Ark Protocol
Bitcoin L2 scaling via shared UTXOs.
🌐 Terms in other languages:
Ark is a non-custodial L2 designed for high privacy and low-cost Bitcoin payments. It uses Ark Service Providers (ASPs) to batch transactions in rounds, allowing users to send BTC off-chain without the complexity of channel management found in Lightning.
graph LR
Center["Ark Protocol"]:::main
Pre_bitcoin["bitcoin"]:::pre --> Center
click Pre_bitcoin "/terms/bitcoin"
Pre_layer_2["layer-2"]:::pre --> Center
click Pre_layer_2 "/terms/layer-2"
Rel_sidechains["sidechains"]:::related -.-> Center
click Rel_sidechains "/terms/sidechains"
Rel_polygon["polygon"]:::related -.-> Center
click Rel_polygon "/terms/polygon"
Rel_stablecoin_scalability_solutions["stablecoin-scalability-solutions"]:::related -.-> Center
click Rel_stablecoin_scalability_solutions "/terms/stablecoin-scalability-solutions"
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🧠 Knowledge Check
1 / 5
🧒 Explain Like I'm 5
A shared digital vault that lets millions of people send [Bitcoin](/en/terms/bitcoin) to each other almost for free, while staying secure and private.
🤓 Expert Deep Dive
Ark construction involves vUTXO virtualization over Taproot trees. It solves the inbound liquidity bottleneck of the Lightning Network and provides better privacy through round-based anonymization.