Ark Labs launched on Tuesday, creating a company dedicated to developing a new Bitcoin Layer 2 payments network based on the Ark protocol.

Ark Labs argues that while the Lightning Network — a second-layer solution of payment channels built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain — has helped deliver faster, low-cost payments, the need to manage channels and liquidity has driven many users toward custodial Lightning wallets, trading control over their funds for convenience.

The Ark protocol, originally proposed in 2023, represents a Bitcoin Layer 2 scaling solution that works alongside the Lighting Network, aiming to deliver a more simplified user experience while retaining self-custody.

“If covenants were activated on the Bitcoin network, it could offer lots of nice optimisations for Ark …