CD182: ALEX B - ARKADE

Alex is Head of Ecosystem at Ark Labs. We discuss their new bitcoin protocol: Arkade. It can be used with the lightning network to make self custody bitcoin usage more powerful and accessible. This rip was in person, in Lugano. We are both here for the PlanB Forum. Alex B on Nostr: https://primal.net/alexb Alex B on X: https://x.com/bergealex4 Ark Labs: https://arklabs.xyz/ PlanB Forum: https://planb.lugano.ch/planb-forum/ EPISODE: 182 BLOCK: 920390 PRICE: 915 sats per dollar (00:00:35) Arkade Activation Day in Lugano (00:03:11) What is Ark? Positioning vs. Lightning and L2s (00:04:32) Ark fundamentals: batching, VTXOs, and two-of-two with an operator (00:08:38) Double-spend risks and the operator trust model (00:10:24) Settling vs. zero conf: anchoring batches onchain (00:16:04) Beyond cheap payments: programmable offchain Bitcoin (00:18:12) Ark Lightning swaps and unilateral exits (00:21:01) Unilateral exit costs, trees of transactions, and anchoring cadence (00:26:17) Wallet UX: automating settlement and exposure management (00:27:22) Ark vs. Spark: security model and settlement feedback to L1 (00:34:39) Onchain demand: Lightning realities, Spark cadence, Ark batches (00:36:59)…