This episode of TFTC examines the limitations of Bitcoin's Lightning Network, such as costly channel rebalancing and liquidity issues, and highlights the Ark protocol as a promising scalability solution. Ark uses transaction batching to improve efficiency and preserve Bitcoin's security, enabling off-chain swaps and reducing operational costs for services like Lightning. While covenants could enhance Ark's usability, the protocol functions effectively without them, offering future applications in payment channels and decentralized finance. The Ark team focuses on seamless integration and scalability without requiring protocol changes.