How it works

Ark has three user states: liquid, boarded, and locked.

Liquid ARK can be traded or transferred. Boarded ARK earns base rewards and has an exit-fee timer. Locked ARK commits for a fixed period and earns the locked reward lane.

The Core Model

Simple rule: liquid ARK is flexible, boarded ARK participates in base rewards, and locked ARK participates in the locked reward lane.

flowchart TD
  Liquid[Liquid ARK] -->|Board| Boarded[Boarded position]
  Liquid -->|Lock| Locked[Vault lock]
  Boarded -->|Claim| Wallet[Wallet ARK]
  Boarded -->|Compound| Boarded
  Boarded -->|Exit| Liquid
  Locked -->|Claim before maturity| Wallet
  Locked -->|Compound before maturity| Locked
  Locked -->|Unlock at maturity| Liquid

Trade

Trade buys or sells through the official ARK/WETH Uniswap v4 pool. Buys use the dedicated buy executor. Sells use the dedicated sell executor. Both routes pass through the official hook, so the protocol can observe volume and collect the configured hook fee.

Buy ARK

ETH is wrapped as WETH, swapped through the official pool, and ARK is delivered to the receiver. Standard buys use the normal buy fee.

Sell ARK

ARK is swapped for WETH through the official pool. The sell executor unwraps WETH and pays native ETH to the receiver, falling back to WETH when native ETH cannot be delivered.

Board

Boarding deposits ARK into ArkBoarding. The position receives a non-transferable Boarded Ark receipt balance, bARK, and a bARK Pass NFT. The pass identifies the position; bARK mirrors the boarded principal.

sequenceDiagram
  participant U as User
  participant B as ArkBoarding
  participant V as ArkVault
  U->>B: board(amount, receiver)
  B->>V: sync base reward index
  B->>B: create position
  B->>U: mint bARK + bARK Pass
  B->>V: set position reward debt

Board Example

If a user boards 100 ARK, they receive 100 bARK and one bARK Pass. The maximum exit fee is 40% and decays to zero over 14 days. At the start, exiting the full 100 ARK would cost 40 ARK. Around halfway through, the fee is about 20 ARK. After the timer reaches zero, the full principal can exit with no exit fee.

Pending rewards are separate from principal. A position can show 100 ARK boarded and 3 ARK pending; the exit action is about the boarded principal, while claim or compound handles pending rewards.

Lock

Locking deposits ARK into ArkVault. The user receives a non-transferable Locked ARK receipt balance, lARK, plus an lARK Pass NFT. The lock has a fixed unlock timestamp and a one-block maturity epoch. Rewards stop at maturity.

sequenceDiagram
  participant U as User
  participant V as ArkVault
  U->>V: lock(amount, receiver)
  V->>V: calculate unlocksAt
  V->>V: set one-block maturity boundary
  V->>U: mint lARK + lARK Pass
  V->>V: schedule activation and maturity

Lock Example

A 100 ARK lock lasts 40 days. Its reward eligibility is capped at the one-block maturity boundary, so there is no long daily rounding window after the lock has reached its unlock time.

Claim, Compound, Exit, Unlock

Action	Applies to	What it does
Claim	Boarded positions and locks	Pays pending rewards to the wallet without changing principal.
Compound	Boarded positions	Adds pending ARK rewards back into the same boarded position.
Compound locked	Immature locks	Creates a new lock from pending ARK rewards. It reverts after maturity.
Exit	Boarded positions	Returns principal minus any active exit fee and claims pending base rewards.
Unlock	Mature locks	Returns lock principal plus remaining ARK and ETH/WETH rewards.