Ark offers a simple, secure way to optimize onchain costs for pretty much every Bitcoin use cases.
More complex and fancy ways to create channel factories or coinpools might exist but no one is building them nor are they likely too because the complexity invites inertia always.
The longer you look at Ark the more you realize that simple approaches win and we can simply iterate off this as we find product market fit.
Anyone that is interested to learn more or contribute please reach out I’m happy to take a minute to help people familiarize themselves with the protocol.
Everyone having a computer is justified.
Ever user being a node in a network defeats the entire purpose.
It's like asking every internet user to run their own ISP.
>Main reason to run a node is to keep the network decentralized.
No... the main reason to run a node is to validate your own transactions privately.
Plebs of little to no economic relevance have practically no impact on the outcome of forks or Bitcoin's "decentralization".
Run a node for your own benefit, or don't, but let's not pretend doing so is an altruistic act.
UASF worked because economically significant actors rallied behind it.
The larp of every user running a node just for the sake of defending the network is just that... a larp
No they didn't. VC-backed companies are not the economically significant actors within the Bitcoin community.
Actual skin in the game Bitcoin holders wanted nothing to do with the fork, as evidenced, for example, by Finex's futures market at the time.
We just announced yesterday in Amsterdam that @`Boltz - Non-Custodial Bitcoin Bridge` swaps are coming to Ark, day 1!
Thanks to native support for Bitcoin script operations, Ark allows servers to virtualize many of the same contracts used by existing Bitcoin products and services.
One we're excited about are Virtual HTLCs (vHTLCs). Combined with off-chain execution, we think they open the door to many new, and old, use cases that weren't possible before, or could not scale.
Those properties can extend to other script extensions of Bitcoin and potentially scale smart contract settlements!
Using virtual swaps, we can close Lightning's "liquidity loop" by providing participants with an interface to batch their channel management operations off-chain.
Many infrastructure providers will find interesting ways to leverage the efficiency of Ark swaps and we encourage anyone interested to reach out @ArkLabshttps://m.primal.net/LSdV.jpg
A lot of angst and pessimism on the timeline over the last 24 hours around the prospect of future upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol.
TLDR; A number of highly technical people got together and apparently could not come to an agreement on the various tradeoffs of theoretical applications of covenants and associated OP codes.
Frankly, this is the least surprising outcome anyone could have expected out of this type of exercise.
Putting a bunch of gigabrain engineers into a room is not conducive to consensus. They will, by nature, try to outsmart one another.
"You haven't considered this angle."
"What if we approached it this way?"
"There's a more efficient way."
"Have you really thought through the implications?"
Their drive to achieve the 'right' outcome fuels a race to devise "clever" solutions, each inevitably clashing with the alternatives.
If you're wondering why you should care about this at all. It's because most people involved do agree that multi-party on-chain contracts are necessary to achieve true scale.
The limitations of two-party Lightning channels are increasingly obvious hence the interest in optimizing the flow of capital around the network across larger hubs of individuals sharing UTXOs.
Unfortunately, the lack of first-hand experience with covenant-based constructs is allowing everyone’s imagination to run wild.
We are all attempting to optimize for the end game with little to no appreciation for the present situation.
Some have devised clever ways to implement zero-knowledge technology using Bitcoin script. Others are designing coin pool protocols that can potentially withstand the mass exit of hundreds of thousands of users without catastrophic economic consequences.
All of them are frustrated others can't seem to be as excited as them about their progress.
Meanwhile, a credible opportunity to further our common understanding of multi-party contracts is staring everyone in the face: the Ark protocol.
Unsurprisingly, most every one of these very competent individuals have their own opinions of it.
"The liquidity requirements are too high."
"It can't possibly work without covenants."
"Fees and unilateral exit scenarios are tricky."
Again, not only only are these experts seemingly fixated on perfecting the 'right' outcome, but at times it feels like they’re trying to control it.
My advice to everyone involved: let go of this obsession with perfection and embrace the good.
There are now two teams iterating through various ways to implement Ark in ways that can solve real problems, TODAY.
Sure, Ark as originally proposed and as currently implemented is not yet the ubiquitous payment grail it was originally propped up as.
A lot of different adversarial scenarios will challenge the different use cases vying to leverage it, but if you give it honest consideration, you will realize it is MUCH more practical than some would want you to believe.
It does not need to immediately find its way into retail user wallets to have a massive impact on the current Bitcoin payment infrastructure.
Various existing sets of counterparties should be able to use Ark as a simple and straightforward way to amortize the cost of their on-chain operations.
And if all you care about is to achieve pie-in-the-sky perfection then there is probably no better alternative as we speak to gain real world economic feedback on the behavior of users of those future protocols.
If you want to accelerate the development of technology that will directly inform the design of future covenant-based evolutions, I believe there is no better way to funnel your energy today than to participate in the conversation, contribute and start building on Ark.
Join us!
https://arkdev.info
A lot of angst and pessimism on the timeline over the last 24 hours around the prospect of future upgrades to the Bitcoin protocol.
TLDR; A number of highly technical people got together and apparently could not come to an agreement on the various tradeoffs of theoretical applications of covenants and associated OP codes.
Frankly, this is the least surprising outcome anyone could have expected out of this type of exercise.
Putting a bunch of gigabrain engineers into a room is not conducive to consensus. They will, by nature, try to outsmart one another.
"You haven't considered this angle."
"What if we approached it this way?"
"There's a more efficient way."
"Have you really thought through the implications?"
Their drive to achieve the 'right' outcome fuels a race to devise "clever" solutions, each inevitably clashing with the alternatives.
If you're wondering why you should care about this at all. It's because most people involved do agree that multi-party on-chain contracts are necessary to achieve true scale.
The limitations of two-party Lightning channels are increasingly obvious hence the interest in optimizing the flow of capital around the network across larger hubs of individuals sharing UTXOs.
Unfortunately, the lack of first-hand experience with covenant-based constructs is allowing everyone’s imagination to run wild.
We are all attempting to optimize for the end game with little to no appreciation for the present situation.
Some have devised clever ways to implement zero-knowledge technology using Bitcoin script. Others are designing coin pool protocols that can potentially withstand the mass exit of hundreds of thousands of users without catastrophic economic consequences.
All of them are frustrated others can't seem to be as excited as them about their progress.
Meanwhile, a credible opportunity to further our common understanding of multi-party contracts is staring everyone in the face: the Ark protocol.
Unsurprisingly, most every one of these very competent individuals have their own opinions of it.
"The liquidity requirements are too high."
"It can't possibly work without covenants."
"Fees and unilateral exit scenarios are tricky."
Again, not only only are these experts seemingly fixated on perfecting the 'right' outcome, but at times it feels like they’re trying to control it.
My advice to everyone involved: let go of this obsession with perfection and embrace the good.
There are now two teams iterating through various ways to implement Ark in ways that can solve real problems, TODAY.
Sure, Ark as originally proposed and as currently implemented is not yet the ubiquitous payment grail it was originally propped up as.
A lot of different adversarial scenarios will challenge the different use cases vying to leverage it, but if you give it honest consideration, you will realize it is MUCH more practical than some would want you to believe.
It does not need to immediately find its way into retail user wallets to have a massive impact on the current Bitcoin payment infrastructure.
Various existing sets of counterparties should be able to use Ark as a simple and straightforward way to amortize the cost of their on-chain operations.
And if all you care about is to achieve pie-in-the-sky perfection then there is probably no better alternative as we speak to gain real world economic feedback on the behavior of users of those future protocols.
If you want to accelerate the development of technology that will directly inform the design of future covenant-based evolutions, I believe there is no better way to funnel your energy today than to participate in the conversation, contribute and start building on Ark.
Join us!
https://arkdev.info
Could not be more excited to announce my new role leading ecosystem growth @ArkLabs
Having observed and commented on the controversial state of Bitcoin layers over the year, it was impossible not to jump on board once @tiero shared his vision for Ark.
(Thanks to the amazing team @BitcoinMagazine for the opportunity to dive deep into this space. Nothing but good vibes and good times.)
Today, Ark is closer to reality than most can imagine, and the implications are yet to be fully appreciated.
UTXO-sharing will play a crucial part in the evolution of Bitcoin scaling and Ark is a monumental first step towards this future.
It addresses many issues of the issues that have crippled the adoption of Bitcoin as a payment infrastructure.
More importantly, Ark is not here to replace Lightning, I believe it will supercharge it ⚡️
Our first product, the Ark Node, is the perfect companion for Lightning node operators. If you are one of them, please reach out to me.
I can't wait to share more of what we have in store.
Stay tuned ⟁
TBD's biggest challenge is that it deals in consortium, top down hierarchies and institutionalized standards, making it pretty unlikely to ever gain significant traction.
There's nothing CTV gives us that brings us much further along in the near term, at all.
I would listen to Rusty's latest recording with the Brink team to get a better sense of what actual improvement makes sense.
We can do better and we have plenty of time to unlock true scripting capabilities that will be long lasting and enable all use cases we might want.
You lock your bitcoins to a spending script.
It's as technically safe as P2SH and doesn't disrupt network ecosystem because it's just a spending conditions on coins.
Can you demonstrate and prove that CLTV, CSV, P2SH are technically safe and also doesn’t disrupt the network ecosystem?
If not we might have to remove them :/
I'm not advocating for CTV. I'm just pointing out that your lack of technical knowledge will hinder your ability to understand those things and participate in such conversations because all of your arguments are based on feelings, not facts.
There is no "we" in this. A soft fork proposal doesn't need you if YOU can't show the proof-of-work as to why your opinion is valuable or worthy of consideration.
Hence, when improvements to Bitcoin script inevitably come, you will be left screaming in the void because the stakes for you are clearly not enough to have an informed, non-biased, opinion.
I have made the case for why CTV is safe, you are just not able to understand it because of simple technical shortcomings. This is not an ad hominem, simply an observation.
Do you imagine people will spoonfeed everything to you?
These conversations will carry on without you and you will remain puzzled and confused when changes happen because all you rely on are your feelings.
You are talking about things again which you don't understand. Understandably this makes you afraid.
You cannot "see" anything. You are just feeling because you can't verify yourself.
You're literally the one parotting talking points. It's right there in your notes. You reference things you do not understand and just throw link to support your "feelings".
If I were to ask you to explain any of the subjects discussed you wouldn't be able to.
There is nothing to rebutt, you didn't bring up anything substantial.
We all love Bitcoin and it is the future but to bootstrap the AI <> Nostr flywheel we must put into developers' hands money they're familiar with.
This is where stablechannels come in!
@NicolasDorier's talk at @btcpayserver day further convinced me that this is a very powerful idea.
It doesn't have to be perfect. It JUST WORKS at small scale and is extremely sticky!
h/t @starbuilder@bob
Feels like a completely new world opened up to me this weekend.
Euro-bitcoin feels different. No nonsense. High character. Diverse and open-minded.
Can’t believe I’ve missed out on this for so long.
Thank you so much for the opportunity @Anna Max and all the BHB team
I completely agree with everything you've just said but let's just not errr on using terms like unilateral exit when they have a very well defined intent which doesn't apply here.
BTC-backed loans, stable or yielding contracts and other derivatives advertised & exercised via Liquidity Ads & Nostr boards
A Bitcoin native financial system intermediated by Nostr npubs and enforced w/ ecash, DLCs & Lightning settlements
No shitcoin
It's gonna be glorious!
Oddbean new post about login | logout
Notes by bergealex4 | export