ARK
I like to think of Ark as a tree, ever expanding, limitless providing the energy (users/ideas) is there. Sharing one root system like the Pando, Quaking Aspen. Sentient; like the LOTR Ents.
The trunk = The mainchain. Trust less coin swaps should take place here, utilising ACES. ACES as explained later will be described as Sap. The mainchain can be thought of as the Sap producer, providing the rest of the Tree with Sap.
The branches -= Forked chains. I think of the branches stemming away from the Trunk as projects, inextricably linked to Ark.
- However, you don’t see Tree’s with bigger branches than Trunks (often) so in the same way a flower, shrub or bush is cloned forked chains could one day outgrow Ark’s value. Still connected, still the same, like the Pando forest. Bare this in mind when envisioning my Ethereum visualisation.
Sap = ACES project. That includes managing coin swaps on the mainchain, managing and interacting with foreign chains using smartbridging.
Sap flows throughout the tree. It’s everywhere you can’t get rid of it, it flows between chains and originates from the Trunk, the mainchain.
You could imagine Sap leaking from branch to branch acting as that physical bridge representation, but I like to think of it as Tree blood. Blood travels throughout the body with chemicals like oxygen, potassium etc. in one direction, drops them off, then returns with different chemicals. Sap would carry out a similar role here flowing through the Trees & Branches with transaction info. Bridging the gap between chains.
DPoS = Self governing, securing, a sort of sentience managing the tree. Ensuring a fast secure network, improving things without every needing to bring issues to a larger limelight.
ETHEREUM
Ethereum is a City, like New York, contained by water. It can, and will, grow massively, upgrading infrastructure, regulation etc. but its limited and inefficient, traffic jams occurring more often.
Cities often have outdated infrastructure and that forces the community, the leaders to come up with novel ideas to solve minor issues.
How does Ark interact with Ethereum? We’ll have to size it down a bit, imagine a 4 way junction, one way only….
Roads = Chains. I think all roads within the city as one way, with the ability to improve & change with city upgrades and regulation. I.e. widening roads akin to faster transaction speeds. Ring roads, subways trains etc. circling the City can be thought of as ultra-fast off chain transactions.
City Block = The block and its buildings represent the project. The bigger better ones Omisego are like Wall St. Big fancy buildings sleek clean roads providing the City with great wealth. Confido is like the unkempt, groggy, apartment block where crack is sold and your grandmother gets mugged.
Cars = Represent transactions moving through chains. Different cars represent different transnaction information. Sports car would be a fast moving transaction, there maybe a truck carrying cars, groups transactions, a sharding of sorts.
Tree = Ark fork chain. Ark sends its roots over to Ethereums city and sprouts up Trees where needed, interacting, but going unnoticed, slowly growing over the city.
So here we are. Scenarios set. We have our Tree stood there listening to the cars (transactions) race past, thinking ‘bloody hell, nuffin’ interesting today’. He then spots a car his friend back home wants some info on (A Contract execution request). He takes a peak, like a silent spy, and using his sap collects the necessary info, before sending it off. The sap may need to visit other chains, exchange further information, before completing its journey back home.
POW = City workers. Keeping the network secure & running, however large events (crypto kitties) can cause workers to become inefficient akin to being late for meetings.
Let’s step away from Blockchain systems.
DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) systems – Byteballs, Raiblocks, IOTA.
I’m only going to go over this briefly, I know at a basic level how DAG systems work. I don’t know technically how Ark aims to interact with DAG systems, from my reading it’s a fairly simple process, largely the same, but I don’t want to provide false information. Ark will be utilising DAG systems when using interplanetary file systems, so this may help visualising that too.
*Please note this is specific to IOTA.
DAG systems can be described as a small child playing with K’NEX, it’s as straightforward as that. The child is the coordinator, the K’NEX toy is the ledger. Once the K’NEX project gets big enough it becomes a worldwide phenomenon, becoming everybody’s, no longer under control by that small child.
K’NEX connector = These are confirmed transactions. These also have a utility each new transaction checks two other previous transactions, approving and confirming them.
Essentially you have your K’NEX model laid out flat on the floor 2D, instead of putting your rods in then your connector, you’re going to come prepared with the connector and rods as one ready to slot in the correct position. That’s how new transactions confirm previous ones.
K’NEX rod = The transaction connection, confirmation and approval representation
K’NEX motors / gears = Smart contract functionality.
Ark would hope to utilise this in IPFS, breaking up data, decentralising it, encrypting it then churning it out for us more efficiently than any service could today. File hosting, live streaming and many more services will be impacted by this change regardless of Ark’s course.
Taking inspiration from Today’s examples imagine a child sitting among the branches (chains) holding their K'NEX model (IPFS DAG system). This kid must be in a maple tree as there’s Sap all over the model and chains, that means contract executions and coin swaps going on!
Hopefully you get the picture, if it gets up and running it could become a substantial revenue boost, and Ark would be in a type of first mover role, but that’s investor talk. I hope I’ve sparked your imagination, if you think you can improve or offer any corrections please do.