share rewards you depend on a human, there is no voting on issues or proposals. I wish there was some more to vote for. Like in bitshares or decred. Other than that, ARK voting is easy peasy. Set and forget and just make sure the delegate does what they are supposed to.

LoneSilentWolf • December 6, 2018 • Source

ARK was the first coin I encountered DPoS system with. What I liked about it was it allows for everyone and anyone having even 1 ARK have a say in the network, without devoting much of their time in the technicality of it. What it meant was that I wouldn't have to keep my wallet always open to receive the rewards, or set up a special node either at my location or rent a third party server to host a masternode to take part in consensus.

Also with many masternodes, there is barrier to entry which many people might not be able to cross, including me. ARK has no such barriers. Coming to delegates. It may look at first glance that 51 delegates are less and prone to monopoly. But the reality is there can be any number of delegates but there are only 51 forging delegates.

Those 51 forging delegates keep the network safe and running. But the forging delegates are not fixed and only decided by the community/users of ARK. Anyone is free to vote for any delegate, reading the proposal of the delegates. Once the delegate has enough votes to be in top 51 it will start forging. The delegate removed from top 51 stops forging. The only barriers to entry for being a forging delegate are a decent spec server to handle the load, and a good proposal. There's no requirement for you to hold a minimum amount of ARK to become a delegate.

Once you get in the top 51 (the hard part of the process) you become a forging delegate. This system keeps the delegates on their toes, since the community decides who gets to forge. All in all, it is an efficient system to get away from PoW algorithm, and yet mine towards maintaining decentralisation in the project, which could become a problem in traditional POS systems.

ledgerdary • December 12, 2018 • Source

DPoS offers one of the best equilibria in terms of efficiency and decentralization. ARK's consensus mechanism is fast and reliable. The delegates bring a large amount of additional value to the system.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

DPoS is probably the best consensus algorithm. Good for enviroment, fair for everybody (even smallest accounts) and is not subject of unfair competition (like Bitmain). It is much better than the Lisk version, where there are cartels and you have to spend many coins just to participate in reward sharing. A great feature about ARK DPoS is competition between delegates where they can't significantly drop reward sharing reward because they would drop out of top 51 really quick.

There are many great delegates with different types of rewarding their voters (stickers, bounties, faucets, prize games..) and they do really good job securing the network with their nodes and side nodes even in difficult enviroment (for example migrating on v2).

cnnssr • December 6, 2018 • Source

The DPoS algorithm is one of ARK's key features, and could very well be the thing that made me most fond of this crypto. Its simplicity is fantastic and it still manages to ensure a high effectiveness. This democracy-like voting allows for your voice to be heard through the delegates, and steer ARK ever so subtly. They offer excellent diversity and even some convenient profit on the side. Does it get any better than this?

yahtzee_NL • December 6, 2018 • Source

In my opinion, ARK's got their consensus system nailed. Evidently, it easily outperforms PoW in terms of long term sustainability and scalability. Morover, it offers a very good balance between efficiency, leanness and decentralization in comparison with conventional POS. Besides that, there is a widespread in delegates, which all offer different rewards, perks and they each have a different vision for ARK's progression.

Voting for a delegate was one of the most exciting things to do, as I got to learn about all these future plans and developments from the delegates. If you're a novice, or you just want the highest reward, you can simply calculate which delegate offers the largetst ARK returns. It's all very transparent. The fact that you can vote and stake a wallet offline from cold storage or a hardware wallet is the icing on the cake. Safe, convenient and efficient. ARK seems to offer the best balance here!

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

DPoS is a nice step toward true decentalization even if not entirely perfect. The hability for everyone to participate and get rewarded even with very few holding is great and fair. Lots of project should be considering this way of staking.

Jdony • January 4, 2019 • Source

I was one of those people that knew about Bitcoin quite early but was never interested enough to invest or start mining. The main reason for me was the PoW mining. Yes, it creates a barrier for people to attack a network, but it also introduces two weaknesses that should not be underestimated. Namely, the cost of mining and risk of centralized mining monopolies.

A Bitcoin mined for 600 dollars in electricity and hardware costs is worth the same as one mined for 6000 dollar in costs. This means that the people with the cheapest mining costs will naturally grow towards a monopoly position, and it means people will waste 5999 dollar in electricity if it gives them a coin they can sell for 6000.

ARK's DPoS is an elegant solution for these problems as a monopoly is not created by having 51% of hash power, but by having control of all forging delegates.

You would have to buy >90% of all ARK to do that versus spending a few hundred dollars on processing power for some smaller PoW coins. The value of the token itself makes the network more stable. And the lack of PoW mining means we don't have to worry about wasting resources even when the whole world uses ARK. It scales much better, is much cheaper to run and intrinsically prevents monopolies.

EvdK • December 6, 2018 • Source

Again easy easy easy. Just transfer your coins to a ARK wallet. Either desktop or mobile. Go to the 'Vote' tab and vote a delegate in the top 51. Once you voted, you can earn more coins daily, weekly or monthly depending on the delegates proposal. Because delegates want to stay in the top 51 to forge, they actively engage with the community.

Azure-Infinity • December 7, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. If I remember correctly, the first time I got introduced to the Delegated Proof of Stake consensus was with Lisk. I liked their idea, but I had difficulty understanding how DPoS worked (based on their explanation). Before this, I was only somewhat aware of the Proof of Work consensus. I also occasionally ran into people comparing Lisk to ARK because they share the same general consensus model of DPoS.

When I finally decided to study ARK and properly invested time in getting to know the project, I immediately noticed ARK was DPoS as well. It also did not take me very long to understand how DPoS worked. What I really like about it is that I actually feel powerful with this consensus. I decide which delegate I am going to vote for. If the delegate I voted for ever decides to change his proposal, I can always pick a different one if I feel it's needed.

In fact, I find it very difficult picking a delegate because each one in the top 51 (and some outside) are doing a lot of great work. The 51 delegates are responsible for running the network. If they don't do their job properly, their voters can change delegates and this will push bad delegates out of the forging system.

Another thing I love is that there are a lot of different delegates with unique proposals. Some are great for returns, there are those who are doing extra work to secure the network, you have delegates who are there for the community, delegates who focus on development or marketing. This consensus is decentralized. ARK is not run by any cartels which you may see with different projects. I might be wrong, but right now I believe ARK is the only DPoS project that is doing it right.

rhakht • December 30, 2018 • Source

ARK is an example for a well-working DPoS system. The difference to other DPoS systems is, that you cannot vote for more than 1 delegate with 1 wallet, so it is always ensured that 1 ARK has a voting weight of 1. This prevents the formation of cartels.

A quick look at the delegate monitor on ARK explorer shows how well the votes are distributed and that about 84% (source: http://vote.world-domination.org/) of all ARK in circulation participate in voting (dev and exchange wallets are excluded from voting). Also, there is ongoing competition between delegates (there is no large cartel!).

Delegates get into the top 51 or drop out frequently, depending on their proposals (See: arkdelegates.io) in which the delegates state what they give back to the community. Recent example: delegate 'dated' was voted into the top 51 because he is a very passionate (and active!) community developer.

In the meantime, ARK has implemented dynamic fees, so the requirement of inexpensive voting is now met. Also, I have witnessed a transition from extremely high sharing ratios (90-95%) to lower ones (but still sufficiently high compared to cartels), currently often ~80%, while an increasing number of contributions from delegates, ranging from bounty programs to video content.

One may think this is a bad thing, but I would say it is a good one because such contributions strongly increase the value of the ecosystem and are therefore also in the voters' interest.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

I think we can all agree that for long term sustainability and scalability, (Delegated) Proof of Stake easily beats Proof of Work. Even ETH is looking into the possibilities of Proof of Stake and will eventually make the transition. Of course, Delegated Proof of Stake does have some profound differences compared to 'regular' Proof of Stake. The main challenge is to find an optimum between the efficiency and the degree of centralization of the consensus mechanism. ARK has made well thought out decisions in this regard I think.

In this system it is essential though that the ARK is used to vote as much as possible. Only then the composition of the delegates is representative and decentralized. My only concern would be that too many private delegates will emerge at some point and there would not be a good way to counteract them.

gonggrabber • December 8, 2018 • Source

Hold on to your Burger King, here we go. This is a loaded question. There are delegates that offer nothing while some offer something. Some offer security of the network and others offer videos to promote ARK. I can't choose one because it's all a large cohabitation, or ecosystem. Without the tech savvy, you don't get the promoting delegate, and without the promoting delegate you don't get newcomers into the ecosystem. /2 It really is a perfect ecosystem and the only ones not contributing currently are private, but they did contribute early on by purchasing tokens and running nodes. These older delegates are slowly getting phased out but as they sell or get replaced we must remember them and thank them for assisting ARK for this long. So if I was to pick delegates or services as favorites, I would choose the original delegates from early 2017. /2 They chose to stick with ARK, buy ARK tokens and secure the network. Not many of them are left, but I salute them. This is why I split my ARK into 2 accounts to vote for a promotion delegate and a tech savvy delegate. It's an ecosystem, building together.

windrip • December 11, 2018 • Source

Being an ARK delegate is a privilege and responsibility, and I'm appreciative for the work that these individuals and groups do to support and secure the network. On one hand, the group of active delegates is fairly small at 51 so there is some prestige that comes with the position. At the same time, there is some pressure and the possibility for negative publicity when there are issues or missed blocks since these same individuals are and should be held responsible for the upkeep of the network.

Being a delegate requires staying up to date with project updates and potential changes, maintaining their nodes and running updates, and being available to step in when needed to fix issues with the network, so I am glad ARK's DPoS model allows a healthy competition for the delegate spots by those who are the most technically competent and interested in holding a spot on the network.

I prefer not to disclose the delegate I vote for, but I will say that there are a number of great delegates that have been with the project for a long time and have done a lot for the ecosystem. Just a few of the examples are Jarunik, Bioly, Biz_Classic, Calidelegate, Goose, etc.

I also reviewed the list of current active delegates and see there are two newer delegates on the list with under 5,000 blocks forged at this time. I haven't researched these newcomers, but offhand I would say that this is indicative of a strong network, when there are newcomers still vying for a place at the table, and I look forward to greater crypto adoption in the future when these delegates' work will become even more important as the network is used more.

Azure-Infinity • December 8, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Delegates run the ARK network, and the top 51 can forge ARK. Profit sharing delegates pay their voters frequently. This is all voluntary, which is awesome! Every delegate has their own proposal, so it is very important to read into it and see what each delegate is doing.

What I actually like is that (for me at least) it's very difficult to pick a delegate to vote for. They all do so much for the ARK community. I am not going into details to which delegate I vote for and for which reasons. There are too many delegates I can name and praise so I am only going to talk about some services and I want to keep it brief.

'Cryptology' developed the ARKTippr bot on Reddit. It is super easy to use, and it all happens on chain! 'Jarunik' recently changed his proposal and supports many smaller projects. Talk to him if you have ideas. 'Biz_Classic' set up a relay network for its voters, look into it. 'Rising_Sun' does monthly bounties for those who send in ARK related materials such as artwork and videos. 'Fun' develops video games, play them to earn ARK. There is too much to mention.

cnnssr • December 9, 2018 • Source

In ARK, the delegates are responsible for running and maintaining the DPoS system. Not only that, they also thrive towards further development of the platform and the community. Each of them offers different services in return for your vote and they all invest their earnings in improving ARK in a different way.

Therefore, with your vote, you are able to direct the evolution of ARK ever so slightly towards the version you envision. Most delegates are very comitted to their voteres. Furthermore, they often show great engagement with the community, which they tend to keep very lively and active with various events and contests.

Mattay252 • December 7, 2018 • Source

To start out, I know this very campaign (30 Days of ARK) is sponsored by delegate Jarunik. So that's one example of delegates providing value to ARK.

LoneSilentWolf • December 8, 2018 • Source

ARK delegates. They are one of the most important part of the community. Not only do they run nodes to keep ARK chain safe and support the transactions happening on ARK, they do a lot more. Each and every delegate has a unique proposal with which they come to ARK community to become a delegate. Some of the delegates work directly to make the ARK Ecosystem better, by making block explorers, organising meetups, promoting ARK, even making APIs, writing code which is of use to ARK going down the line.

These are the delegates which make ARK functional, and provide interesting new apps based on ARK (non-delegates can also do this, but many delegates are passionate hence contribute a lot to the project). The services of delegates are needed as much by the community as much the delegates need the community.

auser8 • December 8, 2018 • Source

ARK delegates are the community's silent weapon to mass adoption . They bring loyalty, trust, development, education, and success. Through examples of professionalism, consistency, creativity, transparency, and the ability to connect the blockchain to people. Now they and the community have released v2 seamlessly. All will reap the rewards.

yahtzee_NL • December 8, 2018 • Source

The delegates obviously form the backbone of the DPoS consensus algorithm. They all offer a subcommunity within the ecosystem, which your vote allows you to join. There is a widespread in delegates, which all offer different rewards, perks and they each have a different vision for ARK's progression. Voting for a delegate was one of the most exciting things to do, as I got to learn about all these future plans and developments from the delegates.

Ultimately, I chose Arkland and joined the Slack. He is very helpful and has a proposal that seems to match my vision best. If you're a novice, or you just want the highest reward, you can simply calculate which delegate offers the largetst ARK returns. It's all very transparent.

ledgerdary • December 8, 2018 • Source

Getting to know the delegates and their proposals is very easy. It's all very open and various mediums provide a detailed yet concise overview. The transparency of the delegates allows to make a well-informed decision towards a vote. What you see is what you get, and when there are significant changes, you just change your vote. I'm quite new to this ecosystem, yet it's already very clear to me ;)

Zane_TLI • December 8, 2018 • Source

The DPoS algorithm is one of the best aspects of the ARK Ecosystem. Delegates have clear economic incentives in keeping clean and do their best to push ARK forward as a whole. In this, ARK is a lot more advanced than say, NEO (another project I like as much as Ark): NEO is based on DPoS too, but right know the consensus-reaching nodes are still centralized. They'll open up with time, but ARK is already leaps ahead in this.

My current representative is thefoundry: I really liked their manifesto and their idea to put some ARK's in a fund to help the onboarding of the newcomers. Jarunik would be my next choice: the work he's putting in this is commendable. One thing missing it's an official directory of the delegates on the ARK site: this would help new user find them and know what they do. This should be integrated in the wallet app, because it's not so easy at the moment to startup and decide who to vote for.

Other then this, I would like to see more delegates, maybe a hundred or so, to increase decentralization. This would also make more difficult to build cartels: I don't think there is any at the moment, but in time, when the value will be rally high, this could be an issue. I'd also like to see some kind of imposed limit on the share distribution (let's say 'no less the 70%, no more than 95%'). I'm not sure this kind of regulation would be beneficial, but the ARK team should at least evaluate the idea.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

ARK delegates are vital part of community and their provide unbeatable contribution to the whole project. Jarunik is probably my favourite delegate with constant work on ARK project as well as constant bounties, prize games and so on. Biz_classic has some cool features like faucet and picking your reward percentage and payout frequency.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

I am really impressed by the efforts of the average delegate and all their accomplishments for ARK. So this comments also functions as a little shout for all you who this concerns! Excellent work guys! Now besides the obvious 'maintaining the network' purpose, there is something else I really like about the ARK delegates in particular. They all appear to have a different aim or scope for ARK in mind, and try to make as much of that happen as possible.

They try to get people who agree on board to get access to the means to make it work. They can either outsource the funds or use them to cover their own expenses while working towards their goals. Delegates in ARK are a cornerstone for the ecosystem and serve a wide purpose.

EvdK • December 18, 2018 • Source

My favorite is DutchDelegate. It started out as good deal for me since I was one of the first voters for this delegate. In the meantime, they created a website in which I can track my payouts.

They attended several community driven projects to increase ARK brand awareness. If there is a problem with the payout, I can easily reach them, it's a group of people on Reddit. All in all, my delegate brought me closer to the ARK Ecosystem as a whole.

I have no particulair delegate service I wish to see in the future. I think that is something which has to come naturally. A valuable proposal will in time be picked up by the voters.

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

ARK delegates make everything easier about this project. They are major reason for comunity growth with their updates, securing network, upgrading code and constant prize games. Jarunik is the best one because, as far as I know, he helps in all categories. Can't think of any future service for now, at least until mass adoption...I think that for now they have everything covered.

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

I particularly like delegates really involved with the community and developments. The ones creating value over what the ARK blockchain offers are commendable too, be it for fun only (hello 'Fun' delegate). All in all, if there was a way to link the delegates listed in the desktop wallet to their respective description and proposal, it would ease the process of selection.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

Each delegate is an integral and bootstrapping part of the whole ARK Ecosystem. The delegates are pillars and builders simultaneously. I have read into the list of the services that the delegates offer. These services are fundamental and helpful for the sustainability, development and growth of the ARK Ecosystem. I have even used some of those services. Considering that blockchain technologies (mostly from altcoins) are still in a pre-mass adoption stage, it is great that somehow these services offered by the delegates mainly seem in my opinion geared toward onboarding (and helping) new users directly and\or indirectly into the ARK Ecosystem, so in that regard I think that the ARK list of services is a combination of right service at the right time because these services are necessary now. Therefore, I don't have a favorite service because I don't distinguish between necessary things that are needed for an ecosystem to develop. I see these services by each ARK delegate more like water or air, meaning these services are necessary and we need all,of them (yes, even the ARK stickers and of course the BoldNinja game), I would not be able to choose a favorite among those services because each service has its own pivotal functionality.

In the same way, I don't have favorite delegates but I always check/read the ARK Subreddit and see a lot of participation by some delegates (of course, some delegates might not participate much through social platforms but might do so behind the scenes in private offering their own skill to the development of the ARK ecossytem which is equally appreciated and important and which I might not be aware of) such as Jarunik, Cam's Yellow Jacket, The Golden Horde, Fun delegate, also Rising Sun delegate as well as others, etc. There are also many great community members who really behave as delegates because they are very caring of the ARK Ecosystem (you can feel it!) and helpful to those in need in social platforms. In regards to a future delegate service I would like to see, here are some of my thoughts:

In the future, I would like to see business opportunities offered as services (or instead of services) by the delegates. In the same way, the rewards are voluntary due to legal reason, maybe in these business opportunities to invest in ARK projects through the delegates, the dividends of these projects can be shared as 'voluntary dividends' (instead of 'voluntary reward' as in the case of the rewards from staking ARK's). Of course, these would mean that supporters will also have to 'voluntarily donate' into these business opportunities they want to be part of. All this can be done through private/anonymous and automated transactions and smart contracts. I would like to see these type of 'business opportunities' being offered as services in the ARK Ecosystem, or at least something along these lines. I would like to mention that I believe in the delegates as a whole, and if some of them require some type of 'donation for a business' and the project interests me, I would be willing to 'donate' some type of resource provided everything is secured and governed in a trustless manner through private transactions and smart contracts (with auditing and verification) including the sharing of dividends back into the supporters in the form of donations.

Additionally, I would like to see the creation of a mathematically and ARK based stablecoin (not a Gemini dollar or Coinbase dollar, but a real stablecoin (that stabilizes the value of ARK token ONLY through math and/or algorithms and is not backed by USD) which will help users to automatically and programmatically hedge againt the onset of a possible bear market through verified/proved and bona fide market indicator and that can also help users in the trading expeditions.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

The delegates are in charge of running the system nodes and forging new blocks with all the recent transactions. Most of them also have a specific vision for ARK and with your vote you basically endorse that vision. In return for your vote, you can get staking rewards as well as some additional features that vary per delegate.

Voting was already really simple, and with the Core v2 upgrade it has also become very cheap. So one can constantly monitor the proposals of delegates to see if they are still in line with their own vision. Or by using multiple wallets, one can stake different amounts of their holdings at different delegates.

This helps keeping the balance and you can endorse multiple projects at the same time. A neat feature if you ask me.

ledgerdary • December 9, 2018 • Source

The ARK Desktop Wallet is a compact yet full-featured program. The GUI is slick, intuitive and allows for decent customizability. Compared to other desktop wallets, it offers very fast and fluid operation. Moreover, it can be operated view-only without the passphare as well as containing all features using the passphrase. The integration with the Ledger Nano S is pretty seamless and allows for a convenient way to significantly increase the wallet's security.

cnnssr • December 11, 2018 • Source

Simply put, one of the best cryptocurrency desktop wallets out there. Smooth operation with lots of functionality. One ARK's aces and a real showcase for the project!

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

This wallet is just fantastic. It runs extremely smoothly and looks very crisp. It has all the functions one could ask for at the moment. All other crypto wallets are really flimsy in comparison, which is very odd by the way.

Blockchain is one of the newest technologies out there, but the software for users looks far from modern. Some look like they were created along with the first computer to be frank.

Anyway, even more since the latest updates, ARK has a real winner here with their wallet. As long as they keep adding new features along the way, this user experience is hard to beat. It sets the bar high for other cryptos.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

Right from the beginning when you install the wallet and open it, I can say a few things: 'It is true, this wallet was made with a lot of love by ARK', 'There is an uncommon beauty in simplicity of use' and 'It is always nice to have great designers!'. Since installing and running the desktop wallet, I can say there is a lot of care in informing the user about the new paradigm initiated by blockchain technologies in regards to finances and how different this new paradigm is from current financial systems. That quote by Ben Parker is funny and it should definitely go into the ARK thoughts website IMO.

All this initial info is never too known to be shared and too boring to be read again and again, especially for new users. The colors used are peaceful and seems to be in tune with the ARK's ethos and the soul of its community. It allows for nice customizations and its avoidance of extra and unnecessary features surprisingly transforms a commonly annoying experience buried in people's subconscious into a frictionless, fast, fun and pleasant experience. 'Downloading and using the ARK Desktop Wallet is a healing experience too.'

I won't mention the name of other projects wallets but suffices to say that some projects whose tokens (which have also a lot of hype) are in the top 10 and top 20 in Coinmarketcap have wallets that leaves too much to be desired in terms of UX even until this day (and they don't fix it right away and the process of updating/sync those wallets is too time consuming and tedious…).

In the other side, I just would like to mention that in my opinion, it would be useful if there would be a feature in which I could buy/sell ARK from/to other ARK users/community members through the username directly from my wallet without the need to go through Changelly (I am not fan of that project to be honest), maybe a Bitcoin/ETH integration could be added or a faucet could be integrated so a new user can get right away a few Arks.

Additionally, I think a feature that should be added is a very visible and eye catching notification (not inside the notifications tab on the left side of the wallet) that clearly shows new users how to get ARK's through bounties, contests, etc that are consistently being offered in the ARK Ecosystem.

Azure-Infinity • December 9, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. The ARK Desktop Wallet is not the first cryptocurrency wallet I have used. I am not going to name other projects and talk about their wallets, but let's just say they weren't very good. Either they didn't work properly, took many hours or days to sync, or they had a very boring interface.

I understand this world is new, but at least put some effort in developing and designing a decent wallet. The ARK Desktop Wallet (talking about v1) was the most beautiful wallet I had seen in this space. It worked so fast, had ledger support, and the UI was super easy to get used to. Later on, it was possible to buy ARK via Changelly inside the wallet. Personally, I have never used that feature and most likely never will. It's cool nonetheless.

One of my favorite features was custom backgrounds and I designed a few for myself. Now we have the v2 wallet. At first, I was a bit skeptical when I saw the sneak peek. It's not that I didn't trust the ARK team or that I disliked it, but I was so in love with the v1 wallet and I wasn't ready for a change. I can now say with confidence that this v2 wallet is way better. It needs a little bit more work, but I think it's almost ready for mass adoption (talking about people new to crypto).

I don't know if I can mention anything specific I really like about the new wallet because I love everything about it. I am a fan of the avatars although I am hoping there will be more options in the near future. That and custom background (coming soon) is on my wish list. All in all, the ARK Desktop Wallet has everything a great cryptocurrency wallet needs. It's fast, looks slick, and it's super easy to work with.

windrip • December 18, 2018 • Source

The ARK wallet has a lot of great features that make it attractive for users. The design of the wallet is very appealing. Unlike older Bitcoin-derivative wallets that can take days to sync and are very visually unappealing, the ARK wallet is fast and is very attractive. As someone who typically uses mobile devices like cell phones and laptops instead of a desktop workstation, I appreciate the fact that ARK holders are rewarded even when the wallet or computer is offline. Although running a node is an important function on some networks, the ARK DPoS system makes that unnecessary and I think that will be an important implication in the future as blockchain products become more mainstream. I also appreciate the security features in the wallet, such as the ability to prevent screen captures, integration with the Ledger hardware wallet, and the use of two passphrases to withdraw funds. The ARK wallet is well designed and, like with the rest of the project, users can tell that a lot of thought and care has gone into its development.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

This is by far the best wallet in whole crypto space. Easy to use, secure and fast to donwload. v2 wallet have even better interface and some cool new features. Great part is that wallet doesn't have to be constantly online like many others. The best part is how it is ridiculously easy to use which helps futher adoption and eliminates barriers for newcomers into crypto.

Zane_TLI • December 9, 2018 • Source

Hello, Zane from TurboLab.it here. As part of my review activity, I have had the chance to try many different wallets from various projects. Let me say this: the ARK Desktop Wallet is one of the very few of them that I deem 'very good'. Take NavCoin Core (NavCoin desktop wallet) for contrast: since it's a classic PoS coin, it needs to download the whole blockchain locally: a few GB of data, plus a looooong wait for the user. It also tend to corrupt its indexes a lot more then you'd expect. It's ok for me as a tech enthusiast, but it's not going to cut it for the vast majority of people out there.

The Litecoin wallet has the same issues. Another example: Electrum and Electrum-LTC are good SPV wallet that I use myself. Being SPV, there is no need to download the whole blockchain locally. But, still, the interface is... functional. I like it, but regular people expect a lot more polish.

ARK has none of this: the desktop wallet is beatiful, clean, fast and consistent between different platform (I've used it both on Windows and on Ubuntu). Again, is basically ready for the mass market. Exodus is the only other product I saw with this quality level, but it's a 3rd-party multi-coin wallet and not something from a specific project

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

As I am a recent ARK holder I only know the v2 wallet: Its design is quite impressive and its one of the few that I am happy to use everyday.

Like many said, Ledger hardware wallet integration is flawless and it is something required for users with security concerns.

Elgondir • January 4, 2019 • Source

The wallet is just one of the better looking and most intuitive wallets I've seen around other cryptos, and that's exactly what you should aim for when building one.

Even though I don't use it that much since the explorer is just as amazing, the graphs, the notifications, the news, the ease of use with physical wallets, the contacts tab everything is just super smooth and good looking, my only gripe with it is the fact that having an avatar is mandatory, just wish I could hide it or something, but that really minimal when compared to the things it does well.

fortuitous2018 • December 10, 2018 • Source

The ARK Desktop Wallet is the nicest UI of any cryptocurrency wallet I've used. The Ledger Nano S integration works flawlessly. I did take some 'getting used to' the new v2 interface as the v1 has its charms, but now I've had a few days with it, I'm sold in. The ease of use is definitely a great selling point for new users, as I've used other wallets that were cumbersome and require reading frustrating amounts of tutorials/documentation just to get the tokens secured.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

Nice, fancy and working. Especially the options involving voting takes my heart. One of the best desktop wallets I have ever used. Keep up good work!

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

Simply one of the best wallets out there. Or, at least, I have yet to come across a better one. Usually when I am using a crypto wallet, everything is slow and cumbersome to work with but that is not the case with the ARK Desktop Wallet. The user experience is way better and you almost do not realize that you are working with crypto.

This is very important, as it has to be a seamless as possible kind of transition before the masses will start to use it. Seriously, I do not think most people will have a hard time adopting this wallet for their finances. That is remarkable for a crypto wallet.

Mattay252 • December 8, 2018 • Source

Personally, I like the desktop wallet because all you have to do is plug in your Ledger Nano S, open the wallet, and boom, you're in with two default ARK addresses linked to your ledger.

yahtzee_NL • December 10, 2018 • Source

I believe the ARK Desktop Wallet offers a combination of comprehensive functionality, great GUI design and fast operation. It's one of the best experiences using a crypto wallet; seamless and intuitive.

nanikore • January 2, 2019 • Source

I'm currently a member of the ARK Community Committee, and these are my personal thoughts and perspectives. After some experience with other wallets, I was instantly impressed by the ARK Desktop Wallet's user-friendly interface and navigation. Performing on-chain tasks was very easy and intuitive, especially for someone like me who doesn't have much programming experience.

I didn't have to read any online tutorials or watch Youtube videos to figure out how to create an account or send a transaction, which is refreshing and relieves a lot of stress surrounding a potential mistake that could jeopardize ARK. This ease of use is key for adoption, as even an initial bad experience with a wallet or interface could turn away a potential user and adopter.

I'm also impressed with the integration of all services (send/receive, push-button blockchain, purchasing) into a great looking interface. Frequent updates and integration of community proposed features makes it clear that ARK is dedicated to a great user experience!

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

ARK Desktop Wallet is what makes ARK so easy to use and hold. The v2 is magnificent and I couldn't find any disadvantage (after minor fixes in v2.1). Everybody interested in crypto should start with wallet like this which is user friendly. This way more people would be attracted for using crypto (not for sole reason for making money), but actually for using crypto in everyday life.

nooobcakes • December 10, 2018 • Source

I'm a desktop user for all my crypto stuffs- it's my first time installing a mobile wallet (Android) and I must say, I'm quite blown away by the beautiful interface! It is simple, clean and very nice to look at. Some comments: The slightly delayed glow when I press on my pin code is kind of distracting and also not so safe - if someone was staring at my screen they'd have a real good view of what I just entered. Seems to be more of an issue on day mode view only though.

A small explainer when asking people to repeat their secret phrase below would do probably help - my colleague who doesn't know crypto was just saying 'too much trouble' when he saw me do it. But after I explained what it was for he thought it was fine. Otherwise, this is all good! Keep up the good work!

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

I have tried the mobile wallet as well, user interface is clear, smooth and very intuitive. Unfortunately, the mobile wallet lacks a main feature for me (and judging from past comments, I am not the only one): the possibility to use a ledger hardware wallet. Eventually, this functionality will be out someday.

fakoshi • January 7, 2019 • Source

Like the desktop version of the wallet, simply one of the best wallets out there. Or at least I have yet to come across a better one. Usually when I am using a crypto wallet, everything is slow and cumbersome to work with but that is not the case with the ARK Mobile Wallet.

The user experience is way better and you almost do not realize that you are working with crypto. This is very important, as it has to be a seamless as possible kind of transition before the masses will start to use it.

Seriously, I do not think most people will have a hard time adopting this wallet for their finances. That is remarkable for a crypto wallet. In the end, the mobile platform will even be more important than the desktop platform as you can use it basically everywhere.

ledgerdary • December 9, 2018 • Source

The ARK Mobile Wallet is a compact yet quite full-featured program. The GUI is slick and intuitive and compared to other mobile wallets, it offers very fast and fluid operation. Moreover, it can be operated view-only without the passphare as well as containing all feutures using the passphrase. The fact that ARK offers such a well-featured wallet for the mobile platform as well is pretty remarkable. Improvements could be made by matching it closer to the desktop version's features and GUI.

yahtzee_NL • December 10, 2018 • Source

I believe the ARK Mobile Wallet offers a combination of comprehensive functionality, great GUI design and fast operation. It's one of the best experiences using a crypto wallet; seamless and intuitive. Nevertheless, I do have one suggestion for improving the wallet even further. I'd like to see a tab within the wallet that provides an overview of all the (active) delegates.

Preferably a list that can be sorted alphabetically, by ranking of total stake and perhaps even by calculated rewards for your wallet holdings. A small overview of the perks and features per delegate would be a nice addition and perhaps the delegates could even briefly introduce themselves.

All of this doesn't necessarily need to be within the app itself; part of it could be complemented with links. The user should then be able to cast a well-educated vote, conveniently and right from the app's list.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

I've never used mobile wallet before. I tried it today to write this review. Quite good looking, main fatures available, but on my phone there were several glithes (working slow, especialy after locking the screen). I'd rate it 4/5!

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

ARK Mobile Wallet is a tool for massive adoption. Once technology and enviroment (not during heavy bear market) are ready, this wallet could and I hope will be used as ever day tool for paying, sending ARK and fastly exchanging it for any token you like. It is really easy to use and user friendly.

mart187 • December 9, 2018 • Source

Setup and wallet import was effortless. Design and usability is great. Had a bug where my wallet went back to read only. Fingerprint unlock would be appreciated over pin code.

cnnssr • December 11, 2018 • Source

I'm more into the desktop wallet but still, simply one of the best cryptocurrency mobile wallets out there. Smooth operation with lots of functionality. One ARK's aces and a real showcase for the project!

Azure-Infinity • December 9, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. First of all, I would like to mention I haven't used the ARK Mobile Wallet much. I'm personally not a fan of having these kind of things on my phone. I can still form my own opinion about it.

I have only tried the Android version. Setting it up is very simple and every step is well explained. The wallet is very fast, importing is easy and what I find very important is that it just feels great to use in general. The main point I want to talk about is about the design and user interface. I am a big fan of the way ARK has designed it. Everything fits to the screen perfectly.

Even though I am using a much smaller screen compared to the desktop wallet, everything that's important is shown on the screen. Some apps don't do the spacing well and everything is thrown in your face. I am happy to say that the ARK wallet does it right.

MagicPlumber • December 11, 2018 • Source

I've been in crypto for not too long (since last March)- ARK Mobile Wallet v1 was by far the easiest one to use out of all the wallet out there and v2 version is even better the GUI is flawless and very 'grandma' friendly something other crypto should take note of!

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

Being able to use ARK while on the go is great, and this Mobile Wallet allows for just that. Smartphones are gaining more and more dominance over the conventional desktop experience. So having a mobile version is essential to gain adoption. Compared to the desktop version, this one is lacking a little bit, but I hope this will change in time.

It is only the smaller screen real estate that needs to accounted for I would say, because in terms of computing power, most smartphones should do fine at current times. But by all means, keep the app light so that it is not required to have too beefy phones in order to run this app in a decent fashion. That would spoil the experience completely of course. As with all things, there is a balance here.

kalgoop • January 3, 2019 • Source

I feel ARK Mobile Wallet is fancier than other wallets out there. It has great UI but at the same time the app is very slow. Many times, I notice a significant lag between button click and when the action is performed. I think, ionic is responsible for most of the lags. Most of the wallets don't use hybrid apps, they have separate app for Android and iOS. Also, I think many users would prefer a simpler version of app which is more responsive.

Zane_TLI • December 9, 2018 • Source

I'm more of a full-blown, multi-core, big keyboard desktop PC user than a mobile user, but I still tried ARK Mobile Wallet on Android to get a sense of the development. Even I recognize that, in the long run, mobile wallets will be far more important than desktop ones! The experience has been smooth, zero friction and no problems whatsoever. Kudos to you guys for translating it in a good Italian too!

I also liked the entropy collector: very useful but also simple to use. I would love to have the option to unlock with the fingerprint reader instead of the PIN: I know that security-minded people don't trust biometric so much, but even banks app allow fingerprint login nowadays, and I think most of the mobile users will expect this sooner than later.

Please use system APIs: the experience will be consistent and the user won't need to re-register their fingers. Another thing that must be optimized is the voting procedure: it's very hard for someone who is not into ARK understand that he/she must vote for someone and decide who to vote for. On desktop PC it's hard but doable, on mobile... only the geek will do it. Keep up with the good work!

windrip • December 11, 2018 • Source

I actually had never downloaded the ARK Mobile Wallet previously, so I took some time today to download and get acquainted with it. My comments here are the result of my first viewing of the wallet.

The design of the app is beautiful and is what I would have expected from the ARK team. Pretty much the entire experience is intuitive and user friendly and echos the experience I've always had with the desktop wallet. I especially appreciated the extended multi-language and multi-currency options that are available and think it's a great way to acknowledge and respect the international involvement in this project.

One of the minor downsides I noted when viewing the menu selections in the wallet such as Delegates or Settings, is that when I clicked the 'Back' button I was expecting the left-hand option bar to still be visible, but instead it dropped me back into the main account screen. Additionally, in Settings, the 'Privacy Policy' link is the only one that opens up a browser window instead of displaying the information within the app; my suggestion here would be to incorporate the policy into the app like everything else. I assume it's an external link because the policy may change from time to time, but I'm sure there is a method available to pull text from the webpage into the app automatically which would reduce that concern and still allow a smooth UI experience.

It's too bad that the ledger devices do not work with iOS. I do think this is an (unavoidable) impediment since many people in the ARK community use a Ledger to store their keys, and when that is the case there would not be any way to access that same wallet from a mobile device. Overall, the ARK Mobile Wallet appears to be a very solid app and one that I would be comfortable using to store, receive, and send coins on a regular basis.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

Everything I wrote for desktop wallet applies for mobile one also. Desktop wallet is just my personal prefference because I like to view and transact my coins on computer. That will probably change with mass adoption when I will start using ARK in everyday life.

yahtzee_NL • December 12, 2018 • Source

The ARK paper wallet is a convenient and accessible means of free cold storage of your assets. That said, I do prefer the use of the desktop wallet, especially combined with a hardware wallet such as the Ledger Nano S.

fakoshi • January 15, 2019 • Source

So another exchange has just bit the dust... Cryptopia. Another excellent example of 'not your keys, not your crypto'. It proves the importance to keep your ARK and crypto off of the exchange as much as possible. And with simple, free and cold storage available such as a decent paper wallet there really is no excuse anymore not to take charge of your keys.

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

Well, to be honest, even if it seems reasonable to offer the possibility of paper wallet, I really do not think it is essential for everyday use.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

Secure your ARK through easy printing. Period

BroadcastJunkie • December 11, 2018 • Source

Easy to print, great to gift. I know a few people that will be getting some this holiday.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

One of my Christmas presents to my girlfriend this year was an ARK paper wallet. It serves its purpose as a simple way to give some ARK to someone without any extra costs. It is also kind of tangible this way and she really liked it. Now it is up to her to keep it safe and to decide when she wants to do something with it.

I plan on giving more people some ARK paper wallets in the future. More friends are asking me about crypto every day, so I might as well give them an awesome present and even get them involved a little bit at the same time.

Zane_TLI • December 10, 2018 • Source

Zane from TurboLab.it here. First, a word on complex passphrases: I already saw this approach with SPV wallets like Electrum and Exodus (3rd party) and I see a clear value (practicality but also increased security) in a long passphrase instead of a meaningless password composed of a random series of characters. Math is with us!

The paper wallet is a good addition too, and is especially important for a project with a strong incentive to hodl (DPoS) such as ARK. The thing I like the most about it is that it is easy to reach from the official ARK website: try to find a paper wallet for most of other crypto projects and you'll likely put your private key in a scam site (trust me, I know).

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

I personally haven't used the paper or web wallet for actual transactions, but I have tested it in the past. I think the ability to easily create a paper wallet is essential for a project to have. Not everyone has a hardware wallet, but most people who have been around cryptoassets for more than a month or two are interested in securing their keys offline, so the ability to create a paper wallet while offline is important and I am glad that is in place for ARK.

cnnssr • December 11, 2018 • Source

Regarding the paper wallet, I think it's a great way to give a relative some ARK to get them into the project / crypto in general. If you can afford a hardware wallet, I think this upgrade is definitely worthwhile.

coin6236 • January 4, 2019 • Source

BIP-39 passphrase is practically bulletproof and foolproof, paper wallet could be a good gift to introduce some newcomers, but I personally prefer desktop wallet which is superior and easier to use.

Mattay252 • December 11, 2018 • Source

The ARK explorer is handy. I rarely log in to my wallet. When I want to check my balances, or see what I got for voting rewards, I just have an ARK explorer page in my favorites.

ledgerdary • December 12, 2018 • Source

In terms of convenience, the ARK explorer beats even the dektop wallet app in some instances. For validating or searching for transactions, checking my balance and finding statistics, I think I use the explorer more often than the app!

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

I can check my wallets and their status anytime, anywhere. It works comparable to the ARK Desktop Wallet, without the need to install something. Navigation is very easy as almost everything is a link. Just click your way through the ARK Explorer, how great is that?

It also shows you which delegate has the vote of the particular wallet, which can be used for reference. It is all native, runs like a charm and looks drop dead gorgeous. What is not to like here? It is very refreshing, compared to some shady third party blockchain explorers that some other cryptos have.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

ARK Explorer is simple and to the point. The size of the graph, the size and colors of the numbers/letters, all the information shown (only showing what is necessary) such are price, transactions, links, etc transforms simplicity into beauty. The UI of the ARK Explorer is clean, very clean really.

In the community driven ARK Explorer and other pages containing stats, I can also see the beauty in simplicity. It seems this trait flows from the ARK team into the community (delegates and users). There is no much to say but that it is 'beautiful, clean, nice, clear'. Certainly, a great input by the community too! I have use both ARK Explorers and the other webpages with stats and they are very reliable I must say. When I use these resources, I always think about 'cleanness, clearness, fluidity, peace of mind, clarity of thought'.

yahtzee_NL • December 11, 2018 • Source

One of the fundamentals of blockchain technology is open accessibility and transparency. A well-functioning blockchain explorer is therefore paramount for every cryptocurrency. In my opinion, ARK does provide a very decent explorer. It offers great functionality, design and intuitive operation. It's also very fast, and allows for instant tracking and validation of transactions. Furthermore, tracking different delegates to see their payments for staking voters is very convenient. One can easily see how often they send payments, the amount they pay and a comprehensive overview of some key statistics. Again, all very transparent.

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

Well, transparency is an essential part of any cryptocurrency system, and clearly, an explorer is needed. ARK explorer design is clean and completely aligned with other ARK products (wallets and website). Setting options like currencies, dark and light themes, language are welcome. Top wallet and delegate monitor menus are nice and easy to access.

Elgondir • January 4, 2019 • Source

ARK explorer is easy to access, it looks amazing, and is really transparent with the info it shows, all good and fundamental characteristics to have on a blockchain explorer.

It's amazing how easy it is to use, and how easy it is to understand whatever it shows us, no matter our knowledge background. The fact we have such easy access to whatever delegates are doing, whatever transactions they are doing, their uptime, etc, shows how incredible this all is.

auser8 • December 11, 2018 • Source

ARK Explorer is a powerful tool when coupled with the Ledger Nano S. View my delegate stake node and keep tabs on performance. View my current balance. Quickly determine if I have the correct ratio of withdrawls to deposits. Does not access the hardware wallet, best security.

Zane_TLI • December 11, 2018 • Source

I probably use ARK Explorer even more than the actual app itself. I put the address of my wallet in, saved the bookmark et voilà, every time I feel like taking a look at my ARK it's there, without the need to input the password into the wallet or install it on all of my devices. This is a must for me, because I prefer to not install crypto wallet on my phone for extended period of time (I usually do it just to take a look at the software and get a grasp of the improvements being made).

The explorer bookmark I mentioned is a even better solution for me. So far it always worked as expected, nothing to report there. The interface is slick an I really appreciate the time you took to put up a 1st party explorer instead of forcing us to rely on ad-ridden 3rd party websites.

nanikore • January 2, 2019 • Source

I'm currently a member of the ARK Community Committee, and these are my personal thoughts and perspectives. The official ARK explorer is extremely easy to use and provides the all-important interface to allow anyone and everyone to see what happens on the blockchain.

The delegate monitor is excellent and is a perfect place to observe the current delegate landscape and see how they are performing. I'm interested in how the official explorer will monitor and track sidechains created with the push-button feature in the future, and excited to see how that will be integrated into the current explorer system.

fakoshi • January 8, 2019 • Source

This is one of the few native blockchain explorers (which is actually good) out there. I like the fact that there is no other party acting as a middleman or interfering at any way. This increases the sense of safety and saves a lot of ad spamming. It is accessible from virtually anywhere, as long as you have an internet connection.

So with this explorer you can check your ARK without installing anything. The ARK Explorer features all functions one might need, at least I am having a hard time coming up with something that is missing. It looks very good and operates smoothly. I also like the dark theme for the ARK Explorer, which is easier on the eyes in the evening and at night.

windrip • January 1, 2018 • Source

I love the official ARK Explorer. It is beautiful, easy to use, and works well. I generally use the explorer to check delegate payouts and I visit the Delegate Monitor from time to time as well to see the status of the various delegates.

ARKjd • December 11, 2018 • Source

Tools such as ARK Explorer are incredibly useful when it comes to documenting information and providing transparency within the ecosystem. It is assuring to be able to use the information within ARK Explorer to search by delegates and see how payments are being sent out. I have had the same delegate for the last 8 months and during that time I have come to value their professionalism.

They are always active on Slack, they regularly host contests, and they have a good level of involvement within the community.

That being said, I trust this delegate and that is why they have my vote. However, it is nice to know that there is a resource that is easily accessible and has all the information regarding transactions and how they are being sent.

While many communities have block explorers for similar purposes, I feel that the key feature is user interface. The UI in ARK Explorer is smooth and easy to navigate. I feel anyone with minimal computer skills can track down the information they need. Thus, if my grandmother needs to check on delegate transactions or if she wants to get a history of her own transactions, I feel that she would be in good hands with ARK.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

It has everything what is needed for blockchain explorer. It should be a standard for every project.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK explorer is a very useful tool for checking transactions (although not always necessary because my coins are sent and received in wallet in just few seconds :) ) Sometimes I check delegates current stack real quick and thing like that.

Azure-Infinity • December 11, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I love ARK Explorer! It is probably my favorite tool of the ecosystem. I have searched transactions quite a few times. It is also useful to look up delegates and see if they done any recent payouts. It works quick and everything is easy to find, exactly what you would expect. I think with v2 they also do the updates now of votes so you can see if a wallet voted/unvoted for a delegate. I like that.

cnnssr • December 12, 2018 • Source

The ARK explorer is simply one of the best blockchain explorers out there. I use it almost daily!

kalgoop • January 3, 2019 • Source

It's a beautiful way where new users can see track new transactions to their wallets in their browsers. Explorer works perfectly on mobile devices too making it further more useful.

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

ARK Explorer is like public library of ARK. There, I can check every transaction I am interested in and quickly make sure that everything arrived to its destination (address). It looks astonishing like any asspect of ARK's interface and that aspect makes whole project more desirable to use and participate into it.

cnnssr • December 14, 2018 • Source

Before the v2 Core upgrade, I had been looking into ARK as one of my 'short list' blockchain related project for almost a month. For some reason, I had postponed making a decision on which of those to get (more) involved in (in my defense I am already in a lot of different projects).

When I heard about the upcoming upgrade of the system, I decided to watch it more closely. I was very pleased to follow the planning and execution of this upgrade. This demonstrated the capabilities and devotion of the team and community of ARK to such an extent, that it pulled me over the line. I immediately subscribed to the various channels for ARK and bought my first stack.

Now I am still learning a lot mostly, but I am grateful I'm finally in at least. In hindsight, this v2 Core upgrade seems to have been even more overdue, but I am very glad it is here now. Dynamic fees for the win!

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

The ARK Core v2 upgrade opens a lot of new potential pathways. It clears the road for larger scale operations and makes it more attractive to enterprises. It was nice to see it being planned and executed without any real apparent problems. This makes me confident that ARK knows what they are doing and are also very skilled.

And before I forget, the lower fees were overdue but are very welcome now of course, as well as voting with no fees but a small transaction fee. Before this upgrade I thought it was simply just too expensive to change a vote, particularly for accounts with smaller holdings.

ledgerdary • December 13, 2018 • Source

The ARK Core v2 upgrade was a very important one. It opens up several new pathways for further development of the platform and I'm very fond of the dynamic fees. There was a clear roadmap leading up to the upgrade and it was nicely executed according to the schedule. It all happened smooth and pretty seamless. This all clearly demonstrates skill and professionalism of the team.

Zane_TLI • December 15, 2018 • Source

Hi, Zane from TurboLab.it here. I was a strong supporter of ARK with v1 already, but v2 really takes it to the next level. Let me explain why. Another project I keep a close eye on is NULS, which focus on modular, swappable components. ARK was missing this. No longer! I'm a professional developer myself, and I always make a big deal about modular design, because I know first hand how hard it is to maintain and upgrade monolithic software project! ARK v2 should fix this and with the new design it should be easy to upgrade both the ARK Core itself and the custom projects built on it.

I'm also very interested in the plugin system, but I didn't have a chance to go deep with it yet. What else? the upgrade from 50 to 150 tx per block! Holy cow! SQLite for mempool: always been a supporter of it, since version 2.x (I still have some legacy line-of-business application running strong on it!). Performances: check. Scalability: check. Are they needed now? Not really, but it's important to see this kind of forward-looking focus, especially in a bear market like this.

Dynamic fees are of course a big deal for end users, but I think it's a bit irrelevant today. Waaaaaay more important for me are the new APIs: abstracting away complexities is always important, and if any of them make it actually easier to develop it's well worth the effort.

kevinti • January 4, 2019 • Source

ARK v2 is a great way of going forward. It shows real progress for ARK and can be a first starting point towards the next goals in Q1 . To me especially, the new wallet and dynamic fees were something to look forward to, and I have not been disappointed. The wallet actually looks amazing.

yahtzee_NL • December 13, 2018 • Source

This upgrade was very valuable and was executed both smoothly and professionally. With the dynamic fees, I now have the option to send with either high transaction speed or low transaction cost as the main priority. If an option for sending at the lowest accepted transaction fee is implemented, it would be even better.

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

I am no expert nor a technical guy, but I do know project roadmaps are always ambitious, sometimes with excess. ARK v2 is an impressive release not only because of the technical achievements, but also because we are dealing here with a committed team and constant innovation in order to push the project forward more and more. That is one the nicest aspect of ARK project.

fakoshi • January 8, 2019 • Source

I feel a little like Mr. Right Place Right Time with respect to the ARK v2 upgrade. Right around the time I joined the ARK Subreddit, the upgrade was being carried out. It all appeared to happen without any hiccups and before I knew it, there was this even better ecosystem. Just looking at the parameters of both systems, it is needless to say that the lower fees were more than welcome.

Transactions and voting are very cheap now. Before the upgrade I thought voting and unvoting was too expensive (please note from the perspective of having a small amount of ARK in the staking wallet). Dynamic fees are the icing on the cake and make the system even more flexible.

Mattay252 • December 13, 2018 • Source

Well, I know that ARKv2 makes ARK the first DPoS coin to have dynamic fees. This is a pretty cool accomplishment. In my opinion, ARK is the only DPoS coin to get it right.

windrip • December 18, 2018 • Source

I remember reading about ARK v2 a year or so ago and the rumor was that it was going to be released 'soon.' It's always interesting to watch the development cycles in software projects, and although the v2 mainnet wasn't released as soon as expected, I kept up to date with the progress meters on the ARK website and looked forward to the final release.

Now that the new version is live, it's excellent evidence of the skill and commitment of the ARK team to accomplish the goals they set forth. Very few projects in the crypto space actually have their own blockchain that they have coded from the ground up, so it is very positive to see that the ARK team undertook this monumental task and has completed the task as promised!

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

It was really nice to see that ARK team keeps with their promises (unlike Lisk's like 10 failed rebrandings every few months). Migration went pretty smooth as far as I know and new wallet is fantastic and enjoyable to use. Dynamic fees are a cool concept, especially for smaller holders so they don't burn big part of their holdings just to transact coins.

Azure-Infinity • December 13, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Before I start talking about v2, I want to say I thought v1 was alright. The team thought differently and decided to rewrite the whole core from scratch.

Not too long ago, we clearly saw the problems v1 was having and v2 couldn't come soon enough! From what I see and read, others say is that v2 is amazing. It came with a brand new desktop wallet which blew me away. I was not nervous for the v1 to v2 transition at all because I know what the team is capable of. I did expect some hiccups at most. I think the delegates pressed a button and it worked! Smoothly too I might add!

I am not someone to dive into the code. I guess I can read through it and roughly understand what is going on. The most noticeable thing for me are the dynamic fees because I frequently send and receive ARK. My first transaction was done here on Reddit using the ARKTippr bot. This happened with a fee of 0.002 ARK (before: 0.1 ARK). Now it's even 0.000002 ARK. How sweet is that?

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

When the Core v2 was published I was like 'Yay!' because I am also a Lisker, and at this point, I have very strong disbelief in new Lisk core, so ARK core v2 poured some honey to my broken heart. Core development is most important for cryptocurrencies in my point of view.

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

ARK v2 is a blast. Transition didn't go without problems (I assume because of some delays and exhanges weren't compatible so quick), but I understand that it is not easy process and minor problems are expected. Everything was read quite fast actually. Dynamic fees are excellent upgrade so everybody can choose how much they want to pay for transactions (and delegates can choose if that fee is OK for them) so the fees should not be problem for ARK (like they are for most coins) in the future.

BroadcastJunkie • December 13, 2018 • Source

It was the true reason why I picked ARK out of all the rest. The vision of connecting chains together made the most sense.

Azure-Infinity • December 14, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I think interopability is one of the key features when it comes to the ARK Ecosystem. I think this will be huge eventually. It will most likely take a while before we see more connected chains but think of all the possibilities. I really like the vendor field in the transactions. It makes it easier to find certain transactions or remembering what the transaction was used for. There is so much to it.

I am not 100% sure but I think I have used ACES before. Delegate Goose had a tool on his website where you could exchange some ARK in return of Persona. It was a very quick and smooth transaction.

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

ACES and Smartbridge Technology is something that is probably a bit difficult for newcomers to wrap their heads around, even when there are helpful graphics and explanations on the topic.

I think 'interoperability' is a more commonly used term that would give listeners the gist of what it is about. If I had to summarize the technology to a newcomer, I would explain it as a technology that allows activation of events and smart contracts on other blockchain platforms.

I've watched some of the videos on ACES and it is really an interesting and bold concept, and it's cool that it has already been demonstrated to work although it's not really publicized much these days. I am hopeful that once ArkVM is complete, it will help to speed up the development and adoption of this technology.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

Creating Smartbridge Technology and binding all important blockchains together is the essence of this project and the whole crypto universe. If ARK manages to do that in the future, it has really great chance of becoming Internet 2.0 and the next big thing. Looking foward to see how this idea pans out, but personally was never so fascinated and impatient to see results in technological advencement of the world as I am now.

CryptoMC • December 13, 2018 • Source

I think ACES is very important for the blockchain space. Beside coverting ARK to coin X, it also can convert ARK to Ethereum or Bitcoin (blockchains no built on ARK). It also works the other way around. This way of converting coins is something that might be really helpful for retail business.

Basically, you can convert your ARK into any mainstream coin with ACES so basically you can buy anything with ARK. Your ARK is converted in the background to the coin the seller wants. The buyer on the other end wont notice a thing and just pays with ARK. ACES can be very powerful if used by many.

Zane_TLI • December 14, 2018 • Source

Hi, Zane from TurboLab.it here. Blockchain is clearly in its infancy (just take a look at other projects' terrible wallet experience!) but in the future it will reach mass adoption. I'm not so sure I'll personally see that day, but I'm confident that my son and daughter will at least use some kind of distributed ledger digital currency with the same ease and frequency I myself use Paypal today: not a replacement for fiat, but an alternative and widespread way to pay.

But this can't happen without some kind of cross-chain communication: if I, a customer, prefer to use coin X while the merchant I want to buy from only accept coin Y, we need a bridge to handle the conversion automatically. Same thing with smart contract end even with all the new semi-private and private software project that will rise: some connector will be badly needed.

I'm a developer and I do a lot of system integration in my daily job, so I've first-hand experience in how much request we see for cross-communication between different systems (and how hard/unreliable it could be due to multiple single points of failure). ACES seems like an excellent idea to connect all this in a portable and powerful way. I really hope that one day we'll see ARK at the center of all.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

Smartbridge Technology is what gained my most interest in ARK. I see it as the biggest advantage of ARK comparing to other platforms.

Mattay252 • December 14, 2018 • Source

The concept of SmartBridges is one of the things that intruiged me about ARK, once I came to understand it. I like to visualize a future where you can use ARK to do anything on other blockchains. For example, you get your voting rewards, and use it to send someone a transaction in Bitcoin. Or you could just own ARK, and use it to create transactions on one of the many future ARK sidechains.

debotsauto • December 16, 2018 • Source

For me, this was making a big difference in July 2017. In all businesses, there is always one that is ‘gluing' the others together. While it is an comparator, or a booking platform for all hotel bookings platform. If a business goes well, this kind of glue always pops up. Because we people are lazy and don't want to own a trillion coins.

Knowing that there is a tool that potentially glues all cryptos together in a fantastically orchestrated wallet, my cue to support this team was ready : ).

Critical note: I find it sad the focus on this project has changed a little. We went from interoperability to the point click blockchain ecosystem, where of course the vendor field has its place. But I think being that hub between other non ARK crypto has still a lit of potential too! : ). Though I must say I understand their choice. It will be much harder to get crypto partnerships than a great ecosystem, I think

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

This is the main feature wh I love ARK. If (when) blockchain technology succeds, it will be necessary for blockchains to communicate with each other, creating one massive (but again seperate) systems (databases). There is no purpose of hundreds of separate blockchains being incompatible to 'work' together.

cnnssr • December 14, 2018 • Source

The Smartbridge Technology is what separates ARK from the herd. Being able to connect and interface with other blockchains, it's just awesome!

ledgerdary • December 15, 2018 • Source

For me, the Smartbridge Technology was one of the crucial features that distinguished ARK from its competitors. With an abundance of emerging blockchains, I think interoperability will be paramount. Communication between different chains seems like invaluable functionality to me. Particularly if they are able to exchange not only information but also currencies / value.

The plans for the ARK Contract Execution Services (ACES: a beautiful abbreviation if you ask me) are very ambitous and have a high potential I believe. When planned and executed right, this can be yet another ace (pun intended) in the large ARK arsenal.

I am confident, though, that the ARK team, developers and community will be able to knock this one out of the park. Time will only tell its true impact of course. Very exciting indeed.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

The Smartbridge Technology and the ARK Contract Execution Services that ARK envisions are what got me interested in ARK in the first place. It makes ARK quite unique and it is the most profound reason for me to believe in ARK. Communication between different ledgers will become more important over time if you ask me. And therefore, ARK will not easily become obsolete in the future.

ARK Contract Execution Services are an elegant way to listen and execute on activation on a different chain. Creating all these blockchains was one of the main trends of the previous years. Let us see if the linking and communication of some of these chains will become a main feature for ARK in 2019.

yahtzee_NL • December 14, 2018 • Source

I think the Smartbridge Technology will allow for catalysis into mass adoption of this ecosystem. In the end, various blockchains and other crypto-related projects will have to start communicating with each other. That's where ARK comes in. Very promising!

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

We need such openness and interoperability between blockchains in the crypto world: In my opinion, this is a huge milestone toward democratization and seeing it being part of ARK project vision tells a lot in my book.

fakoshi • January 8, 2019 • Source

I think the SmartBridge technology together with the ARK Contract Execution Services are among the most important things ARK has going for it: one of the main reasons I like ARK so much is because it is trying to integrate blockchain platforms. While all these crypto projects try to come up on top, ARK realises that there will be more than one that will get adopted in the end.

Therefore, in the end, the remaining cryptos will need to work and communicate together. Being able to exchange not only instructions but also value is very exciting to say the least. The ARK Contract Execution Services can also listen to other chains to trigger actions registered in their underlying smart contracts. This complements the modularity of ARK and its sidechains very nicely.

There are a lot of incentives for businesses to launch a sidechain off of the ARK main chain. Just wait for it...

Azure-Infinity • December 15, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Push-button blockchain is going to be huge! Blockchains are quite easy to understand but not easy to build. I don't think many businesses who are interested in the technology are going to sit and wait around to develop a blockchain from scratch.

It is risky and costs a lot of money, unless they decide to go for something open source, like ARK! However, even if it is free and open source, it doesn't mean it will be a walk in the park to set everything up the way they want. ARK has ARK Deployer to easily deploy blockchains but if you read the current documentation I wouldn't be surprised if you will get stuck fairly quickly.

One of the awesome things ARK is working on is the GUI (graphical user interface) for ARK Deployer. The goal is to make launching your own blockchain very simple. It should be so easy that a company can deploy their own blockchain in just minutes. They decide the settings and they can pick the plugins they wish to use for their project.

ledgerdary • December 15, 2018 • Source

Blockchain technology is very promising and shows a lot of potential, especially in the long term. However, it is also still all very novel. We are still at the early stages within the crypto space. Although, in crypto, everything seems to move relatively quickly, it will still take a long time to reach mass adoption.

For many, blockchain and crypto are too abstract and metaphysical right now. Therefore, I think many potential users, being individuals or institutions, are restraint from this beautiful opportunity. Luckily, not only time is able to change this I think. I do believe adoption of all this great technology can be accelerated by making it accessible and as conveniently implementable as possible.

Companies (and most notably the larger ones) are usually not too fond of change or adaptation of protocols. However, with push button deployment that could be executed by their own programmers / staff without too much effort, this barrier is greatly reduced.

ARK is trying to accomodate these kinds of convenient implementations and are thus making themselves more eligible for adoption. Moreover, with a graphical user interface (GUI) on the roadmap, the barrier could be lowered even more.

Ideally, the process of deploying of personal blockchains becomes so easy that even small bussiness owners and the average Joe with nearly no programming proficiency or even no programming capabilities at all should be able to do it. I think ARK is currently making excellent progress towards this objective and I have high hopes that they will be able to make it work in the long run.

cnnssr • December 15, 2018 • Source

Like ARK, blockchain and crypto are still very much in infancy. But I actually think that is amazing, because it means this is all just the beginning. Nevertheless, most people and companies have yet to get used to their revolutionary capabilities and even more to their novel way of implementation.

Moving from a known space into an unknown space will always happen slowly and particularly with large multinationals. The incentive must be great or the barrier should be sufficiently low. That is why I really like the fact that ARK is working on improving the convenience of deploying new chains. They apparently see that it is very important to make a transition or a regular adoption of their technology as easy as possible. And I commend ARK and their team for that.

It is decisions and ambitions like this that seem to completely match with my vision in more and more instances. They also make me really glad that I am a part of this platform now. Keep it up guys!

Zane_TLI • December 18, 2018 • Source

When I first studied ARK in 2017, the ability to create SmartBridges was the aspect I was mostly interested in (with DPoS being an excellent consensus model, and a strong/good incentive to hold). SmartBridges are still a strong proposition: I still believe there is a need to find a way to make various blockchains interoperable (that's why I also follow ICON closely).

But the lack of Solidity developers and the ramping up requests for talents in blockchain development clearly demonstrates that enterprises are warming up for transition to a blockchain model (not everyone will succeed and there are many kind of business that are perfectly served by centralized solutions, but I digress..).

Now: as Wordpress demonstrated, most use cases are perfectly served by a standard platform. For those who need more, plugins and various kind of modules/extensions are good enough. Of course there will always be that specific use-case where a custom solution is really needed, but a standard platform will cover most scenarios.

The ARK Deployer looks FANTASTIC for this: I didn't have the chance to try hands-on yet, but I hope will be my project for the Christmas holidays (my wife will be thrilled when she'll find a ARK-ready virtual machine under the tree)

fakoshi • January 8, 2019 • Source

If anything is going to accelerate mass adoption of ARK or crypto in general, it is going to be ease of use. So in this case, considering the push button blockchains, it really cannot get any easier than this now, can it? If an enterprise can just launch their project by something as simple as a single push of a button (be it literal or as a matter of speech), the barrier is as low as it can be.

To be honest, I am really looking into a use case for our company. It would be really cool to show my boss at some point what ARK can do and when he hesitates, I will just point out the convenience of the implementation. There will be no reasons not to like it anymore. No more wasting of time, just use it. Would be great if that could become a reality in the near future.

cambo666 • December 17, 2018 • Source

I am a delegate speaking in my personal opinion. ARK's Push Button Blockchain (PBB)/Point Click Blockchain (PCB) is the integral piece of the ARK vision that, in my opinion, will solidify and bring the ARK Ecosystem into fruition. The ARK main chain will be like the artery of the ecosystem, and all of the bridgechains will connect to it and flow back into it, almost like a dendritic pattern, some connecting to one another, others not.

One of the biggest hurdles of entering the blockchain space is the steep learning curve involved. Most companies can say, 'Okay, we need to hire developers to do XYZ, go find them.', and it can be done.

The same company would be very hard pressed to be able to find developers to execute a blockchain project efficiently. PCB helps eliminate that barrier. Making it easier for entities (who've determined blockchain is a good solution for their case) to break down that wall and utilize this awesome technology.

Getting started with something new is typically one of the more challenging things to do, as a person, business, or otherwise, Push Button Blockchain will start it for them. I can't wait to see it.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

Push Button Blockchains will be significant for value of whole ARK Ecosystem. Simplicity will be very needed for developing blockchain technology, and what is more simple than a few clicks? However, this concept have to be built carefully to avoid major bugs and malicious behaviour of any kind. Also, I think that team should smehow find bigger role for ARK token while others make new blockchains so value and need for ARK will increase and make it irreplacable in blockchain industry.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 19, 2018 • Source

So let me get this straight, it might one day be possible to lauch a chain of the ARK blockchain with the push of a button? That sounds very ambitious, but if they can manage it is also one of the greatest devolopments in crypto so far. This sounds like reaching for mass adoption and could result in a lot of new opportunities!

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

This concept is revolutionary in crypto space and will probably be very important in the future. This will be one of the most important tools for mass adoption if crypto will have success as a whole (it is still to early to tell whether it will or not). If team will make this easy and most important 100% safe, this will be a jackpot and ARK project will became one of the most important ecosystems in the world.

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

I really like the fact that ARK is developing tools that business and groups will be able to use to easily create their own blockchain. At the same time, I am cautious in my optimism, since there really are a lot of options out there that groups could use for a similar purpose.

Long term, I think it will come down to a number of factors- ease of use, options available on the platform, reliability, etc. I have been impressed so far with ARK's ability to execute and deliver in these areas, so I look forward to seeing continued advancements in the future.

yahtzee_NL • December 15, 2018 • Source

One of the main contemporary struggles of blockchain and crypto is aspiring adoption and draw users towards the platform. Ease of use plays a key role here, and at the moment it seems that most projects are just too technical for most people. Making the technology more accessible would result in more and more inclusion, I believe.

The fact that ARK is aiming for improving this ease of use is very reassuring. If they can manage to make deployment possible with almost just the push of a button, they can really help with increasing the usability and it would allow for exponential growth.

kalgoop • January 3, 2019 • Source

In recent times, it has become really easy to create smart contracts on various blockchains. (Which I feel is similar to bridgechains) I don't think there is a big audience for push button Blockchain. This feature is really too much hyped by the community.

Mattay252 • December 16, 2018 • Source

I do think that allowing so many programming languages is one of the things that makes ARK superior to its 'competitors'. Why focus your platform on one language exclusively when you can can cater to all of them.

Presence_Numerique • December 30, 2018 • Source

Well, eighteen programming languages supported paves the way for welcoming developers from different contexts and habits. This is an aspect that eases the process of having a large community of contributors that will enrich the ARK project. On the back side, I wonder if maintaining such a number of developing environments is not some sort of brake for software evolution and product costs. If it is the case, a balance has to be found.

Jenci_ • January 13, 2019 • Source

Variety of programming languages is very important so every competent programmer who wants to participate in this project can. I knew that ARK has more than few languages to develop in, but didn't have clue that this number is almost at 20. I am actually pretty fascinated because this is far more than majority of other projects.

Good job and congratulations to ARK team and community, which have tremendous vision and focus on most important asspects in developing a product, and not solely on hype and marketing like most other over-hyped coins which will probably be dead in few years without delivering anything.

ledgerdary • December 16, 2018 • Source

I must say, I am impressed. I did not know that ARK supported such a vast number of programming languages. Up to now, I do not think I have ever seen any other crypto project that offered so many options for contributing coding work. This comprehensive list makes the changes that it includes a random programmer's favorite language rather large. Therefore, almost any programmer can easily contribute here. So again, I did not know ARK programming was able to accommodate 18 different languages, but I really like it and I think it makes it that much more inclusive.

Zane_TLI • December 18, 2018 • Source

Hi, Zane from TurboLab.it here. I'm a full-time professional developer today, but a few years back I also worked in enterprises sales, so let me tell you this: enterprises are slow to adopt new technology.

Part of the reason is because adopting something new implies a lot of risk (what if something doesn't work anymore and we can't go back?), but also because finding talented, skilled developer and system specialists in the specific technology you are looking at is very hard. The problem is: development is intrinsically difficult, and reading a ton of books and guides is not enough.

To be a good developer or system administrator, you also need a lot of practice and experience. So I'm not surprised when someone finds a vulnerability here or there: we are all playing with the newest stuff, with very little (and personal) collective experience whatsoever.

Having an SDK in your native language is a HUGE help in this. Suddenly, developer and system operators don't need to learn something new altogether, but they can rely in the language (and tools!) they are already skilled with to do something new. To give an example: I'm working with Magento these days. At the beginning, it was new for me and it was a nightmare, but my 10+ years of experience with PHP, MySQL, Apache and the lot allowed me to be productive from almost day one.

I think that SDKs in multiple, already established language are really the way to go. That, together with something as ARK Deployer, could really kickstart a project with a clear advantage over other crypto-project.

fakoshi • January 10, 2019 • Source

So many programming languages! Let us just say, it is such a vast number that even I can do several of them. So now there really are no excuses for me not do contribute my humble coding skills anymore, are there? On a more serious note though: this is what I would call a very proper list of options. It is remarkable to say the least.

My previous statement supports the case I think that nearly any programmer can provide some of his coding to this ecosystem. That makes it very convenient to find people to help out with the progression and development of the ARK code. No wonder why ARK has achieved so much in the last year. There must be a legion of coders at work.

yahtzee_NL • December 16, 2018 • Source

Well, I guess I learned something today: ARK SDK libraries support up to 18 different programming languages. That is very remarkable and I have not seen any other project with such a extensive list of compatible languages. Great that programmers here have so many options to choose from if they want to contribute to the platform. The only downside I can think of is that collaboration between different programmers can become cumbersome at times.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

It's nice to have many launguages instead of choosing one, so the number of possible developers is huge and thats make difference sometimes (take look at number of developers in dead windows phone versus android for example).

cnnssr • December 15, 2018 • Source

Although blockchain has become more than just a basic line of code, this code is still the core of the technology. Evidently, this means that in order to advance and develop, programmers have to contribute and to keep contributing. Since there are countless different ways to program in just as many languages, it can sometimes be hard to find enough proficient people. Particularly in a niche such as crypto and even more so when it involves a proprietary language.

Personally, I have decent proficiency in coding various programming languages, but I have already quite often not been able to contribute to Github repositories of projects because they used profoundly different code. Looking at the list of compatible languages for contributing to the ARK platform, this is a whole other story. It shows several languages that I can code in or at least understand the basics of.

The variety of the list allows for the inclusion of lots of developers from different backgrounds to be able to contribute. It is great to see that ARK has made adding value to the project so accessible, and I believe that this leads to diversified teams and contributions. Currently, since I am still quite new here, I am exploring in which way I can best devote my humble programming skills to ARK!

Azure-Infinity • December 16, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I remember last year I was interested in a project which was being built in JavaScript. I liked it. Then I found another project which was being built in C#.

Not very long after, I found this beautiful project called ARK which back then supported 16 different programming languages. I was like: WHAT!? I do some basic coding myself (HTML, CSS, C#, JavaScript, PHP) for websites and game development. The cool thing about most programming languages is that they're quite similar.

This doesn't mean that once you learn one programming language you automatically understand most of the other languages. It can be tricky and there is a lot to it. When you can choose between different languages you will pick the one you're most comfortable with. I am going to repeat myself slightly but I have to: ARK supports 18 different programming languages. Let that sink in. 18!

Any programmer who wants to do build something on the ARK Ecosystem can start right away because it's very likely their favorite language is already supported. They may have to go through some documentation to understand the foundation of the ecosystem but from there they're set to go. Big and true.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

That is one big list of programming languages ARK has there. Is there a crypto project that accommodates more different languages out there? It seems like with ARK it does not really matter which coding language you like, ARK will support it. Almost every coder should be able to start working on some codes without any difficulty. That is probably why ARK has such a high activity in its repos compared to most projects.

dead4586 • December 16, 2018 • Source

IMHO, ARK has an advantage due to the multi-language SDKs they have.

windrip • December 18, 2018 • Source

I've always been impressed with the number of languages that are available with ARK's library. The number of available options opens doors to a wider variety of programmers who want to get involved and write code in a language they are already familiar with. I think this is a great benefit for the community- skilled programmers can get involved with less research and preparation and this can be a big benefit for the ecosystem as it continues to grow in the years to come.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

This is really impressive. It is really great that developers skilled in different languages can participate in developing ARK project and only restricted few. This is the way to go to attract great capable people to ARK's team. Plus, every language has it's own benefits, so every aspect of ARK project can be developed in the easiest and high-quality fashion.

cnnssr • December 17, 2018 • Source

Smart contracts are obviously far from novel in the crypto space, and they have been the cornerstone for many projects for some time now. In order to separate themselves from the herd, I think ARK should come up with something rather elaborate with significant added value. Still, in disregard of other projects, it could unlock new use cases for ARK.

Now in regards to the Interplanetary File System module (epic name by the way), that is much more exciting to me. Although there are already several projects working on decentralized storage, I think it is a very useful addition to ARK's ecosystem. And, if it is developed correctly, ARK could outperform the competition by integrating it with all its other features.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

The way I see it, ArkVM is a feature needed: Smartcontracts are a way to disrupt economy, so ARK project has to offer this flexibility. Also, choosing an environment allowing simple portage with Ethereum blockchain smart contracts, for example, is another good step for adoption. As for IPFS, well, if we want a whole decentralized ecosystem, it is clearly something you have to embark.

Azure-Infinity • December 17, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Every platform allowing you to build a blockchain on top of it should have smart contracts. In my opinion these are essential to have. With smart contracts you won't rely on middlemen. I personally never used smart contracts myself but I think that will change in the near future.

ARKVM is going to be a huge feature and it's something that the ARK Ecosystem is currently missing. IFPS, a secure file sharing system, is another feature that the ARK Ecosystem lacks at the moment and really needs.

Zane_TLI • December 18, 2018 • Source

As a developer, I know that moving from one system to another is generally a pain. Even if we know that something else is better, the effort and cost associated to the migration is always huge. So the ability to move a Solidity Smart Contract from the Ethereum network in a easy way is a big win: a project looking for more performance, for example, can switch it's base to the ARK system without having to re-write everything from scratch.

But what I'm really looking forward are SmartBridges and the ability to let people exchange value ('everything', really) from their favorite coin to another, totally unrelated but preferred from the receiving part.

Siacoin, Filecoin and all the distributed file storage technology such as IPFS are another interesting proposition: censor-resistant, fault-tolerant, possibly anonymous and cheaper to the centralized alternative (there is so much more offer then demand right now that the Siacoin team discourages to setup new nodes to those that are just looking for profit).

___AirWick___ • December 17, 2018 • Source

Great points. ARK desperately needs VM, and IPFS additionally would be amazing. I'm really hoping they can get both of these out by EOY 2019.

ledgerdary • December 17, 2018 • Source

Since the dawn Ethereum, smart contracts have become a crucial integral part of blockchain technology. These smart contracts allow for a form of autonomy of the blockchain without third party interventions. A form of self regulation, if you will. With smart contracts, conditional transactions are also possible.

In short, they are a proven technology with even more yet unlocked potential. However, the Ethereum platform is far from perfect and suffers from significant scalability issues. Enter ARK. Solving this could be a great opportunity for this platform.

ARK has aimed for a lean and efficient ledger that may have an edge over Ethereum's ledger. ARK is also very accessible, as I already described in previous topics. Add to that the fact that it is possible to port ERC-20 projects seamlessly and almost effortlessly to this platform, and we may have a serious competitor here. Lastly, the Interplanetary File System module is new to me, but still sounds very promising.

Decentralized and redundant storage has always spoken to my imagination up to now. If ARK's version would support decent stripping and encryption capabilities, this could become something amazing. It would obliterate many conventional storage solutions in many aspects and I, for one would be very interested in using it. ARK, you keep on suprising me, and I will be following this closely.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

Smart contract is must have technology for ARK. With smart contracts and sidechains, it might be most powerful platform between cryptocurrencies. Smart contract is the future. Also IPFS sounds nice, but I don't have strong opinion on this issue.

EvdK • December 17, 2018 • Source

The biggest benefit, in my opinion, is the potential scalability smart contracts within the ARK Ecosystem bring. Since it's possible to deploy a blockchain with a push of a button, which is then automatically linked to the ARK blockchain, the ecosystem can get bigger but wont congest. This eliminates problems other blockchains like NEO and Ethereum have.

yahtzee_NL • December 18, 2018 • Source

Decentralized storage could complement the ARK Ecosystem well. They are not the only ones that are working to achieve this. ARK should aim for a good balance between efficiency, redundancy and striping, and everything should be encrypted of course. I am very curious if they can pull all this off and get ahead of the other players in this field.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

Blockchains without smart contracts are basically just first generation cryptos. Any modern blockchain should be able to accommodate for smart contracts nowadays I would say. Maybe there are some exceptions of cryptos that want to be just means of payment. Of course, ARK with its vision to become an ecosystem supports smart contracts. The Interplanetary File System is new to me.

The Interplanetary File System module allows for file transfers and storage solutions. That sounds like a very high potential alternative to the conventional and centralized cloud storages that we have to rely on now. I am curious when I will be able to use it.

Zzzoem • December 17, 2018 • Source

IPFS would be used for data storage of dapps. Data can be stored securely in the cloud protected by your private key. But ARK isn't the only one with a storage system. NEO is also building it's decentralized storage system. It should help every business/person where sensitive data is stored and needed on demand. We all seen the recent hacks of customer and client databases . Virtual machine is needed to execute smart contracts like with Ethereum and NEO. In my opinion, a DEX is important to have in your ecosystem. A place to securely trade your cryptocurrency.

windrip • December 18, 2018 • Source

I've been very impressed with the foresight that the team has had in planning the development and future goals of the ARK project. I think the ArkVM is a great idea and has a lot of potential to assist projects that originally launched tokens on the Ethereum platform. Due to the transaction costs and TPS limits on Ethereum, it is a promising idea for teams to consider transferring their ERC-20 tokens from Ethereum directly onto their own Ark-based blockchain.

It's also great that there are numerous programming languages available with the ARK SDKs since that will allow programmers to more easily take advantage of this route to improve their projects.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK smart contracts and IPFS are very important for attracting new projects and therefore for growing ecosystem. With this and all other advantages, I see ARK taking over Ethereum in few years. The idea with new forging delegates is really good.

fakoshi • January 10, 2019 • Source

I think I will skip the smart contracts for now. I think their importance is kind of obvious by now and people are generally well aware of their existence and their features. Now onto the more interesting part: the Interplanetary File System module. Are you kidding me, ARK is also working on a way to share and store files on the project?

I must say, ARK truly is an ecosystem rather than just a currency or even a regular platform. The Interplanetary File System module sounds promising to say the least. Safe and secure file sharing that is arranged by a decentralized network rather than by a centralized entity is something we really need.

I hope ARK can pull it off with their Interplanetary File System module. If it is at all possible, I would be very interested to contribute in whatever way possible to this part of ARK. Not selflessly of course, I want to make it happen so I can use it myself.

yahtzee_NL • December 18, 2018 • Source

ARK does not have the largest community / number of followers within the crypto space by any means. However, the ARK Improvement Proposal system is yet another feature that makes it so easy for every member to get involved. Albeit very small at times, your input has influence on the further development of the platform. Relatively speaking, this must be one of the most proactive communities out there, just because nobody is excluded from to the ARK Ecosystem. Also, it seems that all members have a voice here (that is actually heard as well).

ledgerdary • December 18, 2018 • Source

The ARK Improvement Proposal (AIP) system is another clear demonstration of the involvement of the community in the development of ARK. I commend the ARK team for allowing such openness and accessibility into the improvement protocol. Basically everyone can submit an idea or suggestion on how they believe the network and its features should progress, not just an elite few.

I think in the long term, this allows for much more diversified ideas to be implemented from various perspectives. Of course, not all suggestions can or should be implemented, so an open discussion and a sort of democratic decision protocol is a very viable solution.

I am really fond of this level playing field, though, instead of a pyramid like structure. However, this can also become a pithfall if not managed correctly. Sometimes it is best if the final say is left to a smaller selection to reach consensus more easily.

Still, I feel more and more that ARK is one of the most inclusive communities where anybody can be involved in some way and where all opinions are taken seriously. How often do you have the opportunity as a regular community member to work side by side with a core developer and join in with the decision making process as well. Ultimately, I believe this can only lead to great things.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 18, 2018 • Source

Disclaimer: watch out, opinion of a novice here. As the disclaimer already points out, I have only recently joined this ecosystem. That said, I really want to dive in immediately and get involved. So I started with putting my humble opinion out there. I have done some due diligence by reading this post and some of its links thoroughly.

The main takaway seems to me that the ARK Improvement Proposal system allows even for me to share my ideas and improvement suggestions already. That is great, because even though I may have a lot of catching up to do, I would be able to comment from a different angle and coming from a different background. I suppose inspiration and innovation will thus never run dry here at ARK.

cnnssr • December 19, 2018 • Source

I have just been browsing through the ARK Improvement Proposal home page and discussion pages. Overall, I think the simplicity of adding a suggestion is striking. Still, it also seems very structured and efficient and all submissions are taken seriously. I think this platform is yet another excellent way for basically anyone to get involved and contribute to the system. It is getting more and more clear to me why ARK has such a active community.

windrip • December 19, 2018 • Source

The ARK Ecosystem has a lot of depth and so, as someone who doesn't frequent the Github often, the ARK Improvement Proposal System isn't actually something I had read up on before. After some research, if I were to give a quick summary to someone who hadn't heard of the AIP system before, I would describe it as a place where the community can interact with the ARK team to discuss potential improvements to the ARK code as well as view the status of various proposals that have been suggested in the past.

It's interesting to read through the 23 topics that have been discussed previously and see the implementation statuses of the various features, such as dynamic fees (implemented in v2), Masternodes for users with more than 2,000 ARK (currently open for discussion), or Automatic Profit Sharing (cancelled).

In general, I think the discussion of opposing viewpoints tends to encourage the discovery of the best options available, so I was pleased to read more into this feature of the ARK Ecosystem.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

I must say that I like the idea that anyone can suggest an improvement that may, indeed, be taken into consideration and finally be implemented. The community has thus a true role to play here for the future of ARK project. I have yet to dig further to see which AIP have been selected and ended in production until today.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK Improvement Proposal system is very good, but even if we have finest tools, without strong community, they are useless. ARK must have bigger community and more people working with it.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK Improvement protocol is another nice way to include community into ARK project. It is pretty good that everybody can make a proposal with new ideas and implementations which everybody can evaluate and decide whether are helpful or not.

fakoshi • January 11, 2019 • Source

ARK allows everyone to have a voice in the development process and progression of the ecosystem. Even with the core of ARK (its code), actually anybody could come up with a proposal for something they think will improve / change ARK. An open discussion follows. Very transparent, and again, no one is excluded from participation.

In this way, the consensus of ARK's direction is very representative and inclusive. That is a recurring theme with ARK if you ask me. It seems like one of the strong suits of ARK going into the future. Progression is never halted and there is no single entity pulling the strings and determining the scope and route. I like that very much.

Azure-Infinity • December 19, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Partnerships are always good to have but I'm not a fan of hearing the word. In the crypto space at least, I feel like a 'partnership' is just there to promote both names. It's cool to read project X partners with company Y but what is the actual meaning of said partnership?

There are two ARK 'partnerships' I'd like to talk about because they are my favorites. The first one is the partnership with Blockport. Probably only because I do like Blockport. As far as I know, Blockport is building a decentralized / hybrid decentralized exchange with social trading features. They are connecting a bunch of other exchanges to make sure you get the best price on the market.

The second partnership I love is the partnership with Major League Hacking. I think every year they run over 200 events where students learn, build and share their creations. This is a huge deal because all these students will get familiar with the ARK project.

ledgerdary • December 19, 2018 • Source

In crypto, partnerships are quite frequently heavily overrated. More often than not, they are just a stunt for publicity and only create some short lived hype and a swift pump and dump. On the other hand, there have been instances where the announced parterships were geniunely benefitial and should have made a great impact (in my opinion), but no one batted an eye.

As an example I would like to mention ETN and VET. The former regularly has quite insignificant partnership announcements, while the latter has had major important announced parters. In this case the reactions were very counterintuitive in my book.

In conclusion regarding partnerships in general, I think they should only be formed / announced if and when they make sense and result in (long term) significant mutual benefits. Zooming in to ARK's partnerships; they do not have a lot of major partners yet, particularly considering their potential for several important sectors.

However, the ones they do have, are there for a good reason and they do make sense. For example, Bugcrowd as a partner can help vastly improving security measures of the ecosystem. Lastly, I do believe that if ARK just continues working on the fundamentals, the technology and the use cases of the project, big partnerships will come naturally.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 19, 2018 • Source

As long as it is not a lame publicity stunt like the Verge and Pornhub partnership, of course it is good to have more partners to work together with. People that use cryptocurrency are still relatively scarce, as are people that pay for porn. Why on earth would it be better to add those two.

And I also think that development will eventually trigger new partnerships to come into the picture. Perhaps had the point that ARK has reached its full potential, there will be companies lining up to become a partner and to work together.

ViperSoss • December 19, 2018 • Source

I like that the team has made partnerships that strengthen the usability and security of ARK. The fact that ARK has sponsored many hackathons and will keep doing so thanks to working with Major League Hacking is great; I think it's a good way to spread the word about ARK in a professional manner. The exchange partnerships are nice, and will only be more beneficial as the market stabilizes.

Generally, when I see partnerships mentioned in the crypto space, they're usually used as empty hype- 'X has a partnership with Y!' is used as a way to promote a coin even when it isn't necessarily true or even means anything. I'm glad to see that ARK doesn't take an approach like this, because it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

Zane_TLI • December 19, 2018 • Source

First of all: whenever I read 'partnership', I always think at some marketing stunt, like that Verge-Pornhub junk that came out last year, or many other similar announcements that weren't 'partnership' at all, just someone paying someone else for a press release or exchange in visibility.

That's not to say that all partnership are fake: I see a lot of value in partnership where there is some common aspect to, ehm, partner about: the NEO-Microsoft made sense (NEO is C#-based) and also IOTA-Bosch (SoC IOT).

Being ARK a 'Point. Click. Blockchain.' solution, I would like it to go after the enterprise sector: some kind of relation with Accenture, SAP, Oracle or Microsoft would be a perfect match. Since there is a lot of talk as 'Wordpress for blockchain', partnering up with a Linux distribution vendor to get included in Ubuntu Server, RedHat or the like will also be a good opportunity to reach technical users.

On the other side, I'd also like to see some partnership with the universities, where we could foster the adoption and push the students to go deep with ARK and, possibly, propose it as a candidate when they'll hear request for blockchain-based solutions. On a smaller scale, each hackathon partnership is still very good.

yahtzee_NL • December 20, 2018 • Source

Partnerships in crypto are regularly leveraged to manipulate short term price action. Sometimes they do not have any substantial advantage or reason for partnering up. Luckily, with ARK I do not think that will ever be the (main) reason. These partners all seem to be able to help ARK with further advancement or vice versa. To me personally, the partnership with the hybridized exchange Blockport seems the most exciting. Let us wait and see what other interesting partners ARK will gain in 2019 now with the unlocked potential from the Core v2 upgrade, for example.

ARKjd • December 20, 2018 • Source

When it comes to partnerships, I am aware of the negative connotation the word has taken in the crypto space. However, I think that ARK is one of the few projects out there that really uses the value of a partnership to demonstrate the utility of their technology. What do I mean by this? ARK has partnered with multiple companies and projects as you can see in the original post above.

What I like about these partnerships is that each of these companies recognizes the need for ARK and evaluated other platforms before committing to the ARK Ecosystem.

I don't want to repost an entire article in this post but here are my thoughts when ARK partnered with Marachain: https://steemit.com/arkecosystem/@ray.alvarez/ark-and-marachain-partnership-privacy-protection-and-compliance-on-the-blockchain ARK's 'no competitors, only partners' approach to promoting their technology is not only smart its conducive to growth and adoption.

cnnssr • December 20, 2018 • Source

Decent partnerships will become more and more important as the crypto market / ARK matures. I had yet to read up on ARK's current partners, so I am pretty glad that I now had an extra incentive to do so. After reading / scanning the partner pages, two main things seem to stand out. First of all, ARK does not have a lot of partnerships, considering the age of the project and the progression of it.

This is not a problem by any means, I just took notice. I think partners will flock to ARK's side when the time is right. Secondly, I like the diversity of the partners. ARK has partners for technological advancement, security, outreach and so on. I am particularly fond of the ARK Labs / ARK Technology Incubator partnership.

windrip • December 20, 2018 • Source

I do a fair amount of reading on news and opinions in the crypto space in order to keep up to date and encounter viewpoints that are different from my own. The term 'partner' is one of those terms that is seen both in a positive and negative light, depending on who you ask. On one hand, a partner can bring legitimacy through their name recognition as well as additional support and backing to a project if they are actively involved in the project.

On the other hand, many projects have announced numerous partners who don't appear to take any active role in improving or supporting the project. In general, I tend to be in the group that thinks partnerships are mostly beneficial, as long as they lead to a relationship in which both parties benefit and it's not just for hype.

I like projects that offer passive benefits, and so I own COSS tokens as well, and I was interested to see that COSS.io is a partner of ARK since I hadn't come across that information previously.

After reading through the blogpost on the COSS partnership from June 2017, and two other third-party articles that I could find on this relationship, I have to say that this 'partnership' feels more like the hype-driven type of relationship more than a relationship where the teams are actually working together to accomplish goals and improve both projects.

In the end, as long the partnerships are entered into in good faith and there is a chance that they will work together more in the future, it's fine that this partnership remains, but I would really like to see more engagement between projects if they are in fact partners. This may be happening behind the scenes, but from what I've read today and seen in the past, I am not sure that is the case with this example.

kevinti • December 28, 2018 • Source

I'd say partnerships can certainly help ARK forward. However, these will eventually come, as long as the product is out there and people know about its advantages. As long as the team goes out and about, and keeps talking about the ARKproject and its capabilities and advantages for a business, interested parties will come, especially in the coming months this can be of importance.

As everyone has heard about blockchain now, these days businesses are looking into ways it can help them in their business case. Other parties are also looking into development and blockchain use. Therefore this is the time to make yourself noticeable, and to help each other move forward within this space.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

Strategic partnerships are making sense if it brings true value to both parties. Even if, like everyone I suppose, I see the promoting advantage of announcing multiple partnerships with resounding names of the industry, I do not think it really helps the project at all. ARK project partnerships, besides media ones, are few finally: I do not view it as a drawback and what I would like to see, if it makes sense, is a solid collaboration between french crypto projects. But maybe it is already the case and I have missed it.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

These partneships are with small partners and I don't think they are 'strategic'. Other projects have partnership with biggest companies (Microsoft, Google) and thats a strategic partnership for me, especially in case of adoption.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

Partnerships are certainly crucial for ARK Ecosystem. They help ARK to reach wider population and therefore potentially mass adoption. If ARK team can somehow include utilizing ARK token and blockchain with at least some of those partnerships that will be game changing.

fakoshi • January 11, 2019 • Source

Partnerships are nice to have by all means, but in this stage of the project they are far from main priority in my book. The natural progression is to create and develop a killer platform and some great use cases and then the partnerships will happen eventually. Still that does not mean that ARK should not be on the look out.

I like the fact that there are already several partners listed. Some more relevant than other I think but still. It feels like an endorsement for ARK that these companies / entities are interested in ARK. I particularly like the Blockport hybridized exchange partnership for obvious reasons.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

ARK team is making good strategic partnerships in hackathons and legal ones like registring in France which gives users and investors security that this project is for real and will be here for long time. Other partnerships are not that important at the moment (unlike most other teams in crypto think). Firstly, we have to build useful and secure product and partnerships and adoption comes after that.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

First of all, I want to say that I like the word partnership. The very first time I heard the word 'partnership' in cryptoland was not in Twitter, Telegram or through some of the most known 'OG' in cryptoland. Sadly, this has been the standard for a while, until thankfully somehow SEC started getting involved these schemes (this is the only function I find useful for the SEC by the way just to be clear).

Fortunately, the very first time I heard the word partnerships in cryptoland was before the bull run of 2017, it was in an low resolution video interview in which somebody said 'ARK HAS NO COMPETITION, ARK HAS PARTNERSHIPS'. That phrase got ingrained into my being due to its game-theoretical implications.

I think this phrase should be included into the ARK Thoughts website because it clearly and cleanly describes the structure of ARK's DNA in a succinct manner. There is a lot that can be said about this phrase, but I just would say that is deep indeed.

In regards to what partnerships I find interesting, I always think: 'Uhmm, nice...' when I see ARK partnering with a project that is working somehow in inter-operability (e.g. Blockport,etc) or connecting seemingly unrealted crypto projects and also connecting non-blockchain projects to blockchain projects.

I would not be surprised if ARK partners in the future with projects such as Polkadot, Aion, Cosmos, etc. All these projects can help each other with their own skills and specific priorities in order to create a network.

I think the ARK team and community are knowledgeable enough to partner in a mutually beneficial way to benefit both parties of the partnership. ARK follows its own drum and this is good because they are faithful to the main idea of ARK and this will eventually bring partners that would be mutually beneficial sooner or later.

saveid • December 20, 2018 • Source

There is nothing much to think about here- if it is not recognized legally it is illegal. So it is a must. Maybe it wouldn't be illegal as in 'the police are coming to close you down!', but without it no business will use it. For me, it shows the team is responsible and trust worthy. Just another layer of trust and as we know crypto needs that.

Azure-Infinity • December 20, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. When I did my research for ARK, I found out ARK has a real business in France. I think this is nice because it makes the project sound more legit. Obviously, this doesn't mean everything. I also knew ARK is close to the French government. Which also means they have to keep the laws of the European Union in mind.

The big thing here is definitely ARK communicating with the French government and AMF. I think this is crucial because you will always be up to date about any regulations. Whenever something isn't clear people like FX Thoorens can ring up some people and ask questions or request additional information. The key of this relationship is communication between all parties and keeping each other up to date.

cnnssr • December 20, 2018 • Source

Regulation is still somewhat of a taboo within the crypto world. Bitcoin was once created with the incentive to have a peer to peer payment protocol that could operate independently from banks and regulators. However, in most instances I believe regulation is a necessary evil.

While I do think that a certain amount of autonomy is great and unrestricted freedom as well, it is also a sort of utopia, of course. Partnerships are essential for a thriving business. Most enterprises obviously only want to get associated with fully regulatory compliant companies. It is reassuring in terms of reliability and I am sure that ARK would prefer to have a reliable partner as well.

So while regulation can lead to some restrictions, it also opens doors to a new wave of possibilities. I am glad to see that ARK is trying to meet all these requirements and has even achieved compliance with the AMF. This is a significant step towards getting new important partnerships within the European Union.

ledgerdary • December 20, 2018 • Source

With the dynamic crypto space still finding its feet, more often than not, regulation has difficulty catching up. Since legislation varies greatly across the world, it can be very unclear if a project should be deemed a security or to which degree it should be Know Your Customer (KYC) compliant, for example.

One thing is certain though, in the end, all crypto will also have to become regulatory compliant, one way or another. Therefore, I am happily suprised that ARK has already made some quite significant process in that regard. The fact that it has managed to get registered in France and consequently in the European Union, is huge! Apparently it was also a crypto first, as I just learned. That is all very impressive.

Moreover, as ARK's CEO, FX Thoorens, has close ties to the French government, will also definitely help ARK to keep operating within the compliance rules. It will streamline any future regulatory requirements to be easily met. In this way, ARK can become / remain a global and fully compliant business entity, which is paramount for future development of the project.

windrip • December 20, 2018 • Source

I remember reading about ARK setting up its one-of-a-kind business entity in France from the initial blog post from last November. At the time, I thought it was interesting but I didn't pay much attention to it. To me, the location where a company is based is not particularly important.

In the United States, the majority of publicly traded companies are incorporated in the state of Delaware due to attractive regulations and tax circumstances, even if they primarily conduct their business in other states. Similarly, crypto projects are based all over the world and while some places like Malta are seen as very welcoming to crypto, most location choices aren't going to make or break a project solely on that factor alone.

The more important factor, in my mind, is a proper outlook on regulatory requirements and seeking ways to continue operating and expanding your business within those constraints. From what I have seen, the ARK team is well structured to deal with the regulatory landscape that continues to change very rapidly.

Regardless of an individual's personal view on if crypto regulations are positive or negative for the space, which largely seems to depend on when the individual first got interested and involved with crypto projects, with the oldest participants wanting less regulation and the newer participants appreciating regulations- the fact is that the crypto space is attracting more participants, more money, and more scrutiny.

For this reason, it is important for projects such as ARK to understand the frequent changes and even work with the regulatory bodies to help guide them in crafting regulations that are beneficial for the space and avoid damaging projects like ARK before they have the opportunity to grow to their full potential.

yahtzee_NL • December 20, 2018 • Source

The fact that at least ARK is already incorporated in France and thus complies with European legislation is quite astounding. Most crypto related project are not even near compliant, as there is still so much unclear about the requirements. I think politics are also too far behind in making decisions on how to regulate this space.

Luckily, the ARK CEO has close ties with the government and can thus communicate quite easily regarding their compliance. Although I must say that close ties sounds a little vague to me and I hope it does not include any nepotism or anything like that. It is peculiar though, as to why a compliant company that has been well established and shows great potential has relatively few partners.

With many other project, potential partnerships usually get stuck at the final stages because of a lack of conformity with local legislation. Hopefully ARK can keep up with probably ever more tightning regulations and remain fully reliable and legal. Looking at their approach and results so far, I must say I am fairly confident that they will do so.

Zane_TLI • December 20, 2018 • Source

Hi, Zane from TurboLab.it here. I get approached weekly by many different project that ask for sponsored reviews on my Youtube channel. I take a quick look at most of them, but I refuse almost all due to low-interested proposition or shady aspects of the team. In this regard, it's reassuring that ARK is a 'regular' EU-based company and it's in stark contrast to most of the islands-based crypto startup I see out there.

This is very important for something that aims at the business/enterprise world, where compliance and a reliable, clearly identified partner is incredibly important.

This gives confidence even before researching the technology. I would like to see you guys pushing this differentiating aspect a bit harder: ARK brand recognition is still very low, and this is an excellent phase to send a message of confidence and trustworthiness to potential adopters. Blockchain usage in Europe is still very low, and referring to a France-based project instead of some US or China-based project is a very interesting check to mark for businesses.

GenRobius • December 22, 2018 • Source

Simply, the concept of the SCIC as a distributed co-op, like farmers have for dairy co-ops, is a wonderful idea in the blockchain world on many levels. Most companies being formed pick a legal entity to conform to. Here it fits like a glove. Global cooperation and social benefit, more corporations should look to have such a perfectly fitting legal entity as ARK does.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

If you want to be taken seriously and attract big players from outside the crypto space, then you have to be regulated and to comply with laws. ARK and the ARK team seem to be very aware of this and the SCIC milestone was great. Keeping in touch with AMF, the financial French regulator, and meeting its requirements is clearly wise to ensure the future viability of ARK project.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

In the early days, crypto was a sort of new utopia. No rules, and a lot of freedom. This was nice in many ways, but of course there were some significant drawbacks as well. There were a lot of scams and hacks and a lot of people lost their assets. Crypto was kind of the wild west of digital currency. Nowadays the trend moves away from this, sometimes even voluntarily.

The reality is that evidently, also this space will have to comply with the law at some point. Therefore, I think we might as well get it over with and it is great to read that ARK has already made some moves to this end. This will possibly also open doors to partnerships that are inaccessible to other cryptos that do not have their legal compliance sorted out.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

While many other crypto projects have and will have legal problems, I can be sure that will not happen to ARK and that this project has bright future and development only depends on team and community, it is not liable to legal actions that cuold hurt it. This is also one more confirmation that ARK team and project are serious, not just another money grab.

fakoshi • January 12, 2019 • Source

Regulation goes against some of the core principles of crypto and why it was created in the first place. Although I regret regulators starting to interfere with it, I think it is inevitable in the end. Perhaps some projects without an entity in control and with airtight privacy features such as XMR and ZEC can find a way to be spared.

Not so much for ARK of course. So as it is inevitable anyway, we might as well strive to get it over with and stay on top of the developments to be able to influence it in some way. Good to see that ARK seems on top and is actively arranging the necessary evil to be mitigated.

It will be interesting to see how the regulation for ARK and crypto in general will evolve in the coming years. It will take a lot of time before the regulators make up their minds about this revolutionary space though, that is certain.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

This is one of the most important steps in gaining people's thrust and confidence. Unlike other coins which teams are getting sued or have to give funds back, this one is for real and will be around as long as crypto is (and I hope this wil be looong time).

With this team, you just know that they are legit and are building this project with consideration and love. I wish them all the luck in the world to have much success and make great ecosystem. Don't ever give up on this project ;)

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

In my opinion, the fact that ARK since the beginning initiated the creation of a legally recognized business entity and their close walk with the AMF sheds some light into the mind behind the founders and the ARK project as a whole at the most intimate level.

This tells me that they somehow created ARK for future business purposes, more clearly to onboard, create and promote the creation businesses by using blockchain technologies through the ARK Ecosystem. This is good because we can see clearly the intention, motivation and vision in the heart of the ARK team in creating ARK.

This is important so nobody can get confused in regards to the path that ARK team will follow in all the aspects pertaining the ARK Ecosystem such as partnerships, legal aspects, etc. Everything must be fully compliant and with no shadows, that is the reason it is clearly stated that forging delegates 'VOLUNTARILY' reward their voters, otherwise this activity might borderline a behavior similar to equity in some cases.

Prevention is the best medicine and be advised legally and comply fully with all legalities is extremely important for a sustainable development of the ARK Ecosystem.

In the choice of the words used by the ARK team, we can see how they see the ARK Ecosystem conceptually and specially in legal terms, remember the term 'Token Exchange Event', it was not even called ICO. Very clear and clear choice of words. All these details in my opinion showed prophylaxis ahead of its time which was and is still necessary for the unhindered development of the ARK Ecosystem.

GenRobius • December 22, 2018 • Source

For website owners, I think it needs examples of how to integrate it with various websites that would like to add support for ARK.

Azure-Infinity • December 22, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I would love to see ARK Pay in action and understand how exactly it all works. I might consider implementing it myself for a project sometime in the future. Paying for stuff should be quick and easy. To be fair, it is not really a hassle paying with ARK right now because I already know how it works. That does not mean we shouldn't make it easier.

With ARK Pay it will be easy to implement ARK as a payment method on websites. I like the fact it's developed in JavaScript and a framework like Vue will make it all look slick. I think it will be really easy to configure too because ARK Pay should only require some information about the shop.

cnnssr • December 22, 2018 • Source

What should be one of the main features of any decent cryptocurrency be? Yes, usage as a means of payment. Ironically, in that department, many crypto currencies are still lacking. Vendors that allow you to pay with your (favorite) digital coin are few and far between at the moment.

Mass adoption of any project comes with an increase of easy access use cases with sufficient added value. So if ARK has the ambition to become an mass adopted ecosystem, one of the aims should be to create means to spend it. ARK Pay has the potential to be a giant leap into that direction, in my book.

If stores start accepting ARK, it will create awareness, but, more importantly, it will increase the number of transactions and thus the usability / liquidity. Even if being a means of payment is not the main goal of ARK, I think that could be just how it starts.

I, for one, would really like to use my ARK to pay for day-to-day items. And, eventually, even accept ARK for goods and services. It would be so cool to get paid in ARK on a regular basis. For the implementation of ARK Pay the focus should lie on simplicity, I believe.

Vendors and other potential ARK acceptors have to be able to install it on various platforms, very easily. The amount of proprietary knowledge that is required should be limited of course. Only then, the average vendor would be able to start accepting this great currency today, rather than tomorrow. I cannot wait for ARK's usability to vastly increase. I may have to further educate myself on the subject, to be able to see how I might use this plugin someday.

ledgerdary • December 23, 2018 • Source

ARK Pay, one of the latest additions to the ARK Ecosystem. It took me by suprise, but I must say I am very excited about this launch. It is all this things together that make ARK a real ecosystem, rather than a plain cryptocurrency. ARK Pay offers a low barrier implementation to start accepting ARK as a merchant for example. It is simple yet effective to use.

The implications are huge I think, and it is a major milestone towards reaching more and more adoption. Imagine, if you will, a store in a not too distant future where you just scan a QR code on an item from any store and confirm the price on your phone to make the purchase with ARK. That would be truly awesome.

Looking at the new demo that has just been released, it all seems very smooth and seamless. Even for people that are new to crypto or blockchain, this will be manageable. Mainly because of the simplicity and the intuitiveness of the application. Since I have seen the demo, I have been thinking about all the possible ways that I could implement it myself.

I would love to get paid in ARK, even for the smallest of things. The time for just hodling is over, it is now time to start using crypto / ARK, every day a little more. Ultimately, we will not know any better anymore. Very exciting indeed!

Zane_TLI • December 23, 2018 • Source

Zane from TurboLab.it here. I'm a full-time web developer and these day I work mostly on Magento ecommerce store. One of the things I do is integrate gateway payment systems with our client shop. One of the easier scenario I deal with is the availability of an already-built Magento module.

Other times there is just and SDK to build the module from, but I also had to do some REST-based webAPI call to have it working. So I know from first-hand, daily experience that a good payment system plugin can do wonders to promote actual usage and adoption. Vue and React are good starting point, and from now on I hope to see native module being built by 3rd party to activate ARK payments on Prestashop, WooCommerce, Magento and so on.

With 8 second blocktimes, ARK looks like an amazing choice for online payments. I'm not so sure people is ready to actually spend it today, but having the online ecommerce business accepting it is a need to get the trend going.

windrip • December 24, 2018 • Source

In general, I tend to think that not every crypto token needs to be accepted as a payment option; in the long run, it doesn't seem practical for merchants to have individual payment arrangements for numerous coins. I think the most likely scenario of wide-scale crypto payment adoption is if vendors are able to accept a bundle of currencies (i.e. 10 popular coins) instead of needing to implement payment frameworks for numerous coins individually.

That said, any time there is potential additional use for ARK I think it's a good thing. ARK has been designed with very fast 8 second block times, so from that perspective I feel that it's feasible for customers to make purchases with ARK.

Still, the best case scenario in my mind is to partner with some of the payment vendors that are working to roll out payment solutions so that merchants can accept numerous coins in the same integration.

yahtzee_NL • December 24, 2018 • Source

This is just what I needed. A convenient way to receive ARK payment for everyday items and services. With the latest proposal contest, I submitted an idea (which I still hope will be implemented someday one way or the other) of a marketplace to exchange the earlier mentioned items and services to ARK.

At first glance, it looks like ARK has made ARK Pay very easy to implement. Again, accessibility is key here. The possible use cases are abundant, and will arise as time goes on I think. I cannot wait to run into a physical store one day, where I can just pay with ARK for a cup of coffee or some staples or whatever.

With these kind of developments, nothing stands in the way of mass adoption anymore. Also, the speed and leanness of the ARK network will make the accomodation of fast transactions possible. It would not be nice if you have to wait half an hour or so for the confirmation of your payment before you can leave the store or something.

It will happen, and it is just a matter of time before the scenario I depicted will bedome a reality. I will be patiently (although also a little impatiently) waiting.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

What markets, and retailers, really need in the end, in my opinion, is a framework that will allow any merchant to accept any recognized cryptocurrency. ARK Pay is an unavoidable step towards ARK adoption as a cryptocurrency but I do not think it will be enough: we really need something that will allow interaction with multiple chains, in a transparent manner for both vendors and clients.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

That's a key feature to mass adoption, and I'll say that it must be developed properly and ASAP to make as much market as it's possible.

kalgoop • January 3, 2019 • Source

Finally, ARK Pay is released! I am really happy with this achievement of ARK. However, I feel store owners won't start using ARK Pay just by reading ARK's blog. Although ARK has written in the blog they will help store owners in setting up ARK Pay, but there's not much motivation for someone to start using ARK Pay currently. I have seen many wallets that have tried concept like ARK pay, but have failed to get public traction. ARK needs to run promotions for ARK Pay and offer some incentive to the early birds to kick-start the adoption.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

This was one of the great suprises from ARK of 2018 for me. I believe this could be the route to merchant adoption in 2019. It will be very simple to start accepting ARK as means of payment. One of my goals for 2019 is to spend and replace as much crypto as possible to promote adoption. Hopefully, there will be more and more places that accept ARK and then can make ARK and spend ARK frequently. Not only the obscure stuff of course, but also every day items should be able to be bought with ARK eventually.

fakoshi • January 12, 2019 • Source

Another important aim of this ecosystem: merchant adoption. It appears to me that ARK is a real all-rounder that has the potential to achieve a lot in the end. They must be careful not to over diversify of course. No one wants another jack of all trades, master of none. Even so, I do like this implementation. There are a lot of crypto projects that have merchants as a key target audience for their product.

But ARK does offer some nice complementary features with its ecosystem of course. A shop could in the end even opt for a private sidechain to do the transactions on for example. I am on the lookout now for the first store to spend some of my ARK in. Should not take too long, seeing how fast crypto is moving.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK Pay will be really important in mainstream adoption. Crypto is still not accepted like payment method, almost at all (accept Bitcoin a little). This will be really good for ARK Ecosystem and it is not even ARK's primary feature.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

ARK pay will be crucial when it comes to adoption. It has to be really eay to use and secure so everybody will have trust in using it. Also, very hgh transaction speed will be needed if we want really mainstream adopion. I will be first one to use it because this is very important factor in crypto space and will improve current FIAT system in terms of speed and security.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

This is an example to a critical application/implementation that can lead to mass adoption if vendors adopt the ARK Pay plugin.

However, I believe some extra tools must be shared with these vendors if we want them to use ARK Pay, some of these tool (from the ARK Ecosystem of course but that don't have to be related to ARK Pay) must help these vendors in becoming more efficient and cause them to expand and/or automate parts of their businesses which in turn will result in either saving money and/or in generating profits for their businesses.

This aspect can't be neglected, vendors will not just use ARK Pay, they must be brought into the ARK Ecosystem and be able to use some of the tools for free, then as a result of these benefits, they by themselves will be led to conclude that they must be paid in ARK in order to use that ARK they obtained to pay for the needed tools in the ARK Ecosystem to keep expanding their businesses. This extra tools cant be underestimated and are very needed.

cnnssr • December 22, 2018 • Source

And yet another showcase platform for the ARK community to thrive: the ARK Community Fund. I have really taken a notice how easy it is to find an audience for your proposals. The open discussion that will follow can only sprout innovation. It is great that the development is not left just to an elite few (the core developers), but to basically everyone who has an idea and is willing to convey it. No wonder that even in this bear market, ARK is being worked on and progresses on all sides.

Azure-Infinity • December 22, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I do really like the ARK Community Fund (ACF) but I am not sure if I will use it at some point. I would personally rather talk to some delegates myself and propose my ideas and ask for advice. My favorite ACF funded project has to be ArkDirectory.com, which was initially rejected.

Another funded project I like was the ARK NYC event where delegate biz_classic and Del teamed up and brought a faucet to the meetup. I wasn't there myself, but I loved watching the livestream. What I like a lot about the ACF is that anyone can be elected to be on board, if they received enough votes by the community.

Another thing I like is that for each project it shows which board members approved or rejected a proposal and for what reason. Transparency is key. I think the ACF is the place to go for those who have a proposal to improve the ARK Ecosystem and require funding.

ledgerdary • December 23, 2018 • Source

I wonder, is there any other cryptocurrency project, where it is so easy to submit an idea and to discuss it openly and even directly with members of the team? I do not think so.

Therefore, what ARK has got going on is truly remarkable to me. It must at times also be difficult of course, to go through all these proposals, good and bad. However, in the end, I think only great new plans for innovation and development can come from this. It is hard not to take notice of the proactiveness and involvement of the ARK community. I believe this is a result from things like the ARK Community Fund. One of the proposals that stood out for me, is ARK Poll.

I think it will stimulate involvement even more and members can let their opinions be heard. It is also a great tool to quickly sample consensus in the community regarding a certain topic.

windrip • December 25, 2018 • Source

I think the concept of the ARK Community Fund is a great idea! Everyone likes to earn free crypto, so I think the fund encourages the community to get more involved in the project than would otherwise be the case.

In addition to encouraging developers to get involved, the fund also provides ARK for meetups and events around the world and that is a great way to further strengthen and grow the community.

Zane_TLI • December 23, 2018 • Source

Zane from TurboLab.it here. A community fund is always a good idea to get the community on board, allowing us to build some great work backed by ARK. This also allows for some diversity of thinking, involving more non-team people to get a say and bring in their unique expertise or cultural point of view.

Another project I follow, NavCoin, recently launched a community fund and the people there are making a big deal of it (the community is already producing some great content). I'm myself thinking to do some Youtube videos about deploying 'Point. Click. Blockchain' projects on ARK: all of my work is always free for the end user, but some backing from the ACF would be a great help, so I'm planning to send a proposal.

Even if it's heavily centralized, both the proposal and approve/reject reasoning from the committee is there for all to see. The funded project I see most value in is the 'Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Compute Deployment Templates': getting this kind of deployment tool available is one of best way to gain real adoption.

I just hope that the guy who developed it will actually maintain and upgrade it as needed in the future.

yahtzee_NL • December 24, 2018 • Source

Although I really like the concept of the ARK Community Fund, I do see one minor flaw with it. For me personally, the decisionmaking seems a little too centralized for crypto. Of course, it may be hard to have an efficient way of reaching consensus with more decentralization or more inclusive voting. Still, for a crypto project that does so well on so many levels, it should be possible to come up with a different / better compromise.

I am well aware that better in this case is very subjective, but I just wanted to put my opinion in this regard out there.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

That's very nice idea and taking look on the other projects, it might be beneficial for community and platform.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

There is a lot of constructive and user onboarding initiatives funded by the ACF in order to bring brand awareness, to benefit the users in the community and to encourage mass adoption of ARK. Those chosen into the board are doing a superb job because ACF's board is choosing carefully what to fund.

This concept is very interesting because the type of projects that are being funded require some type of technical skill by the person who is proposing and requesting the funds. So these projects funded by the ACF are like a middle layer (in terms of technicality and the skills required IMO) between the initiatives funded by ARK Community Committee and the ARK Core Team.

Additionally, ACF is equally focus in bringing developer's participation through bounties, this is really needed to bring in new talent into the ARK Ecosystem. ACF is very open, well organized and transparent which I think is critical. Open because anybody can propose a project.

In terms of transparency, even when a proposal is rejected, each member of the board actually explains why they rejected a proposal and tell you how you might revise in order for your proposal to be reconsidered which is very motivating and a way of 'fathering' the community.

Sometimes, even when a proposal has been rejected, members of the board who even rejected the proposal donate some of their ARK to the person whose proposal was rejected because they really value and have in high esteem the work this person has been doing and still does for the ARK community. This show kindness, a necessary trait to manage a community fund IMO. Anybody can propose a project according to their skills in order to bring awareness of the ARK Ecosystem to those who don't know it yet.

So far, there has been two projects that I have liked the most, one was the Swark: ARK Payment Gateway (this type of projects can be very useful to cause mass adoption of the ARK currency, clever work) and the other was the CryptoDesignathon Competition (this one of the ideas I liked the most, I think it should have been promoted more, I am not a marketing guy so I don't know how much more could have been done to promote it more than all the great work that was done to promote it).

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

It is always good to have some sort of external and most of all independent sponsor for subprojects within the bigger projects. It is used for some additional development besides the obvious development by the team, which can complement each other well. In this case the community elects the board which is great of course. Another way a regular member can influence the progression of ARK.

The 5 board members should suffice for the task and can also act as a lean organism still. I am not too sure about the election procedure and the frequency at which the elections take place. It should be reasonably often in my opinion to keep everything dynamic. I should really come up with a good idea any time soon, just to add to this community fund.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

A great community is a strength for any project, and in order to benefit from it the most, one need to listen to the community and support some projects. ARK Community Fund is, therefore, a good way to achieve this goal. Besides, the fact that the ACF board is elected by the community itself is also essential for a community concerned governance. Plus, I love that the fund itself uses ARK DPoS to raise more money.

Jenci_ • January 15, 2019 • Source

The fund is really great for anybody with new ideas who wants to participate in developing this project. I have no real insight in personnel in this board, but I believe all ideas are viewed and rewarded failry, in spirit of this project.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK Community Fund is another initiative I commend the community for. It complements the development of ARK to a great extent. I like the fact that it is standalone from ARK.io and can therefore operate autonomously.

A board of five also seems sufficient to make all these important decisions. I read that they are being elected. In any case, I really like this independent system within ARK itself. It all complements each other very well, I think.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ACF is a good way for individuals that are not so skilled in programming to help develop the ARK project. It is truly an example of decentralization (anybody with good idea in any field can help). The board of five people is a solid board, not too small (easily influenced) or too big (too massive to coordinate). I am not exactly informed about which projects have been funded by the ACF so can't answer to that question, but would really like to know :).

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

Of course, a project community is not made out of experts only (developers, architects, mathematicians...), so ARK Community Committee is an excellent idea and contributes to strengthen and expand ARK 'friends and family' supporters. The more the community is involved, the better for the project. Achievements like ARK Timeline and '30 Days of ARK' are much welcome- it is a great way to discover the project and the milestones that have already been reached.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ACC is good for recruiting new people and ideas, as well as paying them fair ammount for their contributions. This way, anybody can feel wanted in ARK community and have will to participate in project development. I personally didn't have experience with committee so far, but this could always change when and if will I have more time to help ARK project.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 28, 2018 • Source

The ARK Community Committee sounds like a solid recruitment organ. A central post where anyone can seek a new project to help out with. Dedicated people, no doubt, that can steer every individual to make use of their best traits, such as, coding, designing or writing. It is nice to see you do not necessarily have to be a coder here in order to involve yourself with the ecosystem.

nanikore • January 2, 2019 • Source

Disclosure: I'm currently a member of the ARK Community Committee, and these are my personal thoughts and perspectives. For someone with little to no coding/programming experience, trying to get involved in crypto is difficult. Without the knowledge to truly contribute to Github requests or develop interfaces or tools, it's hard to find ways to help grow a project.

Thanks to Justin, however, ARK has founded a community-based committee that includes people with many different skills, interests, and backgrounds. Diversity is always a key factor in driving innovation and progress, and the ACC has provided a place for ARK community members to plan, discuss, and implement new community initiatives.

Personally, this provides me with a sense of accomplishment and pride in knowing I've helped contribute (albeit in a very small way) to a project I believe is important and will be useful to many future users. Happy to be a member and I encourage anyone who is interested to join!

Zane_TLI • December 28, 2018 • Source

Zane from TurboLab.it here. I welcome every effort to bring in some cultural diversity from users to collaborate on various aspects of the project. Having a less technical incentive program is actually excellent for long-term adoption. Look: I'm a fulltime developer and I appreciate every technical advancement I see, but the majority of people are not.

Yes, ARK is a technological marvel and it must focus on the business sector first. Yet, components like ARK Pay are not going to be adopted if the endusers don't hear about it and start to appreciate how good, cheap, fast and secure it is. Those people are more attracted by the kind of activity that less technical ARK supporters like to produce, so their contribution is golden.

ArkTimeline.com is a great result, very useful to show how much work was put into ARK and how far it has come. Even I would like to ask and join the AAC, right now I've too much stuff to follow and I would end up doing nothing useful. But in the future I hope I could evaluate this again.

rhakht • January 2, 2019 • Source

I joined the ARK Community Committee on the day it launched. Currently, I am part of the ArkTimeline.com maintenance team, keeping everything up-to-date. My experience with the ACC was very positive right from the start. There were (and probably still are) several people on Reddit who wanted to contribute but did not know how since not everyone has the programming skills needed for the development bounties or the time to start a full new project that could be funded by the ACF.

While being active on Reddit helps to build an awesome community, it does not directly create new resources that people can use, so for the people that want to do that despite lacking IT skills or time, the ACC was formed.

I got personally invited from Justin to join, which made me really happy, and the atmosphere in the #committee Discord channel was exciting. All those people sitting there and waiting to contribute to yet unannounced projects. The first project was ArkTimeline.com and the second one is right in front of you, the 30 Days of ARK.

The cool thing about those projects is that they were split in many small and simple tasks, so that anyone can contribute what he/she wants. The only thing needed is a passion for ARK! So if you have that, join the ACC today!

Azure-Infinity • December 27, 2018 • Source

I'm a proud ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I first saw a post by Justin announcing the start of the ACC in the late summer. I was interested right away but I decided not to join. I was not sure if I was able to be of any value. I kinda forgot about it after that. Then near the end of October, when they were about the wrap up their ArkTimeline.com project, I read about the ACC again.

I felt confident, got interested in joining because I wanted to get involved and so I contacted Justin. A few minutes later I was part of the committee! In the meantime project LAUDE, AKA 30 Days of ARK has launched and it's proved to be successful. I am happy to be a member and this is a great way for anyone to help the project.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

Decent rectuitment is important in basically every business. The more people we can activate to start helping out this great ecosystem, the faster it will grow. At a certain point, I believe it will start showing snowball like effects. Until then, this ARK Community Committee has a very important task of kick starting everything. But as most growth, it will start slow and rise exponentially.

Even more so once the crypto market in general gets more traction. It will get more and more challenging to decide which projects to fund and which not to I am afraid. I would not like to be in the shoes of Justin Renken in that respect. Sounds very difficult. With great power comes great responsibility.

fakoshi • January 13, 2019 • Source

And when you think there is no way ARK can find another way to promote development by the community: there is also a ARK Community Committee that adds to it. Seriously it is no wonder why ARK is going so strong with its development lately.

It seems a very dedicated community that will work through even the toughest of markets. I am so glad that I found this project. It is very admirable to say the least. This particular way of promoting development is for the less technical among us. Great that no one seems to be left out.

All kinds of talent are exploited here, so even I may have one that I can put to use here. It is almost hard to choose what I could do best here: do some writing, graphics, media or website related work.

yahtzee_NL • December 27, 2018 • Source

Apparently, this ARK Community Committee has been erected for the less technically oriented people that also want to help with ARK's development. But for me, being more technically oriented as I work almost daily with code during my regular job, this also sounds like a good option for alternation.

Of course I do coding for hobbies and leisure, every once in a while, but for a change I would also like to focus more on writing, graphic design and general media. Therefore, I am really glad that I now discovered this as an option. I will explore the exact possibilities a little further to find which type of contribution I prefer now.

At the moment, I think writing educational documents and creating manuals seems like a perfect task for me. Furthermore, it is very impressive that Justin is again involved in such an important project in the development of ARK. So just a little shout out for you man: keep it up!

ledgerdary • January 2, 2019 • Source

Stating the obvious: it is important to keep your community active. With ARK, this task is carried out (partially) by the ARK Community Committee. One of their main objectives is to delegate possible work loads and sub projects to ARK enthousiasts anywhere on the globe.

Reading about their approach, I think it is key that they also include the less technical members. That is obviously a very smart move. These members also have skills that can greatly benefit the ARK ecosytem and it would thus be a waste to exclude them. The task of dividing the donated ARK falls solely to Justin Renken apparently. That sounds like quite a challenge.

I think it would be wise to share this task among more members of the committee. It is essential to look at the different contributions from different perspectives. Other than that, it sounds like a very solid approach to get more people involved in ARK.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

The ACC initiative is one of the most heart touching, future-proof and visionary in terms of who to onboard and how to do it in a conscientious, inclusive and honest manner in order populate an ecosystem, in this case the ARK Ecosystem. This great idea could have just born inside a big heart towards ARK and to the people, thanks Justin.

The ACC is one of the only initiatives (if not the only one) in crypto-land that focus CONSISTENTLY & DIRECTLY on educating (and indirectly on-boarding) the average Bob and Alice in a 'one-to-one' basis through personal participation into the ways, tech and philosophy of ARK, where all skillsets are welcome.

This is a great way to initiate anybody into the basics of the ARK Ecosystem. This will benefit primarily all those who are supporting/helping the committee because they will grow educationally through the help they are offering as well as growing as human beings.

I am not in the committee but I was wondering where do all these constant ways (many of which are rewarded if not all) to participate into the growth/development of the ARK Ecosystem are coming from. Now I know and will certainly check it out to get involved.

One thing I would like to mention is that these activities where people can help should be clearly and visibly shown/appeared in the main ARK.io website and also somewhere in the ARK wallets to remind people that these ecosystem is community driven and that the only way to grow as ecosystem is through helping each other directly or indirectly.

I was not aware of the ACC but if it would have been shown in the ARK wallet) like a big and very noticeable ad) , then I would have checked it out long time ago. Anyway, nice to know about this great initiative.

Mattay252 • December 27, 2018 • Source

I'd say that the contests are fun. They make people think about ARK more than they would otherwise. And the contests really show the generosity of the community and the contest sponsors.

twerkinggorrila • December 27, 2018 • Source

Not only are the contests good for the ecosystem because ideas for improvement are incentivised, but it also allows for the community to be part of the ARK project (without IT/crypto technical experience being a prerequisite!) Maybe the latter is even more important for ARK (or any crypto for that matter), because a crypto is of the community, and the more you interest and involve your community the more it will grow.

In turn, the larger community will have more ideas for improvement, and contests will be even more successful. In my opinion the contests create a bigger and involved fanbase which will improve adoption and development.

Azure-Infinity • December 27, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Being able to earn a cryptocurrency like ARK motivates people to be part of the project, at least that's what I think. There are seriously many things you can do to earn ARK. Be part of the ARK Community Committee (no skills required).

Contact delegate Jarunik if you have ideas, he might fund your project. Complete Github bounties (for advanced coders) or submit ideas. Participate in raffles or community contests. Delegate Rising_Sun has a monthly bounty contest (great for designers). You could use the biz_classic or Delegate Del faucets to earn free ARK. You could keep ARK in your wallet and vote for a profit-sharing delegate.

Voting rewards are voluntary, they are not system controlled. ARK.io does not run the ARK network. These are only a few ways to earn ARK I quickly thought of. I am always looking for people to team up with and projects to work on and I guess the beauty of it all is that I don't expect to earn anything. I'm doing this for ARK.

yahtzee_NL • December 27, 2018 • Source

Bounties and contests offer a great additional incentive to contribute your time and skills to the ecosystem. Getting some ARK in return for your (hard) work is just the best reward I would say.

Also in terms of use, of course it is best to use the native currency to inspire adoption of ARK. I think there already a lot of ways to make and win ARK, but if there is a way to expand this program that would be great. It will help to keep the community active and eager.

As for myself, so far, I have not managed to win any ARK inspite of my efforts. Seems like one of those bucket list items for the next year then. I can only imagine that it would feel great. For now, it offers another drive for me to enter and contribute at each contest. So keep them coming please.

kevinti • December 28, 2018 • Source

For this I can only give a big thumbs up! There are a lot of initiatives for ARK contests and bounties, and this can only help ARK to move forward and to involve more people for the project. Especially a compliment for the '30 Days of ARK'. I'm not too technical myself, and thus cannot join for bounties on Github, yet now I can help ARK and receive a 'bounty' for a more functional perspective of things.

Thank you for this. Just a small though concerning the raffles I've seen: It might be nice to have more, be it slightly smaller, winning prices, so more people might actually win something. This is however just my opinion.

rhakht • December 30, 2018 • Source

For me, ARK is the only cryptocurrency that I have not only holded but actually used and earned. ARK is such an inclusive ecosystem, that I would say, there is a way for everyone the earn some ARK. Actually, I have compiled a list of the ways how you can earn ARK.

Vote with your ARK: learn how to vote, read the delegate proposals and compare delegates. Apply to the ARK Community Fund. Contact delegates for bounties at ARK Slack or ArkDelegates.io. Participate in contests at: ArkDirectory.com/Events or following @ArkDirectory on Twitter.

Play ARK games and win ARK at ArkFun.io. Accept ARK for your business. Join the ARK Github Development Bounty Program. Go to an ARK hackathon: ArkDirectory/Hackathons. Apply to ARK for a job at ARK.io/Jobs. Join the ARK Community Committee at Discord.ark.io. Get tipped on Reddit with ArkTippr. Offer an ARK service at ArkDirectory.com/Services Become a delegate (for advanced users). Source: TheARKCryptoPodcast.com Episode 11.

Personally, I have already earned ARK with voting, writing docs for the Github bounty, participating in an ARK Community Committee project and I got tipped on Reddit multiple times (I always make sure to also tip other people for good content).

kalgoop • January 3, 2019 • Source

I love how the delegates pay back to community (other than the voters they pay) by holding contests every now and then.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 28, 2018 • Source

I am genuinely impressed by the number of ways one can earn some ARK. This is especially useful for starters like me, who want to start to involve themselves some more and can increase their holdings at the same time. It seems to me that bounties are (in general) a fantastic way to give members of the community some extra drive to devote some time to ARK.

Coders and non coders alike, everyone can help out (as long as they have at least some skill or just a lot of time on their hands). The option of winning ARK is of course even better. As a student, I have always liked minimal effort and maximum results of course.

Zane_TLI • December 29, 2018 • Source

I always welcome any initiative that help spread the word about crypto-projects: even before adoption, we are badly lacking in general awareness. ARK is very well organized in this: different funds and project are a great idea to get on board not only the most technological advanced people, but also artists and non-coders who would like to help. In this contest, contest and bounties are important to channel the effort in the right direction. I never earned or won any ARK: I'm hoping that my participation to '30 Days of ARK' will be the first time :-)

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

ARK contest and bounties may increase the interest between community members and increase their activity, which in my opinion is very important.

Elgondir • January 4, 2019 • Source

The amount of ways one can start earning or acquiring ARK baffles me, one of those cryptos you don't even need to invest your own money to try the technology. You can complete bounties, play games, participate in contests or get tipped on Reddit all without any investment on your part other than some of your time. Other than this, you can get passive income, better than most cryptos have to offer, by voting for a delegate.

Voting rewards are voluntary, not system controlled, and ARK.io does not run the ARK network. This way, you get said passive income and you get to influence ARK's future by putting your voting power into someone you believe. How great is that?

mtb1314 • December 29, 2018 • Source

I have not seen another Subreddit that does contests like this. I think it is great and creates excitement in the community. I don't post often since I am a novice on the technical side of things when it comes to ARK, but these contests have motivated me to 'come out of my shell' to post my feelings on certain things.

I do not belong to Twitter, Telegram, and other social media outlets which most bounties of other cryptos usually require you to be part of to win however, ARK provides the opportunity directly on Subreddit which is awesome.

ARK's bounties and contests tend to result in more meaningful comments/posts instead of shameless plugs like other bounties from other projects tend to be. These type of contests bring members together in a family sort of way which I think is great for our 'team morale' as a community.

I actually just won for the first time today in the contest that involved complimenting other members of the community. I was super excited to win since I tend to be unlucky when it comes to things like this haha. Thanks for doing these contests and keep up the great work!

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

If at all possible, I would like to see even more ways to earn ARK. The list is already quite extensive, but in this case certainly more is better. The more different ways there are, the easier it will become for all the members with various skill sets to join in and get more involved. ARK could have its own little gig economy as one of its many traits.

Let us see if we can further increase the size of the list in this new year. Because let's face it, who does not like to earn some additional ARK on the side for doing something they are good at? Exactly. No one. Particularly in this community where there is this great sense of mutual acknowledgement for the other members' achievement and contribution.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

When you are not a developer, you are excluded from participating in most bounties (if not all). So incentivization, and ARK earning, from ARK DPoS or events revolving around ARK education (like those '30 Days of ARK') are very welcomed. Anyway, organizing those events requires time and engagement, so I would like to thank all the people involved.

SftT1 • January 3, 2019 • Source

Is this question for real? Come on guys! You don't need to show off and/or make other blockchain projects look bad in this topic! In terms of 'Contest, Bounties and Earning ARK', the ARK project (delegates as well as community members who initiate these events) is single-handedly on the top of all the blockchain projects (and I am very confident this is also for projects outside crypto).

The key phrase is 'constant flow of opportunities for everyone' to earn ARK tokens, and this phrase is an understatement because you should add 'every day'. I know of other crypto projects that also give opportunities to earn their respective tokens but none of them offer 'everyday opportunities' the way ARK does.

I can say this VERY CONFIDENTLY. You see, many projects offer opportunities mainly to bring people and awareness before their ICOs, but then they stop. This is not the case with ARK which continues and gradually seems to increase the opportunities to earn tokens through different videos such as video-games (yeah, I remember the Ninja video game, I thought it was going to be a piece of cake but unfortunately I never won a single token, it was not that easy to be honest, as far as I remember, every day there was the same winner, then another came up), there was also the monthly contest for a pool of 300-400 ARK based on content (articles, videos,etc).

Also I happen to see sometimes regular users awarding some ARK tokens for some simple tasks like to design a sort of digital binder or some sort of thing if I remember correctly. I've also seen different contests and bounties offered by the ACF (this is a driving force by itself, seems well funded and is generous when rewarding people, great initiative as well as the recent Social Initiative...).

Apart from that, we had the 8 second contest to describe the ARK Ecosystem (I was finalist but didn't win...) as well as the Designathon, very clever way to attract artists and bring awareness of the ARK brand through nice rewards. I couldn't participate in this last one due to time constraints but this was one of the ones I liked the most. If I can participate in this '30 days of ARK' bounty, then anybody can too.

gonggrabber • December 28, 2018 • Source

I personally wonder why some contests I have seen aren't to better the community or spread the word of ARK. Need some contests to spread the ARK name and more. What about some kind of contest to post an ARK fact on Twitter with certain tags which enter you into the contest. Each like is an entry(ticket) and each retweet is 2. Just have a bot scrape the certain hashtags. Just throwing ideas out there.

windrip • December 29, 2018 • Source

I think bounties and contests are a great way to encourage community involvement. Bounties are very common in crypto and can help to spread information about a program or encourage involvement in the development of a project. Contests are also good to increase awareness and interest in the project with the general public.

I have seen a lot of contests and bounties in the past although I've never participated in one previously. A lot of them are in areas which do not really capture my attention- for example, giveaways for gamers or bounties for coders. There have also been several raffles in the past which I also haven't participated in. I did play with biz_classic's faucet for a few weeks in the past and managed to get a small payout, which was fun.

Currently I am sharing some of my thoughts and insights on the project in the current '30 Days of ARK' event since I enjoy writing and hope that some of my comments will be useful to the community in addition to gaining free ARK!

ledgerdary • January 2, 2019 • Source

One of the best ways to inspire mass adoption of a currency, is to supply it to people for their services. If you earn ARK for your work, you have an additional incentive to spend ARK and pay others with it. It is great to see that this ecosystem already offers such a variety of ways to earn ARK.

The bounties are definitely not only for programmers, which makes it easier for a non coding member to contribute. This 30 Days of ARK is a fantastic example of such a bounty program. I really liked this program from the beginning, and I intend to enter a submission every day!

I have also recently entered the latest Arkland Raffle, another great way to use ARK and, in this case, to possibly win ARK. Especially with the odds of this one. I have never seen a raffle with such decent expected value. Good luck everyone.

For now, in 2019, I am curious which new ways of making ARK will be added to the list. I will keep a close watch and will join more and more. That is one of my new year's resolutions.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

This is great way to keep community interested and active during a bear market. This way everybody could earn smaller prizes, sometimes even bigger whish could be woth fortune in the future. My experience is really good, because I won one ARK lottery game. Bounties are really useful because you can earn ARK by helping the team so it is a win-win situation. Because of everything above, I am really interested being part of a community and look forward for next chances to earn more of my favorite tokens.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

There are plenty of opportunities for making ARK. This makes this community so wonderful and even more enjoyable to participate in. One can choose from being delegate, participating in hackathons (programmers) or help in bounties. Also, anybody could get paid via ArkTippr for just commenting or posting something useful. Last two months, there were many prize games where many people won or will win ARK. Special thanks to Jarunik for sponsoring many of these games and bounties. Personally won prize game once.

fakoshi • January 13, 2019 • Source

As a starter, I would of course like to increase my stakes in ARK in as many ways as possible. It is good to see that there are all these contests, bounties and events. So far I have obviously really liked the 30 Days of ARK one. It is really accessible. You just give your opinion and try to comment in a nice concise story and in that way contribute and do your part for ARK.

And you even make some ARK on the side. I have really been quite dedicated to this event and I will try to comment on all of them. I really hope ARK keeps finding ways to make everyone contribute and the fact that you get rewarded with this great currency is a very nice side benefit.

yahtzee_NL • December 27, 2018 • Source

Another great result of Justin Renken's involvement in the ecosystem I would say. Maybe even his best, but I may be too biased because I simply love podcasts. In general, they offer an excellent alternative to reading and usually keep my attention for longer than the average article. Moreover, they allow you to multitask while listening, which is a time saver of course.

And listening on commute, that is something I think is just perfect way of being more efficient. Now, zooming in on this particular podcast (of which I heard four episodes now), I must say I really like it.

It is very accessible and an easy listen from the beginning. It provides me with a nice overview of the week's most important updates while also giving some more detail regarding a handful of subjects. I really hope you can keep it up, Justin.

They are an instant listen at the beginning of the weekend. In addition, in the previous episode my comment on this 30 Days of ARK was mentioned. So that was a nice moment of fame for me!

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

I actually had not come across a link to these podcasts previously; it looks like this series started in August of this year so I have now booked the link on my phone and hopefully can catch up on some of the back episodes in addition to listening to the new episodes as they come out. In general, I would say the more communication methods there are, the better.

Obviously I appreciate news from the projects I track; I am much more willing to stay engaged and interested in something if there are regular updates to help the community stay up to date. Not everyone has time to read and search through tons of chat communication, whether that is in Slack, Discord, or Telegram.

An easy-to-consume format like a podcast is great for people who have active lives and may find it difficult to sit down and read a lot, but who can easily listen to the news while riding the metro or driving a car.

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

It is kind of curious that I had not found this podcast before. I listen to podcasts on almost a daily basis. For some reason, I did not expect ARK to have one. Anyway, you have just got another weekly listener Justin! I really like podcasts as a medium to gather news and information. It is usually pretty condensed material and it allows the listener to multitask in the mean time. I just heard the latest one about the resolutions and I really liked it. Looks like I have some catching up to do.

twerkinggorrila • December 27, 2018 • Source

My Friday evening 45 minute commute is the only one I look forward to, because I can listen to the podcast while driving into the weekend. Not only that, I cannot feel like having an inside joke whenever I say the phrases 'not only that' and 'nice!' Justin be copyrighting parts of my vocabulary.. This guy..

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

Dammit, I am impressed by how ARK and the ARK team are covering every (or nearly every) digital communication channel and, moreover, this is done with quality contents. Podcasts seem no exception: well, I listened to episode 18 only for now but I guess they are all made with same quality material.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

This one is pretty simple. I really like the ARK Crypto Podcast. It is a great addition to the extensive information outlet from ARK using a great medium: audio. Since I have joined the community, I have heard every episode. And I think I will continue to listen to all of them. They are diverse, informative and provide easy listening experiences. My personal favorite episode is: 'Episode #019 – 100% Community Questions & Nothing Else!'.

I missed the first round of questions, but I do like the fact that you can ask questions and they can get discussed at length on the podcast. Keep the question section a part of the podcasts please. Next time round, I will definitely contribute a question to the pool. Perhaps a poll to upvote or downvote specific possed questions for adding them on the show could be a nice addition.

SftT1 • January 15, 2019 • Source

I have personally heard some of the ARK Crypto Podcasts episodes. These are the words that came to my mind after listening to some of the podcasts: thought-provoking. encouraging, educational, peaceful, clarity, inquisitive, involvement-provoking. There was a period of time in which I had to disconnect from crypto completely for a while and when I came back I started watching a few Youtube channels and listening to a few crypto talks to be updated.

One of the podcast I heard was the ARK podcast, I don't remember which one was but I do remember that I was reinvigorated and then some time later I decided to participate in the 'Describe ARK in 1 Block Time' competition which caused me to be start reading more about ARK to see what has been happening recently. The ARK Podcasts are a good entry point to be updated into all things pertaining to ARK and maybe should be placed in a more visible place in the main ARK website (I don't see it there).

it should be easy to download from the main website in my opinion and maybe placed in a corner for easy and fast access to it. I think that ARK having its own Podcasts is a good initiative to inform people in general about what ARK is all about and what are the most recent developments, so as I said, it is a VERY GOOD entry point.

I think the content is indeed very important, so from that point of view I can say that I was always glad to have listened to the episodes that I listened to. In 4 words: 'a GOOD ENTRY POINT'.

Mattay252 • December 27, 2018 • Source

I enjoy the podcast. It's a good way to stay up on ARK news without checking Reddit or any other site. In fact, you could probably exclusively keep up with ARK just by listening to the podcast. It's well done, informative with some humor mixed in. And at 30 minutes long, it's good to listen to during commutes.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 28, 2018 • Source

There is a podcast? How is it possible that I was unaware of this, I love podcasts! I will listen to one right away. Without going into detail about the show (as I have yet to listen), I think it is great that ARK has its own podcast. I can only imagine that is a great summary which I can listen to on my end of week commute from work on Friday. Excellent :)

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

I really like it, especially to listen while I am driving to my work. That's very helpful to get some insights how ARK works. Keep up good work!

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

These podcasts are great way for keeping up with the project. Thirty minute listenings about my favourite project are becoming routine for me and is really useful and satisfying to listen about all those updates and accomplishments from ARK team. This format and time (at the beginning of the weekend) are great for relaxing.

Azure-Infinity • December 27, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I will begin to say that podcasts are not for everyone. I personally don't listen to them unless they're really good, and the ARK Crypto Podcast is exactly that. Podcasts are great to listen to when you're not so busy.

Sometimes I listen to them when I'm laying in bed and other times I have them running in the background while doing some design work. My favorite episode of the ARK Crypto Podcast - and there are many great ones, has to be #002: The ARK Value Proposition. This episode goes in detail about where the value of the ARK tokens is. It is explained really easily. I also suggest people to listen to this episode specifically when they're asking about the value of ARK.

The ARK Crypto Podcast is not only just talk about ARK. It also sometimes discusses other projects briefly and there are some interviews in there which can prove to be of value.

Zane_TLI • December 31, 2018 • Source

My bad, I missed this one! I do a pretty long commute weekly now, so I'll surely put this show in my Podcast list. Thanks for sharing!

nanikore • January 2, 2019 • Source

Disclosure: I'm currently a member of the ARK Community Committee, and these are my personal thoughts and perspectives. The ARK crypto podcast is great! Justin Renken provides easy to digest information and updates that serve as another avenue for learning and understanding ARK. It's also a great tool to use in initiating new users interested in ARK.

ARK has many online resources and databases for learning and information, which can be overwhelming to navigate. The podcast helps distill the core aspects of ARK and its many moving parts, helping identify what you would like to investigate further with respect to ARK.

ChooseArkChooseajob • December 27, 2018 • Source

Can't argue with the little things, it's the little things that make up life. - Hank Scorpio. When I first heard that Justin was going to do podcasts, I thought 'outdated, who listens to them anymore, waste of time.' Unbeknownst to me, podcasts are well listened to, even increasing by the year. I always check out all things ARK, if it's posted anywhere I'll pick it up.

So against my preconceived opinion, I had a midweek listen whilst driving. Surprise surprise, I loved it. Its has a down to earth, 'talking with the guys' vibe, you learn new things and listen to interviews that you cant catch anywhere else.

Most of all, it's engaging, I find myself joining conversation, only to realise its not a group call haha. Its become a little highlight of the week, I don't jump up to listen to it as soon as it drops but rather prefer to set some time aside and really listen to it.

Like how you would with a favourite movie or TV show, you want to be into it engaged, listen to every detail. Its become a little highlight of the week, if it were to be taken away I'd be upset. In short, listen to the podcast.

ledgerdary • January 1, 2019 • Source

What is better than a laid back listening session with a great podcast on your Friday afternoon commute moving into the weekend? Not much I would say. The ARK Crypto Podcasts is one of those listening sessions that is very well suited for that. It provides a good overview of all the updates that have accumulated over the week. Usually, it saves me a lot of catching up as I rarely have time to dive into crypto during the week. I like the balance of the show Justin Renken as developed over its life span.

There is time for discussing the latest progression in ARK, current events and every now and then some cool interviews. It is informative yet there is also a slight humorous accent in there. A crucial ingedient in every podcast if you ask me. In other words, by all means Justin, keep them coming!

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

This is great way of learning about ARK and keeping in touch with project development. Many people are good listeners, and not everybody have time or concentration for extra long reads. All in all, ARK podcasts are really useful and nice, almost tradition, every week.

Azure-Infinity • December 27, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. Before I share my thoughts about ARK Docs I feel like I need to address documentation in general. I wrote a lot of documentation myself. Back in school, for hobbies, for friends to explain some stuff and the list goes on.

I remember having a discussion with a great friend of mine, who also happens to write documentation from time to time. We were talking about how awful many documentations are. Links that are broken, pages that can't be found, images that aren't loading, bad grammar causing nothing to make sense, lack of information.

Or it's not easily explained at all. ARK Docs has a very simple user interface, which in my opinion is needed. Not only is it documented what ARK exactly is, or a guide on how you could do specific things related to ARK, it also goes into detail about blockchains. I would say ARK Docs is still quite new and it needs a lot more work and time before it can grow to a very useful resource (not saying that it's currently not).

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

What to say about ARK documentation repository: User interface is clean, clear and easy to navigate and so are step by step guides with commands screen captures. As a product owner, that is the kind of documentation format I want for my software. Keep those uptodate (and ARK documentation portal sounds like it) and this is yet another key point to facilitate ARK Ecosystem adoption.

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

Personally I really suck at keeping up decent administration and documentation. I usually am a little jealous when someone else does have their documents well on track and well organized. Looking at this documentation page, I get a little jealous. Enough said, looks really solid and well put together.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 28, 2018 • Source

The ARK documentation has a nice layout with detailed information regarding various aspects in the ARK Ecosystem. It offers a good and easy read from what I have read so far. The page is initiutively designed and ordered. I also really like the fact that there is even documentation about blockchain related technology in general. So basically also the less technologically inclined can use this website to educate themselves and make sure they also know the basic knowledge and fundamentals in order.

Furthermore, I like the fact that you say 'The ARK documentation portal is a living breathing organism, ever changing as ARK itself evolves to reveal new powers and capabilities', because with all the latest developments in the ecosystem, I also have some catching up to do, I would say.

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

Totally must have in any new technology project. I can't imagine proper ecosystem without docs, and the ARK docs play very well!

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

This is one of the things I took some time to look into when I found about ARK (I still need to re-read some topics). ARK's documentation is robust and well organized. It is well structured IMO. It is clear it has backbone, it was not rushed, it is very clean and clear. Great job, I know about documentation in sciences and know how important this is and how demanding can be to have a well organized an updated documentation.

I have seem some other documentations by other blockchain projects and can confidently say that some if not many of these projects could benefit by taking a look at ARK's documentation which cover some general topics too. ARK's documentation inspires confidence and seems an area where ARK shines. It seems to look very enticing to developers. Strong point in the ARK Ecosystem!

ChooseArkChooseajob • December 27, 2018 • Source

It's insane how simple informative and well organised ARK Docs is. The UI is slick and modern, certainly punched with the ARK stamp. It's a developer's dream documentation guide, easy on the eyes and straightforward so that one can crack on straight away. It highlights the quality of the team and serves as a flag to all prospective blockchain competitors, ARK's got game, watch your step.

Seriously, this site is so good, its more than just documentation- its a mini encyclopedia of the blockchain. A noob can learn detailed basics about cryptocurrencies and jump off from their research into working with ARK. Young, new, learning / transitioning devs have the ultimate guide here. Consistently updated; its a must read for any aspiring developer, investor or researcher.

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

The documentation that the ARK community has put together in ARK Docs is very easy to navigate and is very well written. There is a lot of content that introduces newcomers to the ARK Ecosystem, as well as a a lot of detailed information for people planning to host notes, developers, and more advanced users.

From a technical perspective, proper documentation is obviously important for software developers so that others can easily update and modify the code and so that the design still makes sense years after the initial code was written. The documentation contained in ARK Docs is also useful for everyday users and those who aren't involved in the software development side of the project.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

ARK Docs is the premier place for everybody who wants to educate themselves about the ARK project. It has it all, all concepts, wallets, APIs...When I want introduce somebody into this project (who is really interested, not like only in partnerships and price growth), I refer him/her to this site (among few others which were in previous threads) to study ARK.

Aarebei • December 27, 2018 • Source

Still a solid project. Maybe one day..

ledgerdary • December 29, 2018 • Source

Every project needs decent documentation. It was one of the main things I studied when I was doing my due diligence and investigated this ecosystem's potential. Upon browsing the documentation, I found it had a well structured lay out. It offered a good read with little to no masks of rhetoric, but rather a concise yet informative composition. That was rather a rarity in crypto documentation.

Usually, white papers and such have layers of useless and often complex word schemes. Unfortunately, more often than not, this is devised to conceal a real lack of actual technology or vision. As long as ARK manages to keep their documentation up to date and relevant, I think they are really proving superior over the competition on this one.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

Who does ever read a manual? Personally I usually try to find different ways to get something to work or learn something. That said, I have browsed read the ARK Documentation Portal. Doing so, I did get the impression that the documentation is very extensive. It also has a good sense of order and seems well writen.

Of course my opening statement was greatly exaggerated, and it is important to have good documentation, at least for means of reference. Long story short, I think the ARK Documentation Portal does seem to be pretty solid overall. If it is maintained up to date, I do not have any specific suggestions for improvement at all.

yahtzee_NL • December 27, 2018 • Source

Comprehensive sets of decent documentation are very important for any project. To be honest, I have yet to do a deep dive to have a more detailed understanding of the status quo regarding them. After that I hope I can have an opportunity to contribute to any form of documentation that might be missing from the portal for now.

Zane_TLI • December 29, 2018 • Source

I'm a full-time senior developer with 10+ yrs of experience. Let me tell you this: a technology is only as good as its documentation. One can have the fastest, most secure software ever built, but if there isn't a good, complete documentation to get developers and enduser on board with ease, the chance of it getting adopted are dangerously low. Back in the early 2000's, Microsoft had a good advantage with its excellent MSDN portal over everyone else.

It also had amazing tools (Visual Studio and .NET framework, for example) but it was the comprensive docs that got me hooked at the time. Lately I do mostly Magento 1.x e-commerce- here the documentation sucks (badly). All we are left with is community support (Stack Overflow, mostly), Google and some usually out-of-date blog post.

I'm trying to get myself up to speed with ARK (I'd LOVE to create a full free course for my Youtube channel) and so far the ARK Docs has been EXCELLENT for a newcomer. Going forward, I see two main challenges: keeping it up-to-date and well organized/searchable.

Trust me, it's not impossible to write good docs, but long-term maintenance is where the problem lies. I really hope that the ARK team will be able to do it.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK Docs are great public library with everything someone needs to know about project. This is nice database to refer to when you want somebody to learn about ARK project. It is great that nothing is set in stone and database could be changed whenever new features are added or something is changed in ecosystem.

ledgerdary • December 28, 2018 • Source

This is where it all started for me- the ARK Subreddit. When ARK had piqued my interest for some time, I decided to join this Reddit page to get myself better educated and to get involved as well. It was one of the first crypto related Subreddits that I joined, and it is now certainly one of my favorites. I really like the proactiveness and liveliness of this part of the forum.

A lot of interesting topics are always being actively and openly discussed. It also provides an excellent news feed, as most updates are posted here. The Subreddit therefore makes for a nice overview of everything going on in the ecosystem. Last but certainly not least, there are some exclusive posts, discussions and contests going on at any moment.

Take this 30 Days of ARK campaign for example. I would say Reddit offers one of the best platforms for these kind of campaigns and I have really enjoyed participating in it so far. Reddit is easily one of my favorite forums, and this Subreddit is definitely one of the best subs out there!

Zane_TLI • December 29, 2018 • Source

I didn't use Reddit very much in the past. I came back to it in late 2017 due to the crypto-craze and to get opinion on news events or specific coins to double-check my understanding of things before writing for my site, TurboLab.it or record a video for my Youtube channel. Since then, Reddit is by far my favorite source for all things crypto.

/r/CryptoCurrency is by far my favorite Subreddit because it's hard to keep track of everything and only the most relevant project-specific discussion get cross-posted there. Regarding ARK, this community is amazing and by far one of the cleanest, most down-to-earth group of people of the scene. For comparison, just take a look at Verge, Tron, VeChain and many other to see how much anger and FUD there is.

Also /r/omise_go , another project I like, is getting a bit toxic as of late. On /r/ArkEcosystem I never saw that low-level attack and discussion. So yeah, it's a pleasure to be here, kudos to mods and people alike!

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

This Subreddit is place where everybody can feel like a part of community. Many updates, prize games, news etc. are published here. It is very helpful for newcomers to introduce themelves and ask anything they need to know about the project or technicals. Personally found out everthing I need to know about ARK wallet with just a few questions here.

Irunlikepre44 • December 29, 2018 • Source

I've read many altcoin Subreddits, and ARK is very concise, well written and maintained by active and helpful mods. This is something I personally looked for when searching for new altcoins! I didn't want one that appeared to be run by little kids. I only found ARK in December but I hope to be one of the people able to answer newcomers questions in 2019!

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

Reddit is simply one of my favorite online platforms. I use it all the time to keep track of several projects at once. It seems to be the (only) common denominator between the projects or interests that I follow. The Subreddit for ARK is clean and tidy and prevents a lot of irrelevant spam. Last but certainly not least, the most important feature of the ARK Subreddit is arguably the ArkTippr.

That neat little bot allows for very smooth tipping of fellow redditors for their contributions or comments. Tipping in a native currency in general is of course very desirable. I am curious if there will be more new features added to the ArkTippr later.

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

Reddit is seriously one of the best platforms out there. Period. Having a decent Subreddit page is therefore of the upmost importance. This Subreddit is just that. It is well moderated and thus very clean. The basis for this is of course a set of good rules and moderators. ARK seems to have that all pretty well figured out. Spam often does not last long on this page, thank god. Keeps the page concise and the content on average very relevant and interesting. This is one of my main news sources for ARK.

pl4tf0rm2 • December 28, 2018 • Source

My ARK journey found its origin here, at the ARK Subreddit. This page stood out to me from all the other crypto Subreddits mainly because of two reasons. The first one was one of the first messages that I read where someone tipped another redditor with a simple command to send some ARK their way. The simplicity of the command and the seamless tip struck me as very impressive. This made me dive a little deeper into this forum.

The second thing that stood out was the specific mention of price discussion in the Subreddit rules. I found it very refreshing to see that there was a crypto Subreddit where it was actually prohibited to talk about price, while most of the other pages that is simply the main topic. I love this down to earth, fundamentals and technology first approach. I visit this Subreddit almost on a daily basis.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

Among the multiplicity of communication channels, I must say that Subreddit is one of my favorites (the others being Twitter and Telegram). The forum format is particularly well suited for discussions and this is probably one of the easiest places to find issues topics and support by project team and the community. As for the ARK Subreddit, I find it very clear with up-to-date information. Moreover, it seems more mature overall. When I read discussions I feel they are mainly driven by the project and the values it brings, which is great.

yahtzee_NL • January 6, 2019 • Source

The ARK Subreddit is one of my favorite places to get up to speed about the latest regarding ARK. I like the fact that it sort of accumulates information from various sources and media, as people post links and summaries here. Also, the weekly discussion is a great place to have a chat about some of the recent developments and to share your thoughts on them.

It seems to me that the members here are generally pretty open minded and genuinely interested in your perspective. This often leads to interesting talks.

Moreover, it is events like this 30 Days of ARK campaign that suit the Reddit platform to a great extent. I have happily participated in this campaign from the beginning and I have also read a lot of the other comments with pleasure. I really like to find out what others think about the aspects of ARK and it all has proven to be very insightful. Hopefully the Reddit platform will be hosting mannnnnny more of these kind of events in the future.

Azure-Infinity • December 28, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I think there are quite a bunch of people who first find out about a project on Reddit. I did too when it comes to ARK. I looked into ARK a lot of times before, but I also wanted to see what the community was like. I can tell the ARK community (specifically talking about Reddit now) very much surprised me.

Pretty much all the other Subreddits I browsed were filled with price, moon and Lambo talk. The ARK Subreddit is so much more mature and it helps that price discussions are not allowed. Then we also have the amazing ArkTippr bot developed by delegate Cryptology!

mtb1314 • December 29, 2018 • Source

I am not part of Telegram, Slack, or Discord so ARK Subreddit is where I always go to get my information. I do not post often but am a frequent lurker and enjoy coming here to catch up on the latest updates and read insightful questions and comments posted by the community members.

When I first got into crypo in early 2017 ARK was just another coin I had added to my portfolio. It wasn't until I started reading this Subreddit that I became more and more excited about ARK. It's not just the vision and direction that ARK is heading towards, it is the community here that did it.

I have invested in several crypto projects and because of that I keep up with all of them through Subreddit. I can say without a doubt that ARK Subreddit is my favorite one to visit. It is active, informative, and most importantly the people that are part of this community treat each other with the utmost respect.

Some of the Subreddits I visit have negatively influenced my views of their projects due to it being inactive, their toxic environment, or people looking to get rich quick and making moon comments. ARK is none of that and because of this, this Subreddit has me confident that ARK will have a long successful future ahead of it.

Elgondir • January 4, 2019 • Source

As a bunch of other people, this was my first contact with ARK, it was right here where I fell in love with this project. This Subreddit is especially great, no FUD, no dumb content, no random hype, just good news and nice interesting discussions with good people that like myself. I might be biased, but I'm really proud of the community we have here, there's no crypto sub that comes even close to be as great as this one.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

Although this account is my new one, I spent a lot of time on this Subreddit and can say only positive things about it. People here are really helpful and polite, I rarely see 'internet fights' here like in other Subbreddits which are full of them. That says something about this community and project ;) I read some really good and useful discussions and am really glad that even delegates come here to help when they are needed as they probably know more about project than most of us.

kevinti • December 28, 2018 • Source

If I come across an altcoin that seems interesting, the first thing I do is to look up its Subreddit. It gives me a first look into the way that the people behind it handle their communications and their work, and whether they are actually putting in any effort. As I know I'm not the only one in doing this, I think a first impression is everything.

Things that I look for are a handful: What does the Subreddit look like? (chaotic messages or a clear overview, regular updates) In what way is it moderated? (Are there clear rules? How active are mods in censoring?) What information is given (and how easy is it to find)? Are actual team members active on the Subreddit? How helpful and positive is its community?

Overall, I can definitely say I'm positive on these points for the ARK Subreddit. The Subreddit has a clear overview, many involved team members and delegates active on the Subreddit, and its community is very helpful.

These were reasons for me to start looking into ARK more. Furthermore, rules are clearly stated in the wiki, as well as to the right of the Subreddit. Communication with the team is no hassle as well, and it is clear and direct. Well done. To not only leave you with compliments but also something to think about: Using the one link in the weekly discussion shows clearly where to go for more information, and I think the wiki certainly has all info that one needs.

windrip • December 29, 2018 • Source

I frequently stop by the ARK Subreddit to catch up on the news and gossip surrounding the project although I tend not to comment too much unless something really catches my attention. It's a good-sized community and generally those who comment on the sub are quite helpful and willing to answer questions and help newcomers get better acquainted with the project.

The moderators show their presence when needed and most of the time they get involved appropriately to assist the community and clean up the sub. I always like it when a community it able to reward others who are helpful, so I think the ARK tip bot is a great thing to have on the sub as well!

Jdony • January 4, 2019 • Source

I think for most people researching blockchain projects, Reddit has become the first thorough introduction to a project. While the project website often has a lot of good information, I see it as looking at a movie poster versus reading reviews. The website is not going to show criticism, problems etc. Reddit does. It generally gives a more balanced view of projects.

I think this sub gives good info, but there isn't a lot going on to keep you coming back. The problem might be that lots of info and chat is on Slack or Discord which are less inclusive to people reading about a new project and there is also a forum on the website itself.

It might be a good idea to focus the communication strategy on one medium that is easily used by people without having to make an account of download software first. And Reddit, while having its issues, appears to me as the best choice to let more people learn about this great project.

For the same reason it isn't beneficial to split the community into different subs for memes, trading, delegates etc. If somebody asks me where they can find the latest news or in depth discussions or roadmap for ARK, I would love to be able to give the same answer to all three questions. It makes it easier for people and to me, that is what ARK is all about.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

After finding about ARK the very first time, I use to read the blogs and documentation from the website and videos from the ARK Youtube channel. I didn't know about Reddit. So I took a 'vacation' away from crypto for a season. Then, upon coming back I 'discovered' Reddit (I am not a fan of social platforms, I don't have and never even have had Facebook or Instagram) some months ago and one of the things I checked was some crypto projects such as ARK.

Fortunately, there was an ARK Subreddit and I liked what I saw. I saw genuine involvement and participation by the community as a whole (users, delegates and even core team members in one way or another). It is always interesting to read the ARK Subreddit and take a look a people's points of view and learn from them too.

'Iron sharpens iron'. There are also many opportunities to get free ARK through the ARK sub-Reddit, this proved to be an additional critical incentive for me to check the ARK Subreddit everyday. I would say that ARK Sub-Reddit has become my first stop when checking in a quick manner what is going on in the ARK Ecosystem/community, it is quick and fast and always has relevant and updated information. When comparing ARK Subreddit to the Subreddit of other crypto projects, I will not compare it with BTC,ETH, BCH, NEO, LTC or XRP. But I will compare it to the Subreddits of all the other projects. There are only a few projects' Subreddits that have a consistent and constructive level of participation by their community, and ARK Subreddit is definitely one of those.

Others are Nano, Vechain, BAT, Ravencoin , PundiX which are projects with great community that participates using their Subreddits. Again, I always read the conversation that occur in ARK as well as in these other Subreddits that I mentioned above. One key difference is that ARK's Subreddit OFFERS THE MOST CONSISTENT AND CONTINUOUS OPPORTUNITIES TO GET FREE ARK THROUGH 'SIMPLE PARTICIPATION' THAN ANY OTHER CRYPTO SUBREDDIT INCLUDING BTC AND ETH. Just take a look at '30 Days of ARK Event'.

Last, I would like to mention that ARK's conversations seems at the same level of maturity that ETH's Subreddit which I think speaks volumes considering that ARK Subreddit has much less members.

Irunlikepre44 • December 29, 2018 • Source

I found out about ARK from Discord, where Jarunik answered questions from me for probably an hour. I really appreciated him taking the time to answer soo many basic questions of mine. I agree it doesn't have the most activity, but it was very helpful to me and hope it's activity increases in 2019!

windrip • December 29, 2018 • Source

In addition to the ARK Subreddit which I frequent, I am in the ARK Telegram group and also in Discord. Of those three, I visit Reddit the most.

When I have checked into Discord it's generally not too active although a few of the admins do post news and answer comments there as needed. The Telegram group is more active, but I am in a large number of Telegram groups and so I don't frequent them all on a regular basis.

I have heard that Slack is the best place for real-time conversations about ARK but I've never installed the software.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

Slack and Discord are another great opportunities to participate in ARK community in real time. While the project is getting bigger, it is very important to have various platforms to communicate about the project, new ideas, trading... Personally, I don't have much experience in using ARK Slack and Discord but certainly am looking forward to participate.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

I ONLY participated in the Discord and Slack a few times because I had a few questions. I still have some questions about the tech but I need to read by myself more before going there again. People in the Slack is very informative and mods and the community are very welcoming and helpful.

It is a very engaging place to be part of. It seemed to a place that developers who are trying to build something would love to be in. That was my impression which is very motivating because make you think that even if you are not a developer, you can still can come up with an idea and you will definitely be helped in the Discord. This is very encouraging.

So in regards to the these two workplaces, these few words remained in my memory from my personal experience: encouraging, welcoming, helpful, engaging, developers nest, tools, building.

twerkinggorrila • December 29, 2018 • Source

Because of ARK I did try out Slack for the first time, and now Slack and the Subreddit are the two main gateways to the community and news for me. Slack is free, but a paid account will allow you more things such as cloud storage and seeing the conversation history much further back. You will find more interesting discussions on development, ideas, issues, on Slack that often don't reach Reddit, because interaction with the team and the community is much more direct on Slack.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

Usually, I am not too fond of channels like Slack and Discord for professional applications. More often than not, it is hard to keep everything tidy and clear, especially when larger groups are involved. I do like the fact that the signup procedure is not instant and that they need to be manually approved. This way, there will be control on the number of participants to avoid a flood of random commenters.

In terms of free functionality, I prefer Discord over Slack. But unfortunately ARK uses Slack as a main platform for communications. Perhaps it is just me and I just have to get used to it a little more, but I also think Discord works a lot more seamless than Slack.

Anyway, I think it is at least good that one can choose between several platforms. That way it is easier to suit everyone's preference. On the other hand, it can get cumbersome to keep track of all the channels of course.

Elgondir • January 7, 2019 • Source

I'm not one to use alternative channels other than slack to connect with devs or delegates, yet those that I used, (Slack and Reddit in this case) I was always met with the utmost sympathy and will to help. I can't stress enough how this community is the best in the cryptosphere I've been a part of, and the way we deal with each other really does show that. I can't see Discord being any different.

Azure-Infinity • December 29, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I first joined Slack mid-November in 2017. I didn't say much or anything and then really stopped using it. I only went back on from time to time to lurk. I'm not a big fan of the interface. When I really wanted to get involved more with the ARK community is when I decided to chat and be active on Slack.

Most of the times I have no clue what technical rocket science the team and some community members are talking about, but I know it's in good hands. There can be some very interesting conversations to follow on Slack. Just today, an user named James posted an idea for an ARK newcomer adoption scheme. This would be tutorials for new users, such as setting up a new wallet, and for doing this they would receive some ARK in return. User michaelthecryptoguy and delegates Cryptology, thefoundry and Jarunik joined the chat to discuss it.

The conversation went as far as talking about integrating Persona to verify users and buying phone data packets and vouchers for local farmers in Indonesia. I don't know if any of this will ever become a reality but I find it intriguing what the ARK community can come up with.

Then there's Discord. I have used Discord way longer than I have used Slack. I'm part of multiple servers. Discord is more a tool for gamers. Which makes it funny because we regularly get new users joining the ARK Discord asking around if someone wants to team up to hunt dinosaurs.

They think it's the Discord for a video game. We have a channel for the ACC (ARK Community Committee) where we communicate. Out of both Slack and Discord I prefer Discord, probably because I am way more familiar with it. That said though, the ARK Slack is much more active and that's where all the cool kids hang.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

Many platforms to discuss may look like good idea, but if you miss any of them you may miss something interesting and important. I think that for new users Slack/Discord is good, but for advanced users and serious ideas, Reddit or official forum is much better alternative.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

Slack and Discord are useful platforms for quick conversation on any ARK related topic. Everybody (even delegates) always find time to answer any questions asked and in that way anybody could solve all uknowns about the project. Like everything related to the ARK community, those platforms (groups) are top level.

Presence_Numerique • December 29, 2018 • Source

I recognize the essential aspect of those community tools for support and information sharing but, honestly, when communities are so large, I find it hard to be an active participant. Therefore, I connect to them from time to time when I need it. Anyway, from what I can see, those two ARK real time communication tools are well driven.

Zane_TLI • December 29, 2018 • Source

Maybe it's just me being of the forum/email/ICQ generation, but I really can't use huge realtime chatrooms. Yes, I'm in a few Telegram channels, but almost all of them are muted and just stand there with thousand of unread messages. I joined ARK on Slack the first time to chat with my delegate (thefoundry) but I never came back to it.

I'll probably re-join if a specific need arises, but I don't see myself using it on a daily basis. I also had a look to Discord, but it's all the same to me. Don't get me wrong, I use Slack at work and for teamwork I find it pretty efficient, but for large communities it just doesn't work for me. Don't worry ARK team: it's not you, it's me ;-)

yahtzee_NL • January 6, 2019 • Source

I have not yet joined either the ARK Slack or the ARK Discord yet, but I really feel that I should now. Of course I do understand that a proper platform for real time communications is essential for a project. Particularly with such a global community that is quite numerous and will probably expand further in the coming years. I have used Discord before for different channels than ARK and I think it could be a valuable platform.

The channels that I had joined were regularly fouled by a lot of unrelated spam, but I suspect ARK will be less prone for that. It is inherently more serious than those other channels, fortunately.

For Slack, I will have to join first to give any valuable judgement of course. However, I can already say that I like the fact that the channel is regulated and that any subscription has to be appoved first. That will probably save a lot of spam and unwanted contributions in the long run.

ledgerdary • December 29, 2018 • Source

I think it is essential for any project to have means of realtime and seamless communication that can accommodate large amounts of people. Before I got into ARK, I did not know Slack, but I did know Discord. To be honest, for me, Discord was always for non productive means and leisure.

The chats that I was in there were always kind of messy, but I can imagine it can work for more serieus projects too. For professional environments I have always used Lync. I still believe that is an excellent platform. However, it loses its leanness at an increased scale, I would say. As for Slack, I have only used it to dive deeper into ARK.

Personally, I am not too fond of this platform. It feels like the communication possibilities are quite inferior to its competitors. It is also not intuitively designed for my taste, but perhaps I have some more getting used to it ahead of me. Disclaimer: I have used the free version so far, so it could be that the paid milage may vary.

However, I do not really like the fact that you would need to pay for such a service to increase to usability and feature set. Again, in that case, I think there are numerous alternatives available that would easily compete with the bang for the buck proposition of Slack.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

I am not really familiar with either Discord or Slack, other than having heard from them before of course. It seems to be an important means of communication here at ARK, so I will give it a try after this.

A quick look at both proves that both platforms are a little different than I had anticipated. They both are pretty clean, specifically the Slack channel. Registration was very easy and I had to be approved before being allowed to enter into the channel. For now I think I like Slack just a tad better, but I will give them both some more time to be sure.

Either of them look like a good way to communicate with large amounts of people at the same time. Of course, some subsections are required for more compartimentalized conversations and to avoid unnecessary background noise every now and then.

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

I think I ought to try at least one of these sometime soon. Yeah, that is right, I have not joined them yet, both of them. I think I once used Discord already for something else but I remember being not too fond of it. Hopefully that will not be the case for the ARK channel and the same goes for the Slack.

It is crucial of course to accommodate our ever growing community somewhere that has a decent environment to chat in larger groups. Brainstorm sessions as well as smaller meetings can all work fine at least in Discord. I think perhaps it depends on the seriousness of the channel. I will give it a(nother) try for ARK soon anyway.

ledgerdary • December 31, 2018 • Source

The ARK Blog offers a comprehensive overview of all the publications concerning ARK. With the search function, one can easily look back in time to see how ARK has evolved. Furthermore, by scrolling through the content it becomes a timeline. On a side note: it is impressive to see (in hindsight) how much ARK has achieved in 2018 in spite of the bear market.

The articles themselves are to the point, and could even be slightly more detailed in some cases I think. I also really like the fact that there is a estimate on the read time for each article. Excellent when I am in the train and I would like to know if I can finish reading another one. Overall, very good: stuctured, concise and most of all, informative.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK blog constantly offers new information about project with many posts about developments, partnerships, new developers.. Really interesting are articles where new developers introduce themselves so whole community could get better insight in team's growth and added quality and everybody can make suggestions in which part (programming, graphic design, marketing...) ARK team should find additional people to help.

Azure-Infinity • December 30, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. I always read the ARK Blog pretty much as soon as it's available and posted everywhere. The first thing I do is admire Oleg's header because I can't say it often enough; I love his designing skills.

The blog posts are always interesting to read (coming from an ARK fan). Sometimes there's a lot to share but the blog posts are never too long. They're also wording everything in such a way that it's very easy to read through. Other times the blog posts can be quite technical and go in depth which is great for the bigger nerds. :)

jeronimek • January 2, 2019 • Source

Looks nice, but it's standard feature of every project. I like the design of the page, tiles looks great and give very good overview of all news.

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

I really like the style of the ARK blog. It is well designed and the graphic representations of the articles are beautifully put together. They are visual summaries of the articles themselves more often than not. Very nice.

I have read at least a handful of articles so far and I do like them a lot. They are very concise and yet pretty detailed still. Although I would like a little more depth every now and then.

Perhaps accompanied with an abstract for the impatient reader of perhaps anyone that just wants to get the big picture. Other than that, a great place to get your doses of ARK literature from. I also like the fact that the articles are posted on various media at publication so that it is not hard to keep track.

Zane_TLI • December 30, 2018 • Source

Being an avid technology reader, I really appreciate when a project invests in keeping up a good blog instead of relying on short tweets. The most importat part for me is the RSS feed: I subscribe so that I can get my sources all together in Feedly. The writing and visuals of the blog are great and I read almost any single post.

I just skim over new team member: yes, I really appreciate the time you guys took to introduce them to us and I want to see it continue, but life is short and time is little :-) I also like the frequency: not to little, not too much. Please continue like this and avoid at all cost posting just to keep a presence or as a 'reminder': we already like the project and do not need pointless posts.

What I don't like of the blog is the RSS feed format: I only get partial content, and so I'm forced to go through http://fivefilters.org/content-only/ to get the full post in my reader. Since your target is to get the message out and not generate pageview for the site, I think this is just a minor technical issue to be fixed.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

The blog offers a chronological sequence of all the ARK articles. It shows the history of ARK and its development over the years. Very neat feature. It is also good to have all the articles in one place, without any social media noise.

The length of the articles seems just right for me. And the frequency at which they are published is quite high I would say, but no complaints here of course. Most of the articles are well writen and even the more complex ones are not too hard to read.

Lastly, I really like the accompanying graphics for each article. They look very pretty and already offer a kind of summary of the article itself. And this all in the epic ARK theme. Nice!

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

ARK's blog is not just informative, it is didactic. It subtly teaches you how to write and structure a blog. Each topic is relevant and covered very specifically and clearly, no shadows, no nonsense. Clean, clean, clean and to the point.

I like to read the blog, especially when I want to have a little bit more explanation about some technical details. Yes, ARK does release good info with relative frequency, sometimes even 3-4 times a week.

The blog and the documentation are very strong pillars in the ARK Ecosystem. Kudos to the ARK team and delegates involved in this job.

This can compensate any lack in Youtube, but having a Youtube at the same level as the blog, this would help the ARK Ecosystem tremendously because 'most people feeds themselves through their eyes' (they prefer videos than reading).

twerkinggorrila • December 30, 2018 • Source

Great writing (understandable often for crypto/IT novices), accompanied by eye-catching visuals! They have a professional and creative feel to it, and I often share the posts with others to explain what ARK is about (or the concept of crypto even). I think the posts really are a great piece of marketing.

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

The ARK Blog, with multiple posts per week, is an excellent source of news for the ARK community. In addition to BoldNinja who provides most of the updates, there are a variety of other blog authors who also write informative articles to keep the community up-to-date on new team members, partnerships, project developments, and other news.

The Monthly Newsletters that are released are a great way for many community members to get an overview and keep up-to-date on everything that's happened during the month.

One critique I would have is that these do not always seem to appear consistently. I'm not entirely sure of when these updates started (or stopped?) being written, but I do not recall seeing one for Novemer 2018, for example.

I'm sure this type of summary takes several hours to compile and write, but I think it's a great resource that community members can read in order to catch up on everything and- if they want further information- follow the links provided to read more about the points that are mentioned.

yahtzee_NL • January 6, 2019 • Source

Just scrolling through the ARK blog is already a nice experience. It is basically a helicopter view of all the news, updates, upgrades and developments all summed up. If anyone is still sceptical about the progress that ARK has made over the year, by all means, check the ARK blog and you will probably change your mind in a heartbeat.

The blog also features the introduction articles for any new members that are reinforcing the team. I am particularly fond of these articles as I think it is always important to know the key people and their activities in every project.

Lastly, I do not know who is making the added visual elements for every blog article, but they are just gorgeous. I like the fact that they sort of summarize the story for you before you read the article.

Very well made and definitely a great addition to the blog to make it a little more lively to browse through. In comparison, most (crypto) blogs are rather dull if you ask me.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

I would say that blogs are essential to any project and particularly crypto projects. You are able to read valuable and in-depth articles about every matter of the project, be it roadmap, partnership, developments, new team members etc... Of course, for the sake of the blog, articles must be written in a clear and attractive manner (visuals are important too) and there is no doubt, in my opinion, that it is the case for ARK medium.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 2, 2019 • Source

An extensive blog that has beautiful and representative graphics and also functions as a time line. That on its own is already quite impressive. As I am an active Reddit user, I usually see it the new blog post here first and then read it as soon as I can.

Perhaps I should also incorporate it into a RSS feed. Anywho, most posts on the blog offer a nice read. Extensive yet concise, although sometimes I feel they are a little too concise for my taste. If it was up to me, I would like a little more background and detail at the cost of some additional read time.

But I can also imagine that most people enjoy these more bite size type of articles. Either way, please continue with these articles. I love reading about new technology and ARK is one of my favorites at the moment.

ledgerdary • December 31, 2018 • Source

On the ARK Youtube Channel there are various informative videos to be found, ranging from very basic content to rather elaborate content. Even people that are less familiar with the basics of ARK or even of blockchain in general, can educate themselves there.

When I was getting to know ARK by gathering as much information from various sources and media, Youtube was one of the first platforms I checked. I think that illustrates how important Youtube exposure is for merely any project. I was rather impressed with the videos I watched. The content was concise, yet quite eleborate. Hopefully, the team and other content creators can keep the channel up to date with ever emerging new topics.

For some people, video is the primary medium to obtain there information and knowledge. Not everyone likes to read, especially rather complex matter and probably longer articles than the average news medium we are (supposed to be) used to now.

Recently I have watched and enjoyed the later content video reports of some events. They offer a very nice impression and allowed for me to 'meet' some of the key members around here.

Elgondir • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK's Youtube channel is full of good and informative content, I'm just sad it doesn't seem like it gets a lot of traction, yet I think it's a great source of information, sooner or later the traction problem will be over with more and more people wanting to know more about the greatest project in the cryptosphere.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

The ARK Youtube channel does offer quick insight into many ARK concepts, however, I think there is ONLY one full video (the one of Thoorens from about 1 year ago if I remember correctly and is the only one I really like it). It is informative but limited in my view. I honestly think it must improve.

For example, some of the events should be uploaded in a complete manner, like for example the Hackathons (I would like to see a full hackathon hosted by ARK, even if its duration is 10 hours or more). The quality of the videos is not that great,it doesn't look pristine or in high definition but this is not as important as the content, more content must be uploaded, complete sessions of events.

I don't compare it to videos from other projects because that is very relative, maybe those other projects are not doing a great job either. However, I think in the cryptosphere, Cardano Foundation and IOHK do a great job in uploading videos with relative consistency. It also seems that Cardano seems to incentivize some Youtubers that like Cardano project to keep uploading videos. This brings a lot of awareness. I think we can learn from that.

Youtube can be very effective in building a community. I would say this is a weak point in the ARK Ecosystem that can become a strength if the resources are allocated, people are incentivized and if some of the ARK core team and/or delegates donate some of their time for Youtube interviews and also to share the state of the ARK Ecosystem using video.

Zane_TLI • January 1, 2019 • Source

I'm subscribed to the channel but just now I figured out I never watched any content there. I went back now and watched some of the one I found most interesting: 'Mass Adoption Concepts with Justin Renken' is very well done (congrats. man, it wasn't easy to build such a great introduction to all the thing ARK in a couple of minutes but you did it wonderfully!) and it was inspiring to see the massive presence ARK had at consensus.

I also watched some more commercial and stuff just for the great visuals :-) I'd like to see some hands-on, 10 mins tutorials on how to 'Point. Click. Blockchain:' I'm planning to to the same on my Youtube channel, not some official resource would be amazing to possibly check my on work against and be sure I got everything right.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

Youtube is such an important medium nowadays. It is thus paramount to have sufficient publicity there, with relevant and condensed content. Although I think ARK's presence is decent on Youtube, I feel they should increase their output there.

I really like to watch videos on Youtube and even to get some of my information from there. It does save some time, compared to reading articles sometimes. With all the recent developments for ARK, it should not be too hard to get inspiration for new videos I would say.

Perhaps a few suggestions can be out sourced by the bounty program. Or there could be a contest for making the best video or providing the best idea for a new video. Sort of like the last contest for coming up with a new application for the revent Core v2 upgrade. Just putting it out there, as it might be a good idea if the budget allows for it.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

I unfortunately don't watch many ARK videos, but certainly look forward to change that. My favourite ARK Youtuber is Jarunik because I think he is one of the smartest and best team members who has really useful vidoes to help everybody understand project, keep us updated and even gives insight in future team's plans. I watched few videos about other projects and wasn't impressed. In fact, most of even much 'bigger' projects (marketcap wise) don't have videos, escpecially not on the regular basis like ARK.

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

I don't get on Youtube too much, but I checked out the ARK channel again and see quite a few videos that I've watched in the past; I don't recall if they were originally posted on Reddit which is how I saw them, or if I just watched them on Youtube itself but my guess would be the former.

Although I don't personally watch many videos on Youtube, I know that a lot of other people do, so I agree that it's important to have a Youtube presence to increase people's exposure to the project. There are quite a few videos on the ARK channel, some of which were released officially by the team and others that were created by delegates and other community members.

The ARK team is known for it's good design sense, and for the most part, the videos maintain that theme and are not only educational for the community but visually pleasing to watch as well.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

Similar to the podcasts, ARK videos are great for people who don't like (or don't have much time) to read a lot, to find information about project and keep with updates. Latest I watched video from delegate Del where he announced what will he be doing this year, he was quite nervous and it was obvious that he is not experienced in making videos but he will be better with every video :) Also I watched Jarunik's latest video, he is my favourite 'video maker' and has really quality videos.

yahtzee_NL • January 6, 2019 • Source

Just looking at some of the key Youtube statistics shows its significance: 400 hours of video are uploaded to Youtube every minute, and, even more importantly we watch over 1 billion hours of Youtube videos a day, more than Netflix and Facebook video combined. Needless to say ARK really needs to get a proper foot hold on Youtube to acquire access to a huge potential target audience.

Usually, Youtube channels grow with an exponential like rate, as more viewers and more subscribers catalyze into more and more exposure. This means that there may be a lot of initial time investment requirements with little results at first, but in the long run I think it will be worth it.

Already there is some good content on the channel. Informative and also slightly entertaining. It is important to keep uploading new content on a regular basis to keep subscribers interested and to attract new viewers. Although there should definitely be an educational scope in most of the videos, it is also important to keep the content relatively light in my opinion.

The aim can be to first get people excited about the project and some of its key features and then also lure them to other platforms for more in depth information by means of links in the description for example. I have just subscribed to the channel and I will keep a close watch for future content. Hopefully the channel can help with getting more out reach in the long run.

Presence_Numerique • December 31, 2018 • Source

I must say that I learned that ARK had a Youtube channel with this very question but after looking at it and watching a few videos, I think it should be put into relief: It is a great source of knowledge about ARK Ecosystem and its general concepts. Things are clearly explained and vulgarized enough (plus, I love the commercial video).

pl4tf0rm2 • January 2, 2019 • Source

In terms of daily exposure, Youtube is one of the biggest players. All its visitors could potentially also be browsing past ARK. So for ARK to have some decent content out there makes for a lot of potential new members of the community. So far I think ARK is doing a good job to that extent.

The videos are of high quality and have representative and informative content. There are also not too long, something that is important for the short span of focus for the average Youtube surfer. So all in all they are on the right track. I think they could further increase the size of their channel to get even more attention.

fakoshi • January 14, 2019 • Source

Just subscribed to the channel. This 30 Days of ARK campaign is also providing me with a great checklist of things to look up, investigate, subscribe to or do.

So while I was there anyway, I watched some videos. Pretty cool and informative content. You can learn about ARK with great visuals. It feels incomplete though but I guess there is new content in the pipeline. Would be nice if any recent and future developments are also made into a video any time soon.

The content creators are obviously quite skilled. I also like the impression videos of some of the events. Makes me feel a little jealous that they are not easy to attend for me because of the distance at all. Keep the videos coming. Many people really like video over an article for example.

Presence_Numerique • January 1, 2019 • Source

Well, ARK actual website design is limpid and smooth, its style is fresh and sharp, no argument here from my point of view. The ARK project covers a lot of communication channels with rich and relevant contents: That is why I would like this to be a lot more emphasized in the new website than just a set of small icons linking to those channels and their contents. I think those materials need to be regrouped by purposes (be it educational, informational, technical, of support) and/or by type of tool (social media, collaborative tools, Youtube/podcasts and so on).

It could just be a nice diagram with at its heart a ARK.io box. Another way to push the recognition of the ARK project in the new site would be to dedicate a small place where you regroup the best external contents published by medias on the project.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

Fancy, good looking and modern. I haven't seen similar page like this.

yahtzee_NL • January 6, 2019 • Source

I think the ARK Website has begun to lack in being properly representative for the ARK Ecosystem. At least at first I did not get the right impression when I visited the website for the first time at the beginning of my ARK journey. It was the first place where I read and checked in on ARK, but the picture it provided me with has significantly changed since then by means of other sources. I do realize that this is also a natural process, but still, I though it was quite notable.

Regarding the contents of the website I have kind of mixed feelings. I do for example really like the roadmap overview, but the team page does not provide any sort of information on the members. When I visit such a page I am curious to learn some more about the background and role of these members.

The website should also showcase more of its products or achievements so far. The wallet, the ARK Pay and all these great parts of ARK are like a nice demonstration of what ARK can offer already.

The concepts that are in development do not have to be excluded here. Although preliminary, it shows more of what ARK aims for in the future, not just in words on the road map, but with actual lively videos and graphic representations.

Azure-Infinity • December 31, 2018 • Source

I'm an ACC member and this is only my opinion and perspective. The ARK website is one of the reasons I fell in love with ARK. I know that v2 of the website is coming soon and I'm hoping I will still love it as much or more as I currently do.

What can I say about it? I love the fonts, the animated backgrounds, how the menu is separated, texts are easy to read, the way the roadmap is done and more.

The biggest feedback I have is delivering the message of what ARK exactly is. Which is very difficult to do. From people I heard talking about ARK, I only hear things in the lines of: 'ARK is linking other blockchains'. ARK is so much more than that. Also words like 'open-source', 'decentralized' and 'scalable' are words I think many people familiar to cryptocurrencies have seen countless of times by now.

More feedback I have is regarding the menu. I'm not so sure what to feel about having 'Exchanges' as the 2nd option, I really dislike this. The exchanges are also already shown above the footer of the website (doesn't have to be a bad thing). Plus on the 'Exchanges' page you don't see the list of exchanges right away, you will have to use the arrows to scroll through them. I would suggest having tiles with logos of the exchanges. Then there's an option 'Pages' in the menu, which I find awful, with a long lists of sub pages.

In my opinion what the website needs is to prioritize the ARK Ecosystem in the menu and push the less important pages to the back or behind a drop-down menu. Talk more about the Delegated-Proof-of-Stake consensus. Talk more about Push Button Blockchains and the ARK Deployer. Talk more about ARKVM. This is very important.

ARK is proud of the wallet, agreed? So let me ask you this. Why are we not showing the wallet on the website? There's not a single picture of it on the website. I personally would even take it to the next level and show either a slideshow of the wallet, animated pictures of what the wallet looks like, a short video showing off the wallet, even develop a replica of the wallet inside the website without deep interactions (only making the tabs of the wallet and certain buttons clickable).

This should be valid for the desktop wallet because I feel like this is the main wallet and visitors can always decide to download and install the other wallets. In conclusion: I love the ARK website, I really do, but I also feel like there's a lot we can improve on.

cnnssr • January 2, 2019 • Source

Although in general, I think the ARK Website is a good website, I do believe it has become a little outdated. The looks are pretty decent, but I feel it is not really indicative of what ARK is all about anymore. Also, I think it would be good to have a page for the delegates that can be easily accessed through the main menu.

This will quite possibly increase the number of voters. It would be beneficial if newcomers immediately become aware of the delegates and their contributions, or even their pay rates. I think to often, people keep their ARK on excanges, because they seem to miss al the benefits.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK Website have some really useful information. Personally enjoyed tracking v2 progress and couldn't wait to hit 100%. It is great place for downloading wallets. Price history,exchanges...are not the most useful thing there (because that is easy to find on numerous pages) but I understand that it should be there so the page would be the whole package about ARK. I didn't make contact with any delegate (through this page, only via other platforms), but it is useful feature, too.

fakoshi • January 15, 2019 • Source

To be frank, I think the ARK website could use an upgrade or makeover. It looks a little outdated and is showcasing to much of the old pillars of its ecosystem. The graphics could also use a slight update. The functionality is quite OK though. Obviously the roadmap is one of the site's standouts. Really beautiful and well presented. Most of the other pages do suffice but are not really doing right by ARK.

ARK is a technology project and a good one at that, so the website should reflect that more. So perhaps some of the talented ARK programmers can get their heads together and provide a nice makeover to make the website a real showcase (again).

tnanhvu • January 2, 2019 • Source

I really like the roadmap part on ARK website. It is very clear and transparent so I can see where we are, what are we working on, where will we head to. Love it.

kevinti • January 4, 2019 • Source

Slick looking website. As opposed to others stating that everyone will have heard already about the words mentioned on the front page, I actually like them, as they summarize what ARK is about.

Going to the website, as a viewer you want to be informed what ARK is all about, and it is explained in easy-to-understand and short explanations through these words and their descriptions. The video also helps in giving you an idea of what ARK can do.

However, the website does seem to have a few layout issues (in my opinion). For example, if developers are your target group, why mention exchanges as one of the main headers? It's also mentioned at the lower part of the website, even though I'd say its the least important part of the website. Also I would expect the contact part to be at the lower page, as well as jobs (e.g. next to downloads?) Lastly, again in my opinion, the white and black background do not go together. It's not easy on the eyes. A big thumbs up for the roadmap though, a great way to keep track on progress.

ARKjd • January 15, 2019 • Source

When it comes to the ARK.io website, I think that design-wise it is very sleek. It is easy to find things for first time users and in a sense it is unique. I've seen a lot of websites for different projects and ICOs and I feel that many of them are created using the same template from WIX or Squarespace. I'm glad that ARK places a high emphasis on how it presents their project.

One thing I would suggest for the ARK website is a Community tab. I think that ARK's community is one of its strongest selling points. The section in the ARK site can feature curated content from the community. Whether it be well-written articles, a new ARK game, or art, it can inspire first-timers to get involved more with the project.

ledgerdary • January 1, 2019 • Source

The ARK.io website is a rather slick looking website that operates very smoothly, which demonstrates a professional and well designed overview of ARK. The home page is gorgeous and shows some of the most important features of ARK, albeit slightly outdated for my taste. Furthermore, the website contains information regarding Exchanges, the Team, the Roadmap, Developers and much more.

I am personally quite fond of the Roadmap page. It offers a very compact holistic view of the project. In one blink of an eye, one can easily see a lot of the progress of the upcoming milestones and bullet points, as well as some achieved milestones of course. I have some minor suggestions for the website, which I believe will make it even better (just ever so slightly of course).

First of all, I think the website lacks some uniformity. The layout and formating are too different on the various pages.

Also, I would suggest to embed the videos of the mainpage into the website and merge it with the rest of the page, rather than having a Youtube pop up. And as I mentioned earlier, I think the features of ARK need some updating with all the latest progression.

I can imagine that it is hard to keep up with all these great accomplishments of ARK lately. Overall, I do like the website. I am curious how the next version will be, and in which ways it will be further improved.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 2, 2019 • Source

I like the overall design of the website. The ARK theme is obvious throughout and looks very crisp. The layout is intuitive and allows for easy navigation through the various sub pages. The icing on the cake is obviously the beautiful and insightful roadmap page. One can easily track ARK's progress from there. The video on the front page is also informative and provide potential new visitors a look into the ecosystem and make their acquaintance.

It would be nice to have a dedicated page for the delegates. Introducing them and listing some of their key features, perks and stats. Makes the website even more complete than it already is.

kalgoop • January 6, 2019 • Source

Website is really very nice. You can find all the information you would want if you are new to ARK blockchain. However, it is not much useful for the people who know about ARK. But the Roadmap and progress thing is what users regularly see. If someone is checking ARK after a long break, this is the best way to see what all has happened since then.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

I think the ARK website is neat and clean. It certainly does have the most important information pertaining to ARK and the links that an ARK holder might need and that a new user looking for info might want to take a look at, so it is informative and has useful content, no doubt about that. However, in my opinion I think a few missing features/links should be added that will make the website more informative and interesting.

One of them should be to have somewhere in the main page (maybe in a corner), a direct link to the most recent ARK Podcast (once the link has been clicked,it will initiate that podcast while simultaneously taking you to the ARK podcast website).

Another feature would be also to add a direct link to 'How to get free ARK through participation' in which all the opportunities to get FREE ARK through participation are showcased (opportunities given by the ACC, ACF, contests, bounties, competitions, faucets,etc) so the potential new adopter of the ARK Ecosystem can at least get some ARK right away by helping/participating in some of the events that reward in ARK.

Apart from this, I want to mention that personally, I like the ARK design showed in the website. However, I think that maybe using a metallic red color (that shines as silver does but in red color) instead of the regular red color that is used in many parts would be a nice idea in order to give a new look to the website the same can be applied to the aqua/blue sky color that sometimes is used in the logo and other parts).

Last, maybe to always show the averaged/market price of the ARK token (in BTC and $) on top part of the main website would be a nice feature to have in my opinion.

windrip • January 1, 2019 • Source

A common theme among ARK products is great design. This is evident for example in the Desktop wallet, Mobile wallet, the official videos and graphics, and the ARK website is no different. After reviewing the website again, I noted that the FAQ section is out of date. It is dated September 2017 and it references things like the old v1 transaction fees instead of the fee structure that is now in place with v2.

Another element that I have thought about in the past, and noted again now, is that the timeline only includes plans for the next year or so. I think it would be nice for the team to include a listing of plans for the future, beyond one year, so that the community has easy access to see a summary of some of the specific elements of the vision for the future that ARK is working towards.

A difference that I have noted between ARK's website and a lot of websites these days (particularly crypto ones), is that a lot of websites now tend to have a 'continuous scroll' ability, where most major sections of the website can be reached by just continuing to scroll down the page, instead of needing to physically click links on a navigation bar in order to reach the different parts of the website.

Personally, I have more experience using the navigation links myself, but I do think a lot of millennial may be more used to the other type of navigation these days since bandwidth is relatively cheap in many parts of the world as compared to a decade or two ago. I appreciate the fact that the website has more than a dozen languages available to choose from, and I believe that's a great way to embrace and respect the international involvement in this project.

I know that the website will be reworked in the near future, and I look forward to seeing the design. In the meantime, I think the current website is sufficient to serve as an initial welcome for the project, and users can easily find the information they need in order to learn more after the initial introduction.

metsakutsa • January 3, 2019 • Source

I fell in love with ARK when I saw their website. Seeing the roadmap progress got me hooked and made me finally get in the game myself.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

It is really important to have a site like this where you can view everything about the project and even meet team members and ask them everything you need to know. I really like to check progress on the roadmap and can't wait to some important milestones be achieved. Looking at whole price history is cool thing, too, but probably most important aspect for me is repository with all versions of wallets to download.

jeronimek • January 3, 2019 • Source

I am very satisfied with ARK Github, I like the percentage charts showing progress. I think that Github activity is crucial to maintain community's belief in project and team, especially in projects not so wide adopted as major players like ETH or BTC.

ledgerdary • January 4, 2019 • Source

This is where all the magic happens. The ARK Github repositories. Here the core of ARK, its code, is continuously being developed by a small legion of different coders. ARK has one of the most proactive communities, as I have mentioned repeatedly on different days of this 30 Days of ARK event. And it shows.

I have checked CoinCodeCap.com for reference, where all crypto projects are ranked based on there Github activities. In a list that is dominated by Cardano and Ethereum, we, as a much smaller community, are doing quite well. On the yearly chart we are ranked 31st, on the monthly chart we are ranked 15th and on the weekly chart we have smashed into the top 10 at number 8! I think that is very remarkable.

Probably the ARK Github Development Bounty Program is one of the main reasons why we perform relatively well compared to other, much bigger projects. Github itself is a rather decent platform I would say. It is easy to track progress and to see open requests that need to be fullfilled.

We are definitely on the right track in terms of coding with ARK. Let us continue going strong in 2019!

Hereby I have completed all the 30 days of the 30 Days of ARK event. It was a very nice experience and I have learned a lot in these 30 days (or more). Thank you Justin Renken for organizing this wonderful event. Hopefully my contributions will prove useful to you. Also a special thanks to Jarunik for his rather generous sponsorship of 1000 ARK. It is a great bonus to receive some ARK in return for participating in this event. Ledgerdary out.

windrip • January 15, 2019 • Source

The ARK Github is quite impressive and I consider it one of the sources of legitimacy for the ARK project. An active Github means a project is alive and well, changing and flourishing as the developers and community continue to improve and build upon the project. The ARK Github has 72 repositories and the crypto-compare website Cryptomiso lists ARK as the 14th-most active project over the past 12 months in terms of Github commits. This is an impressive achievement since there are thousands of crypto projects and ARK is not currently in the top twenty coins in terms of market cap.

It's always interesting to read through Github readme files, even for people who are not coders. For example, by reading through the Github, someone might be surprised to learn that the both the Android and iOS mobile wallets share the same codebase, which makes it easier to coordinate between the two wallets. It's also interesting to read through the issues that have been brought up over time, and see the improvements that are made to the ecosystem as these issues are addressed and resolved through the dedicated efforts of the developers.

In general, I find the crypto projects with a public Github to be more trustworthy than those that ask the public to trust that they are working on something, but provide less evidence to back it up. I love the open-source spirit of the crypto community, and how many projects have grown out of forked code and the desire to build upon a past project in a new way. (As a side note, I tend to dislike how many large corporations who have entered the blockchain space are now working to secure patents on specific blockchain-related technologies that would not even exist if it wasn't for the open-source beginnings of Bitcoin and other currencies.).

I love the fact that ARK didn't just stay content with the code that was originally forked from Lisk, but instead has dedicated the time and energy to develop a completely recoded Core v2. To me, this fact, which is reflected in the dynamic ARK Github, signifies the dedication of the developers and community and is solid evidence that the project will continue to grow and improve in the years to come.

kalgoop • January 3, 2019 • Source

I think, ARK is one of the few blockchain projects where the community is very much involved in development. Github website makes it really easy for newcomers to open issues and PRs directly from their website. Although there are many repositories in the ARK Ecosystem, I think most of them are just dormant (no new features are being added, just some fixes and code refactoring are there).

Now coming to ARK community contributing to ARK Ecosystem on Github, the community is big. There are some people who are actively contributing to ARK like it is their full-time jobs ;D. Contributions from community were huge in the last quarter of the year.

Jenci_ • January 14, 2019 • Source

ARK Github is really important place for the project's future development. It is quite important to have it open for everybody to help the team in building this ecosystem. Activity there is frequent and I think this place will only grow bigger as project matures. Bounty program is important for functioning of Github and development of a project as a whole because everybody (even less skillfull) can do some minor fixes which could turn up to be crucial down the road.

cnnssr • January 3, 2019 • Source

Github is of course the heart of ARK. All its code is there and is constantly being worked on. I have compared some metrics of activity in the repositories of ARK with different crypto projects' and ARK is doing quite well. They have a relatively high activity metric (78 out of a 100 on Coingecko for example) and that was to be expected I think.

With such an active community and a good bounty program, I would not have guessed any less. And do not get me started on all the delegates that are putting all this effort in. Github itself is the go to coding platform I would say. An obvious choice in this day and age of course.

yahtzee_NL • January 6, 2019 • Source

ARK would be nowhere without its code. It appeared to me from the beginning that ARK was one of these projects that focussed on the fundamentals and the technology rather than on marketing and price. That becomes even more evident from the activity in the ARK repos. The ARK Github is one of the most active ones in crypto. I have seen multiple metrics already in other comments that seem to support this claim.

Of course this activity is one of the most important indicators of a good project. Especially in this bear market where every day some projects are dying or being exposed for being nothing more than an empty shell and a scam. ARK seems to ignore all that and just power through.

There are over 70 repositories on the ARK Github, and they are all well organized. I also like that if you are not a coder yourself you can still contribute by commenting on the Github platform. In this way, anyone can be involved in the development process and direct and prioritize with their comments.

Inclusiveness has been one of the key pillars of the ARK foundation I believe. By giving everyone a chance to help out and contribute, the work done is very representative of the needs of the entire community.

pl4tf0rm2 • January 3, 2019 • Source

ARK is nothing without its code, and a good platform to house this code and further develop it is essential. Github is an excellent platform to accommodate this great project. It is all open source and is very convenient to work with. Even less proficient coders will have an easy time moving around on Github. The learning curve is quite modest.

The ARK Github Development Bounty Program ensures a great drive towards further progression of ARK. Individual coders can work on the ARK repos and focus on the pull requests that they excell at. It also allows for multiple languages to make coding even more inclusive.

fakoshi • January 15, 2019 • Source

Last but certainly not least is of course the ARK Github. Here is where all the code is so, like others have pointed out methaphorically, it is the heart of ARK. Github itself is a great platform for any coder and any project. Having an open source code there is a no brainer. I think the ARK Github is one of the most active ones in crypto which again points out the activeness and persistance of the community.

The code seems well organized and categorized especially for code standards. This makes working their insightful and the progess is easier to track. With this I conclude the 30 Days of ARK campagn.

Thank you Justin, for setting up this 30 Days of ARK event. It was a pleasure to contribute and it is nice that I will have made some ARK on the side while doing it. It was also very educational for me and the 30 Days of ARK combined are sort of a checklist of all things important to read up on in ARK. Onto the next event if you ask me.

Presence_Numerique • January 3, 2019 • Source

So, there are several indicators that can be used to establish a project health, Github environnment is, of course, one of them: ARK looks very fit Github-wise. From my point of view, ARK Github is nicely organized with an easy to read repository dashboard and a clear list of the different developpement projects going on with their associated activities graph. Naturally, as for most ARK project aspects, the community engagement is also strong on the development part and I hope it continues to be in the future.

coin6236 • January 5, 2019 • Source

ARK Github is heart and soul of this project. It is very important to have open source database where everybody can countribute and make project better (via programming or simply by writing new ideas). Paying with ARK is great because it encourages ARK usage and encourages people to hold ARK because when they earn it, probabbly feel like it is important and valuable pay so will eventually start staking it (if didn't already) and maybe even become new delegates.

SftT1 • January 16, 2019 • Source

Anything that has to do with developers' activities is an aspect where ARK shines and Github is not the exception where the activity is continuous, frequent, relevant and consistent and hence transparent and honest for a open source project. Then Github, documentation, blogs overcompensate in my opinion any weakness in Youtube and/or marketing that sometimes is claimed ARK is lacking in. Here in the Github is where the most important part of a project lies and how a project should be graded in my opinion: the relevance of its developers' activity.

AT THE END OF THE DAY THIS WILL DETERMINE THE SUCCESS OF A PROJECT: DEVELOPERS' NETWORK EFFECTS and ARK is in its path towards that end, these will lead to businesses adoption faster than anything else and therefore, giving priority to this aspect is one of the most important parts of a project if not the most important part.

ARK is doing a great job in this area! This can gives peace of mind to people who are very price dependent and whom the price's volatility sometimes take the best of them.