PARIS–Cooperatives are getting into the cryptocurrency business.
A new open-source blockchain co-operative society has been set up in France to operate such a cryptocurrency. ARK Ecosystem has been incorporated as a Co-operative Society of Collective Interest (SCIC) after other models, such as the Swiss foundation, were rejected, according to Cooperative News.
The French SCIC model was suggested by François-Xavier Thoorens, one of the co-op’s 26 founding members, who was familiar with the co-op option, the publication said. The team sought legal advice from a French law firm and realized the model would be the most suitable for their project.
“The SCIC structure allows employees, users, volunteers, public bodies, companies, and associations to act together in a legal framework to govern an entity,” Cooperative News reported. “The format also allows public institutions to become shareholders if seen fit by the board. As with other types of co-ops, the principle of one member, one vote applies.”
Another requirement is for a SCIC to keep at least 52.5% of the company’s profits as legal reserves. Since Ark plans to hold 100% of any profits for use in development, marketing, and operations, the model was seen as the perfect fit, Cooperative News said.
The co-op, whose members hail from a dozen different countries, raised US$750,000 via its ARK Token Exchange Campaign (TEC). This was lower than the $1 million the co-op hoped for, but the team is continuing to develop the platform, Cooperative News added.
According to the co-op, the main objective will be to create blockchain ecosystems. The business will use technology to offer consumers smart contracts, mobile wallets and faster transactions, and will also be integrating different programming languages to allow more flexibility within the world of developers.
“Via its smart bridge technology, Ark aims to position itself as the ‘cryptocurrency of cryptocurrencies,’ creating a platform that connects currencies and blockchains so that token holders can have a unified platform to execute smart contracts and other blockchain-based interactions,” Cooperative News reported.