This whole spectacle that Ark is "gimped" without a covenant is way over the top.
Yes, Ark can be better with covenants. In fact, at
@npub1hf5sg... we have both variants developed and concluded that a covenantless variant today is not only viable, but can exceed expectations through the right optimizations and engineering. We have a path for multiple hundreds of vtxo creation in a single commitment transaction while keeping the interactivity at an acceptable level.
We also have paths of varying methods to mitigate the approaching expiry dilemma.
Ark does not need covenants. It is FUD to state otherwise. You'll see soon enough though!