the problem with ark is it's a currency which itself has value.
nobody wants yet another currency whose only point is to allow you to exchange one currency for another.
funding tokens like ark and most of the ico coins allow better more efficent projects to come along that don't use a token, by simply copying their ideas or code, and will almost always take over, because other than bagholders of ark, no user is going to want to use a more expensive took to exchange value that one which is cheaper.