The LSP business model has issues—high capital requirements, unpredictable revenue, complex liquidity management. Ark servers are simpler to operate and more capital efficient for similar use cases. We expect competition between the two models will drive better services for users.

Open source means anyone can fork our code and improve. We want that. If someone builds improvements on our Ark implementation, the ecosystem wins. Competition between implementations drives quality up for everyone.

Our goal isn't replacing Lightning. It's ensuring every bitcoin user can access Lightning without needing to become a node operator. Ark is the gateway—you hold a self-custodial balance, pay Lightning invoices when needed, no channel management required.

During a round, the Ark server + users construct a tx tree. Each leaf of the tree is controlled by a single user. The root of the tree is broadcast on-chain (the round tx). Once confirmed, each user has verifiable assurance they can unilaterally retrieve their bitcoin on-chain.

Kept you waiting, huh? (We're finally on Nostr)