In 2009, Bitcoin gave us the first-ever blockchain and in 2015, Ethereum took a step even further and gave us smart contracts. Along with these two trailblazers came a hoard of altcoins with their unique features. Even though fancy blockchain technologies bring in big money, are cryptocurrencies just a one-trick pony designed for investors?
A group of developers found themselves asking this question, and to bring blockchain to the masses regardless of their aim or technical background, they launched ARK blockchain. But what is ARK blockchain anyway? How does it work? Let’s dive right into it.
Connecting your ARK Address to ZenLedger For Your Crypto Tax Forms
- To import your ARK transactions into ZenLedger for your crypto tax forms, all we need is your public address.
- Select the proper blockchain or wallet from the dropdown list.
- Paste your address into the address field in ZenLedger.
- Select if the wallet is based in the USA or not.
- Then hit the ADD COIN button
What is ARK Blockchain?
ARK is a decentralized ecosystem modeled to boost the mass adoption of blockchain technology. The ARK Crew (the founding team) clearly outlines its goal of building a fast and secure technology with utilitarian services for real people.
In other words, the Crew aims to create a sandbox ecosystem where organizations and individuals can create their personalized blockchain from ARK’s clone in a few clicks. To promote mass adoption, the ARK blockchain is designed with the focus on providing an excellent user experience and including as many closing languages and other blockchains as possible.
How Does ARK Blockchain Work?
Rather than relying on hyped cryptocurrencies that don’t promise future revenue potential, the ARK crew conducts research on the best blockchains under development to widen their range of services. After the research, the Crew incorporates these technologies into the ARK Core via bridged blockchains or ARK SmartBridge (more on this later). Finally, the Crew designs new features—based on the blend of the incorporated technologies—and offers them to the average consumer.
Here are a few notable features developed by the Crew while keeping the underlying goal in mind:
- SmartBridges
- Push Button Deployable Blockchains
- Alternative Programming Languages
SmartBridges act as a bridge between several blockchains on the ARK core platform. Here, ARK is at the core of different chains allowing cross-chain events and communication. Moreover, facilitating SmartBridges on a blockchain is as simple as placing a snippet of code.
By using the push button deployable blockchains, you can easily fork ARK and create your own blockchain. Such forks are start-up-friendly and have a host of features straight out of the box. What’s more? These blockchains automatically come equipped with SmartBridges.
ARK supports 18 different programming languages making ARK an easily accessible foundation to create their own project.
Delegated Proof-of-Stake
ARK runs on a Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus mechanism. In the Bitcoin ecosystem where miners validate and secure blockchain transactions, ‘delegates’ secure the ARK blockchain. From hundreds of potential delegates, token holders select 51 who get to become delegates.
Token holders are allowed to vote for only one delegate at a time and they are charged just 1 ARK to vote or unvote. But, the blockchain plans to reduce this fee to a mere 0.02 ARK. The more tokens you have, the more powerful your vote becomes.
Delegates usually share the profit from the rewards they receive when they add new blocks. When you vote for a delegate with profit sharing, you steadily receive dividends.
For adding each block, a delegate receives 2 ARK, and a block is forged every 8 seconds. Let’s assume the block time of 8 seconds doesn’t fluctuate, for the first year, the scheduled inflation will be 6.31 percent and in the second year it will be 5.93 percent and by the tenth year it will be 4.02 percent.
ARK’s 8 second block time already puts it ahead of a lot of blockchain projects. If we compare its block time then Bitcoin’s block time is 10 minutes, Litecoin’s is 2.5 minutes, and Ethereum’s is 14 seconds.
With the previous iteration of the ARK network, the blockchain could only process 50 transactions per block. When the Core v2 was released, the transactions per block increased from 50 to 150 and the transactions per second went up to 18.75. With future upgrades, the block time is expected to reduce even further.
How to Buy an ARK Coin?
Below, we’ve mentioned the three steps to buy the ARK coin:
Access a Crypto Exchange
Before you buy ARK, you need to open an online account with a crypto exchange or trading platform. The exchange will offer you an array of tools to analyze the market before you place a trade. To open an account you need to provide your full name, address, age, Social Security Number, and other details to verify your identity.
Buy a Wallet
To store your tokens, you need to either have a software or a hardware wallet. Software wallets are mobile or desktop applications that are connected to the internet and don’t offer a high level of protection. Hardware wallets, on the other hand, are physical devices that safely store your coins offline.
Make your Purchase
After opening your online account and setting up your wallet, add funds to the exchange and buy ARK tokens. Lastly, store your ARK tokens in your wallet of choice.
Final Thoughts
ARK is progressively introducing interoperability in the blockchain industry with its wide range of products and services. The ARK platform is the holy grail for blockchain development as it offers developer-oriented frameworks and SDKs and since it is built on Javascript and TypeScript, it is immediately accessible to millions of web developers around the world.
