ARK Monthly Update — September 2020 Edition
September is over, and it’s time for a complete ecosystem overview! This blog post will cover last month’s highlights, activities, achievements as well as bring unique content. We also release an update podcast each month on the ARK Crypto Podcast as well as an update video on the ARK YouTube channel. Let’s take a look at what’s been going on at ARK.io and within the ARK Ecosystem.
REMARKS
“September was the final month of preparation before our Q4 2020 push of releases. The ARK Team has been grinding on multiple upcoming releases including Deployer and the all-new ARK Desktop Wallet. As we are getting closer to multiple launches, we are giving the community deeper looks into Deployer with a roundtable video and detailed blog article this month as well as the wallet with a first-look blog article. We announced a new component for the ARK Blockchain Platform, ARK Migrator. The enterprise solutions arm of ARK.io, Protokol, celebrated their main launch this month, and we began announcing MarketSquare partnerships including Travala and Bosagora. September was full of announcements as well as getting a better understanding of ARK’s vision.”
Justin Renken, ARK.io Senior Brand Manager
ROADMAP PROGRESS UPDATE
The ARK Roadmap features various projects and sub-projects that ARK.io is working on. It is a percentage-based project dashboard for the developmental pipeline of ARK technology. Let’s look into a special update on the progress of our roadmap.
Magistrate 2.0 Completion. This magistrate (AKA AIP36) is designed to allow special IPFS transaction types to exist on the ARK Public Network. These transaction types are needed for the core functions of MarketSquare, the new homepage for the decentralized Web. MarketSquare data storage will be enabled by Magistrate 2.0 under the hood, with data pulled from the ARK Public Network.
In September, Magistrate 2.0 went live on the ARK Public Network in Core v2.7 as a critical component of MarketSquare. This roadmap item was marked as complete.
Read more about Core v2.7 here.
MarketSquare.io Initial Partnerships. MarketSquare is a platform designed to be a showcase and meeting place for Delegates, Blockchains, Plugins and Businesses in the Economy 2.0. We aim to make MarketSquare into a powerful tool for the entire industry, and the work does not end after the Public Beta release during Q4 2020 by any stretch.
During September, ARK.io and MarketSquare partnered with Travala.com, the leading cryptocurrency-friendly travel booking platform. Travala.com will be a valuable partner as we prepare our MarketSquare platform and look for innovative ways to involve our communities. We are excited to be partnering with Travala.com and give our users more choices when booking their next travel destination. Check the partnership article here and here.
ARK.io and MarketSquare also partnered with Bosagora in September. Bosagora is a Decentralized Autonomous Organization powered by Blockchain technology and kickstarts projects through on-chain voting. Bosagora was launched in South Korea in 2017 and was regarded as the very first Korean ICO. The project is managed by the Bosagora Foundation which was established on April 7, 2017 in Zug, Switzerland. Check partnership article here and read their whitepaper here.
Read first look article here, watch roundtable video here, read features article here, read future roadmap article here, and join Public Beta mailing list here.
All-New Desktop Wallet. This will be covered further in the ARK Wallet Updates section, but it should be mentioned here that during September, we released a first-look article on the all-new wallet.
Check first-look article here.
Deployer.io. We have been improving the process of creating a customized Blockchain ever since the Alpha version of the ARK Deployer went public last year. In this new version, users will be presented with a far-improved web-based graphical user interface. One-click deployment is also possible with this upcoming version. The new Deployer will support multiple hosting providers as well as provide users with the flexibility to easily deploy servers and entire networks with a few simple steps.
During September, we held a roundtable on YouTube.ARK.io where we discussed Deployer in detail and answered many community questions about how Deployer works. We also published a blog article about the evolution of Deployer, showing how far Deployer has come and how the new version is much more than just a fresh coat of paint.
Check Deployer first look article here, round table video here, evolution article here, and join Public Beta mailing list here. These are a few highlighted items from the ARK Roadmap. View all items and status here.
EXCHANGE NEWS
The ARK Cryptoasset is available on over 40 exchanges and more exchanges are being added all the time — for a full list, visit ARK.io/Exchanges.
Content created by ARK.io is not investment advice nor a solicitation of investment. Consult your financial advisor.
- Abra Weekly Giveaway. ARK is available on the Abra app, which offers a simple swap service in 150+ countries including 2-way USD bank transfers. They run a weekly giveaway on Twitter of $200 USD in the supported crypto of your choice in exchange for giving them show ideas for their stream ‘Money Talks’ on YouTube. Check for weekly giveaways here and view their YouTube channel here. Visit their site here.
ARK TECHNOLOGY USAGE
The ARK Core Framework is an open-source toolbox that developers can utilize to power various use cases using Blockchain technology. The well-documented technology stack coupled with easy Blockchain creation tools such as the ARK Deployer makes it simple for developers to dive into this emerging technology.
Compendia Building with ARK Core. Recently, nOS unveiled a rebrand for its network. Formerly nOS Network, now the network is called Compendia, with the premise of acting as the ‘Wikipedia of databases for your API’. Compendia allows developers to connect their app to free and open databases.
During September, Compendia, with its network powered by ARK technology, executed a DeFi launch. This launch included wrapped BIND, an integration with Uniswap, and BIND DEX. More info is available on their blog. Congratulations, Compendia!
View the nOS Network rebrand article here, which has further links. Check Compendia’s DeFi launch article on their blog here.
Unikname Updated WordPress Plugin. Unikname aims to put the ownership and control of user data back into the hands of users through decentralized identities powered by ARK Core. During September, Unikname released an updated version of their WordPress plugin. Unikname is also doing some pretty progressive things with NFTs using ARK technology.
View the updated Unikname WordPress plugin here.
ARK WALLET UPDATES
Our desktop and mobile wallets are highly secure. The desktop wallet even integrates with Ledger Nano hardware wallet devices. They are extremely easy to use and launch instantly with no need to sync. Plus, with the ARK Public Network having eight second block times, you can even see your transactions occur in near real-time. Whether you’re checking your balance, sending and receiving funds, or voting for your preferred Delegate — ARK wallets make it as easy as possible.
DESKTOP WALLET
Desktop Wallet v2.9.4 Released. A minor update to the ARK Desktop Wallet was released during September, allowing users to access Magistrate 2.0 (AIP-36) to register entities for our future MarketSquare product.
All-New Desktop Wallet First Look. It is with great excitement that we announce the new version of the ARK Desktop Wallet — The World’s Most Extensible Crypto Wallet that’s coming out this year! One thing we know for sure is that our users love the ARK wallets. We wanted to be true to what has made our wallet so beloved in the past while creating new opportunities by opening up our wallet to a larger community of users. With that in mind, we have built a new wallet to support multiple cryptoassets, and the entire wallet can be extended and enhanced through the use of the built-in Plugin Manager. View more screenshots and details in blog article here.
The current version of the ARK Desktop Wallet is v2.9.4.
Download here.
MOBILE WALLET
Mobile Wallet v1.8.6 Released. A minor update to the ARK Mobile Wallet was released during September, featuring wallet and transaction label improvements as well as peer connectivity improvements.
The current version of the ARK Mobile Wallet is v1.8.6.
Download for Android or iOS.
ARK CORE NEWS
ARK Core is a lightweight but very powerful codebase that functions as the base component of the entire ARK Ecosystem. Developed in TypeScript, the ARK Core’s modular architecture empowers developers to modify, configure or extend all aspects of the codebase with ease.
ARK Core Version Releases. Taken from the Development Report, the following minor Core releases were made public during this previous month:
- 2.6.54 at Wed, Sep 9, 2020 9:25 AM
- 2.6.57 at Thu, Sep 17, 2020 7:46 AM
- 2.7.0 at Wed, Sep 23, 2020 12:05 PM
- 2.7.1 at Mon, Sep 28, 2020 2:53 PM
Core v2.7 Release Details. The Entity Declaration transaction was added to Core v2.7 based on the acceptance of ARK Improvement Proposal 36 (AIP 36). AIP36 proposed the Entity Declaration transaction type as a way to simplify how different entities can declare themselves and register on the ARK Public Network. This upgrade enables the integration of MarketSquare data with ARK. Read all details in blog article here.
Learn more about the ARK Core from this announcement blog article and on the six-part Let’s Explore Core series from the ARK Blog, starting with Part 1 — Infrastructure.
DEVELOPMENT REPORT
The ARK Monthly Development Report covers public releases among ARK open source projects, all pull requests (opened, closed, merged), all issues opened and closed in every ARK Ecosystem public repository, the number of contributors during that month, the number of new stargazers and total lines of GitHub code added or deleted. The report has intricate links to GitHub repos, events and releases. We’d like to extend a huge thanks to all our contributors!
See the Development Report for the recent month here.
NETWORK STATISTICS REPORT
This network statistics report summarizes network activity on the ARK Public Network for the recent month.
Total Network Transactions
Total: 52,841
Avg per block: 0.1631
Per type:
Transfers: 48,496 (91.78%)
Multipayments: 3,866 (7.32%)
Votes: 472 (0.89%)
Second Signatures: 4 (0.01%)
Delegate Registrations: 3 (0.01%)
2,312 unique wallets sent an outgoing transaction.
Total Blocks
Full: 85 (0.03%)
Empty: 314,531 (97.09%)
Non-empty: 9,326 (2.88%)
Total: 323,942
Missed: 58
Total Network Fees
Total: 2,587.01146012 Ѧ
Per type:
Transfers: 1,517.22704075 Ѧ
Multipayments: 853.71027000 Ѧ
Votes: 121.07414937 Ѧ
Second Signatures: 20 Ѧ
Delegate Registrations: 75 Ѧ
Total Network Votes
Voting Wallets: 42,065
Voting Wallets > 1 ARK: 18,453
Total ARK Voting: 85,628,827.52957614 Ѧ
LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITIES
ARK.io is incorporated as an SCIC in France (ARK Ecosystem SCIC), giving us a leg up when interfacing with the legacy financial system. This SCIC is the first of its kind for crypto in France and the EU. The business entity is also a founding member of ADAN, an association of blockchain technology companies designed to further the mission of the technology in France and the EU.
- On September 25th, ADAN published an article related to proposals by the European Commission. ADAN is in talks with the Commission to educate them on the capabilities and goals of digital currencies, resulting in fair and effective regulations designed to prevent harm perpetrated by bad actors. View September’s article here.
Learn more about ARK.io co-founding ADAN here, and see their site here.
ARK TIMELINE
ArkTimeline.com is a community resource built and maintained by the ARK Community Committee. The entire history of all ARK achievements and accomplishments are available there, and they are both sortable and filterable.
Here’s a quick rundown for this past month, excluding events mentioned elsewhere in this update article:
- On September 14th, ARK.io tweeted about another upcoming workshop hosted by Major League Hacking, one of our partners. These workshops expose developers and students to ARK technology and offer an interactive environment where there can be a back-and-forth between attendees and hosts. More about MLH is on their website.
- On September 16th, ARK.io published a new article on Platform SDK, the simplest way to interface with popular Blockchains including Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Platform SDK is a collection of TypeScript packages that aims to standardize the common interactions with any Blockchain implemented using it (such as signing transactions, listing transactions, registering delegates, signing and verifying messages, voting, staking and more). This article reviews how Platform SDK is critical to operations in the upcoming all-new ARK Desktop Wallet. View the article here.
- On September 22nd, ARK.io celebrated the main launch of Protokol, the Enterprise Blockchain solutions provider for the ARK Blockchain Framework. Protokol did a successful soft launch earlier this year. Read the full main launch article here.
- On September 30th, ARK.io announced the ARK Migrator, a simple tool for developers to migrate off of the ERC-20 standard of Ethereum and port users over to a standalone Blockchain powered by ARK. This project was created jointly by ARK with our partner Hiway and will launch alongside our new Deployer. A developer can host the ARK Migrator on their own servers in order to aid in the token swap. Read the full article here and watch the video here.
- All other events and activities are listed elsewhere in this monthly update. All caught up!
- See years of achievements for ARK at ARKTimeline.com.
- See what the future holds for ARK at Roadmap.ARK.io.
- Subscribe for real-time news at Twitter.ARK.io.
VIDEOS
ARK has a growing YouTube channel that features technical discussions and updates, motion graphic explainers, community videos, tutorials, crypto adventure vlogs and more. Watch our videos at Youtube.ARK.io and subscribe to our channel in one click using this special link.
ARK.io Monthly Update August 2020 Video. If you missed it from last month, check out the August 2020 edition of the ARK.io Monthly Update video:
Discussing ARK’s Deployer: Easy Blockchain Creation for Beginners, Experts, Businesses & Enterprises. What’s the easiest way to create a cryptocurrency? If you want to know how to make a blockchain, members from the ARK team discuss the upcoming version of Deployer, the simplest way to deploy a blockchain. The new version launching in Public Beta during Q4 2020 will automate more things in the background and allow you to create a blockchain in one click. In this video, members of the ARK team discuss the features and testing experiences of the new Deployer and answer community questions.
How to Convert ERC-20 Tokens to Your own Token and Blockchain| ARK Migrator. The ARK Migrator is a tool that allows an ERC-20 token to be converted to a full TypeScript blockchain running on ARK technology. The ARK Migrator can be used by developers who have an ERC-20 token on Ethereum to migrate from Ethereum to their own standalone blockchain. The ARK Migrator has tools for developers to perform a migration, as well as interfaces for token users to complete the migration of their holdings from the old token to the new coin.
Watch our videos at Youtube.ARK.io and subscribe to our channel in one click using this special link.
PODCASTS
The ARK Crypto Podcast releases weekly episodes all about ARK, featuring interviews, monologues, tutorials, reports, presentations and more. The show aims for a 30-minute runtime and releases new episodes every Friday. Subscribe on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Soundcloud, Spotify, Castbox and more. Details, external links and show notes are available at Podcast.ARK.io.
Check out the episodes released this recent month:
August 2020 Monthly Update. This week, we go over everything you might have missed that happened recently for ARK. This episode is made easier by the community resource ARKTimeline.com, a site following all ARK achievements and accomplishments since its inception in 2016. ARKTimeline.com also has interactive features like sorting, filtering, and searching achievements. Catch up fast using this helpful community-built resource. Enjoy!
Discussing Deployer, the Simplest Way to Deploy a Blockchain (Syndication). What’s the easiest way to create a cryptocurrency? If you want to know how to make a blockchain, members from the ARK team discuss the upcoming version of Deployer, the simplest way to deploy a blockchain. The new version launching in Public Beta during Q4 2020 will automate more things in the background and allow you to create a blockchain in one click. In this episode, members of the ARK team discuss the features and testing experiences of the new Deployer, and answer community questions.
Blockchain Legal Roundup. Ray Alvarez, ARK.io Strategic Partnerships Manager, returns to the podcast for another installment of the Blockchain Legal Roundup. This time, it’s two articles that caught Ray’s eye. The first touches on a letter sent by members of Congress to the IRS that suggests block rewards be taxed differently. The second goes into detail about Kraken becoming the first crypto bank with a special charter. What are Ray’s opinions and reactions, and how could all this news affect you? Listen to learn. Enjoy!
Protokol Enterprise Blockchain Services Built on ARK Main Launch. Protokol, ARK’s enterprise blockchain solutions provider, recently celebrated its main launch to complement its soft launch earlier this year. In today’s episode, you’ll hear a launch article detailing what Protokol’s all about. Then we go through some highlights and clips from the two-part interview featuring the Protokol team, with full episodes 80 and 81 available in the archives. Finally, we round out the episode with a syndication of the Decrypt Daily Podcast hosted by Matthew Aaron at Decrypt.co. Matthew had Protokol CEO Lars Rensing on to talk about the main launch. The 94th episode of the ARK Crypto Podcast is here. Enjoy!
Subscribe and see details, show notes, related links, timestamps and more at Podcast.ARK.io.
COMMUNITY SERVICE SPOTLIGHT
Some members mentioned in the Community Service Spotlight are ARK Delegates, who secure the ARK Public Network and provide community services. Their inclusion here is in no way an endorsement from ARK.io to vote for any specific Delegates, and you should always do your own research and consider all the options when voting for a Delegate. ARK.io does not run the ARK Public Network.
Here’s the Community Service Spotlight for this month:
- Delegate ‘Fun’ continued to run ARK games online with daily ARK prizes.
- Delegates ‘Biz_Classic’ and ‘Del’ ran ARK faucets here and here.
- Delegate ‘Alessio’ located and reported vulnerabilities.
- Delegates ‘Goose’ and ‘ArkMoon’ continue their service, ARK CSV Generator and Income Estimator, to aid in trading and income reporting.
- Delegate ‘Jarunik’ ran a general bounty service, get involved here.
- Delegate ‘Cryptology’ continued operating the ARKTippr tip bot.
- Delegate ‘Yakety_Yak’ released German ARK podcasts.
- Delegate ‘Rising_Sun’ continued to run a bounty and treasure loot program.
- Delegate ‘Deadlock’ continued maintaining ARKStats.Live.
- Delegate ‘Lemii’ continued maintaining ARKRelay.com.
- ‘CryptoMC’ continued to run Arkifier Delegate email alert service.
- Delegates ‘Arktoshi’ and ‘Echo’ continued maintaining ARKFaH.com, awarding ARK for users using processing power to fight COVID-19. See the update here.
- ARK Community Member ‘MistersX12’ promoted their ARKFacts Instagram account, @ FactsARK. MistersX12 also has original crypto art pieces printed on canvas for sale.
- Delegate ‘Friends of Little Yus’ launched a campaign as an ARK Delegate with services including prototyping, IoT, mentoring and more. Check out this ARK node prototype:
The Community Service Spotlight pulls entries from Reddit.ARK.io. To get something featured here, simply make a post there, and subscribe there for more community content and discussions.
NOTABLE REDDIT POSTS
The Ark Ecosystem Subreddit is a great place to seek ARK knowledge, and you can always find new and engaging content there. New to ARK? Check out my Welcome to ARK Reddit Post with simple instructions to follow.
Here are some notable posts this month:
- A question on how to contact a Delegate
- A question about the future of MarketSquare
- A question about Tezos as it relates to ARK
- A discussion about ARK outreach
- A query about smart contracts and how they relate to ARK
- Technical questions about passphrase recovery here and here
You can browse more content and contribute your own voice to the ARK Subreddit at Reddit.ARK.io. You may even receive an ARK tip from a community member using Delegate Cryptology’s intuitive ArkTippr Reddit tipbot.
AMAs
Ask-Me-Anythings are periodically conducted where ARK team members answer questions by community members and developers, as well as 3rd party organizations taking questions from the community as well.
- During September, there was a type of AMA where members of the ARK Team answered community questions about the new Deployer. View the video here.
Follow on Twitter.ARK.io for more opportunities to ask the ARK Team questions, or join Slack.ARK.io anytime to connect with the team.
BOUNTY & SECURITY PROGRAM
Program Announcement
The ARK Bounty Program, which rewards open source contributors in ARK for servicing certain tasks on GitHub.ARK.io, is undergoing a restructuring. This is due to MarketSquare and its roadmap having a way for bounties to be published there. Thus, ARK.io will be using its own product, MarketSquare, to publish and manage bounties when that aspect of the platform goes live. MarketSquare is built for the whole crypto and Blockchain industry, so more developers will become exposed to ARK bounties. The Security Program is still in full effect and is operating normally, to contribute to the security of the network and stability of the current public codebase. Stay tuned for future announcements by following ARK on Twitter.
This month, we’d like to highlight ‘Alessio’ for reporting security vulnerabilities and receiving bounties:
To join the Security Bounty Program, consult this resource.
ARK COMMUNITY COMMITTEE
The ARK Community Committee creates and deploys community resources through anonymous and sponsored ARK donations.
Completed ACC projects include:
- ArkTimeline.com — All ARK’s achievements and accomplishments in one place. Searchable, filterable and linkable by the query string.
- ArkThoughts.com — Community opinions on 30 ARK concepts, including the Core, wallets, Explorer, SmartBridge Technology and media channels.
- Crypto Trivia Night Questions — Trivia questions for Crypto Trivia Night
During the last month, I have finished aggregating data from Project VIDERE and processing it. I’m excited to make use of it during Q4. The timeline of the project synced up well with Q4 goals. The fruits of the committee’s labor will be made evident soon. Track activity on Discord.ARK.io #committee channel.
To join the ACC, locate me ‘(Justin (doubled1c3)’ on Discord.ARK.io.
WHAT’S NEXT
We are now in Q4, and product releases for our new suite of offerings are near. The ARK Ecosystem aims to offer a singular user experience across multiple products that empower users and developers from all walks of life to harness Blockchain technology. Just as a car needs all its parts working together to move forward, so does the ARK Ecosystem.
With our new line of products and releases, developers will be able to quickly and easily create a new chain with Deployer, enhance it with decentralized logic using ARK Smart Transactions, develop Plugins for it and publish them onto the ARK Desktop Wallet’s Plugin Manager, expose their new users to an intuitive wallet and UX right out of the box, auto-deploy a custom block explorer, and become discoverable for growth and grow industry connections using MarketSquare.
After Q4 product releases are pushed, what’s next? To become a true ecosystem, these new chains need a new and reliable method to communicate in a decentralized way. This is why our next focus will be putting full attention on consensus and P2P upgrades that allow for safe cross-chain swaps and then fleshing out a swap market that enables new chains to be listed with ARK pairings upon deployment. Track our progress in achieving ecosystem nirvana by checking Roadmap.ARK.io and following us on Twitter.
FEEDBACK SURVEY
Take a short three-minute feedback survey so we can learn more about your opinions on how we’re doing. We review and track this feedback and use it to further improve our efforts.
GET INVOLVED
Here’s a quick list of what your first steps might be to get involved with ARK:
- Join our community on Slack or Reddit
- Launch an ARK community service
- Contribute code and earn ARK
- Apply for an ARK Grant to fund your idea
- Learn more with ARK documentation
- Launch an ARK node and campaign for forging status
- Create a blockchain in three simple steps
Looking forward to next month! Stay safe!
