Unlocking programmable money
TALLINN, ESTONIA โ May 28, 2025 โ Ark Labs today unveiled Arkade, a Bitcoin-native application layer that accelerates the emergence of Bitcoin as programmable money. The announcement follows the company’s $2.5 million pre-seed funding round in August 2024, led by billionaire investor Tim Draper with participation from Fulgur Ventures and Axiom.
Arkade introduces a novel operating system for Bitcoin, enabling fast, programmable, and scalable financial applications without requiring protocol changes or compromising self-custody.
“Bitcoin is the world’s hardest, most secure asset, but it remains largely static,” said Marco Argentieri, CEO of Ark Labs. “Arkade virtualizes Bitcoin’s transaction layer, transforming it into a dynamic financial platform where operations happen instantly, programmability is unlocked, and users maintain full control of their assets throughout.”
Arkade builds on a year of development on the Ark protocol, where implementation progress uncovered clear opportunities to extend its application well beyond early expectations.
Tim Draper, founder and managing partner of Draper Associates, expressed enthusiasm for the project: “Bitcoin is fast emerging as the world’s premier digital asset. Arkade’s virtualization approach finally brings the programmability Bitcoin needs to transform from a store of value into a permissionless financial system.”
The company reports strong early traction with significant inbound integration requests since January. Arkade is currently in closed beta on Bitcoin mainnet, with launch integrations including Tether, Boltz, Breez, Mempool.space.
While other projects have introduced sidechains, layer-2 solutions, or wrapped tokens that fragment Bitcoin’s network effect, Arkade works directly with Bitcoin as it exists today. This Bitcoin-native approach enables secure, self-custodial applications without the need for new blockchains or consensus mechanisms.
“Bitcoin has always had to balance the desire to scale transaction throughput and complexity with conservatism regarding upgrades,” said Allen Farrington, General Partner at Axiom. “With this exceptionally high bar for worthwhile innovation, and amidst a sea of noise, Ark Labs is bringing to market what may prove to be the most important technical breakthrough in the space since the Lightning Network.“
The company’s roadmap includes multi-asset support, a modern development toolkit, BTC-collateralized lending solutions, and staking opportunities for Bitcoin-native yield. Arkade’s mainnet launch is targeted for Q3 2025, with expanded developer tools and additional financial primitives rolling out through Q4.
Arkade represents a fundamental advancement in Bitcoin’s evolution as programmable money. By virtualising Bitcoin’s transaction layer, Arkade enables a new generation of financial applications that preserve Bitcoin’s security guarantees while expanding its programmability and scalability.
With Arkade, Bitcoin transforms from static capital into a dynamic platform for global finance.
About Ark Labs
Ark Labs is building Arkade, a Bitcoin-native execution layer that accelerates Bitcoin’s emergence as programmable money. The company is backed by leading investors, including Tim Draper, Fulgur Ventures, and Axiom.
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โFor more information, visit ArkadeOS.com or contact partnership@arklabs.to.
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