Ark Protocol
Ark Protocol Layer 2 — VTXOs Masterclass 06 / 08

Tiero

CEO of Ark Labs • Co-Founder Vulpem Ventures • Liquid Technology Board Member

Biography

Marco Argentieri, known as Tiero, is the CEO of Ark Labs, the company building the production implementation of the Ark protocol — one of the most promising new Layer 2 solutions for Bitcoin scaling.

Before Ark Labs, Tiero co-founded Vulpem Ventures, a Bitcoin-focused software company that built multiple open-source tools for the Liquid ecosystem. He has been a member of the Liquid Technology Board since 2022, advising on the technical direction of the Liquid sidechain.

Tiero is an extraordinarily prolific builder. His GitHub profile shows 286 repositories, and he is the creator of several widely-used Bitcoin developer tools including Nigiri (a Docker-based Bitcoin development environment), Marina (a Liquid wallet), TDEX (a decentralized exchange protocol), and Fuji Money (a synthetic asset platform on Liquid).

In 2024, Ark Labs secured a $2.5 million pre-seed round led by Tim Draper, and the team launched Arkade on mainnet in October 2025, marking a major milestone for the protocol.

Technical Contributions

Tiero's open-source portfolio is exceptionally broad:

  • Ark Protocol (Arkade): Leading the development of the Ark protocol implementation, using virtual UTXOs (VTXOs) to enable off-chain Bitcoin transactions with instant settlement and unilateral exit.
  • Nigiri: Created the Docker-based Bitcoin development environment used by developers worldwide. Supports Bitcoin, Liquid, and Lightning regtest environments.
  • TDEX: Built the TDEX decentralized exchange protocol for the Liquid Network, enabling atomic swap-based trading without centralized orderbooks.
  • Marina Wallet: Developed Marina, a browser-based Liquid Network wallet that serves as both a user tool and a developer reference implementation.
  • Fuji Money: Created a synthetic asset platform on Liquid for creating Bitcoin-backed stablecoins and other financial instruments.
  • Liquid Technology Board: Serving since 2022, contributing to the governance and technical direction of the Liquid sidechain.

Masterclass: Ark Protocol

This masterclass introduces Ark, a novel Layer 2 protocol that uses virtual UTXOs to provide off-chain Bitcoin transactions with unique tradeoffs compared to Lightning. Where Lightning requires channels and liquidity management, Ark uses a shared UTXO model orchestrated by an Ark Service Provider (ASP).

Ark Protocol & Virtual UTXOs
Layer 2 VTXOs • Mar 12, 2026

Topics likely covered include:

  • The Ark protocol model: rounds, VTXOs, and the ASP role
  • How Ark compares to Lightning: tradeoffs and complementarity
  • Unilateral exit guarantees: users can always leave
  • Arkade implementation: architecture and developer APIs
  • Integrating Ark into wallets and applications
  • From Liquid ecosystem to Ark: Tiero's journey through Bitcoin scaling

Resources & Preparation

Ark Protocol Repository
The main Ark protocol implementation (Arkade) built by Ark Labs.
Ark Labs
Official Ark Labs website with protocol overview and documentation.
Nigiri
Docker-based Bitcoin, Liquid & Lightning development environment by Tiero.
Ark Developer Resources
Developer documentation and guides for building on the Ark protocol.
Marina Wallet
Browser-based Liquid wallet built by Tiero's team at Vulpem Ventures.
Ark Protocol Explained
Community-driven educational resource about the Ark protocol concepts.
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