CARTESI | A Linux Infrastructure for Scalable DApps

Cartesi is a platform for DApps based on Layer-2 scalability solution.

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Web: https://cartesi.io/

Whitepaper: https://cartesi.io/cartesi_whitepaper.pdf

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cartesiproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cartesiproject

Telegram: https://t.me/CartesiProject
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Cartesi belongs to off-chain scalability solutions. In the current phase, the scalability of blockchains as a whole is one of the major factors that limit the large-scale application of DApps. Given to the obvious requirement for scalability on the infrastructure layer, a variety of public blockchains are working on the research and development of scalability solutions.

Currently, there are roughly two types of scalability solutions: Layer-1 solutions and Layer-2 solutions. The former improves the scalability of blockchains by developing the underlying mechanisms. For example, they may look for a better consensus mechanism or employ the sharding technology. On the other hand, Layer-2 solutions solve the problem of scalability off the blockchains. Therefore, in a broad sense, projects focusing on state channels, side chains and Plasma can all be counted as peer products of Cartesi. The competition is considerably intense, but so far there is no ideal technical solutions on the market. Cartesi is similar to Truebit in their concepts of how to improve scalability. Both parties choose to perform computation off the chain to achieve a trusted environment for nodes, and to resolve disputes by providing incentives for verifying the results of computations.

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Cartesi provides an off-chain Layer-2 scalability solution for blockchains. Instead of traditional on-chain computation and storage, it performs these two tasks off the chain in a verifiable method. Cartesi enables verifiable off-chain computation with an operating system based on an open-source protocol RISC-V, to guarantee that off-chain computations are performed in accordance with the same consensus. Therefore, Cartesi can guarantee that the results generated by nodes in different operating systems are consistent with each other. When a dispute arises, Cartesi can solve it by encouraging participants to use the “verification game”. The project provides a solution to the consensus problem by constructing a trusted infrastructure. It builds a bridge between the modern computer architecture and smart contracts, and allows developers to build their own DApps on Cartesi’s platform through APIs. By serving as the entry point of DApps to the blockchain world, Cartesi not only helps extend the scalability of blockchains but also widen the application scenarios. For the time being, the project has not disclosed any details about its token or token economy in the whitepaper.
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Technology

Cartesi choose to build the platform for DApps based on the RISC-V architecture of high compatibility, which creates a secure and trusted environment for off-chain computation and data structure by providing the DApp developers with familiar programming languages. This is also the key point differentiates Cartesi from other projects. On one hand, trusted hardware like SGX, Trusrzone or SEV chooses to integrate enclaves between applications and operating systems to construct a trusted environment for smart contracts. On the other hand, Cartesi chooses RISC-V to build its infrastructure. RISC-V is an open-source instruction set architecture (ISA) developed by UC Berkley. Its peer products include x86 and ARM architecture. RISC-V is highly compatible with different operating systems and keeps expanding its influence in the recent years. Google, Qualcomm and Samsung have all joined its foundation. Although the project seems promising and its security has also been tested in several real-world cases, the application scenarios of Cartesi remain quite limited. It has already been open-sourced on Github, but most code updates are forked from the RISC-V architecture. There is no self-developed code so far.

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Cartesi has 10 members with personal profile available on LinkedIn. It has 3,572 members on Telegram and 558 followers on Twitter. The popularity is rather low. Besides, there is no original code on Github so far.

Conclusion

Cartesi has proposed a Layer-2 scalability solution, which is faced with numerous competitors in terms of purpose. The highlight is the adoption of the RISC-V architecture instead of enclaves to build the primitive environment for computation, which turns the off-chain nodes to self-organized participants in the blockchain. Although the recognition for and application of RISC-V has been improving in the past few years, the implementation of this technology in the computer industry is still in its infancy and there is no precedent case of its combination with blockchain technology, so it can be very hard to bring this project come true. The whitepaper is dedicated to technical theories and has not mentioned anything about its business model, token economy or partnership. The progress of its code development also remains unknown. But, as a whole, in spite of its high risk, Cartesi also shows high potential.

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Web: https://cartesi.io/

Whitepaper: https://cartesi.io/cartesi_whitepaper.pdf

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cartesiproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cartesiproject

Telegram: https://t.me/CartesiProject

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My BTT: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=1208857