Cartesi Ecosystem Update Report April 2025

Before RISC-V became a hot topic in 2025, it had already been deeply embedded in the core of the Cartesi protocol. Since 2018, Cartesi has chosen RISC-V as the cornerstone of its infrastructure, believing it to be a bridge connecting mainstream software development with Decentralization systems.

As an open-source, modular instruction set, RISC-V supports deterministic execution, formal verification, and is compatible with mature development tools. Its design is simple, adjustable, and forward-looking, capable of running a complete operating system. This not only allows Cartesi to be backward compatible but also achieves forward compatibility. Compared to the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), RISC-V does not require developers to relearn basic computing operations and can provide a complete Linux environment, enabling a vast array of mature software tools, libraries, compilers, and innovations to be quickly applied in the blockchain.

When Vitalik Buterin proposed migrating Ethereum's execution environment to RISC-V, Long-standing's strategic layout was validated, albeit for different reasons. RISC-V is not only a superior technical solution but also a strategically significant standardized blockchain infrastructure, expected to bring profound changes to the industry ecosystem. As more and more blockchains adopt RISC-V, its advantages will begin to multiply. Upholding the philosophy of "standing on the shoulders of giants," Cartesi has always been steadily advancing on this path.

Next, let's review the latest developments from the past month:

Technical Progress

The second phase of Rollups is about to mature, and the PRT fraud proof "Honeypot" application has been running on the testnet, optimizing performance, and will soon go live on the mainnet. The community can attempt challenges to discover potential vulnerabilities.

The V2 version of Rollups continues to advance, launching multiple Alpha versions, introducing a multi-dApp node architecture, significantly reducing costs, while optimizing the JSON-RPC API and data availability, enhancing integration with Espresso, Avail, and others.

The node snapshot feature has also been developed, allowing users to save their status regularly to speed up restart times.

The brand new browser (Explorer) is now live, adding new highlights to the technical evolution of V2.

In terms of co-processors, the team has released Cartesi Machine 0.19.0-alpha3, showing significant performance improvements. A key change in EigenLayer is the introduction of Operator Sets, which has been deployed in Holesky to support the new mechanism, along with the slashing mechanism that is also ready. Additionally, the co-processor CLI has been integrated with the Cartesi CLI, greatly simplifying the development process. Detailed information can be found in the relevant meetings.

Ecosystem Dynamics

Brazil Key Collaboration: Professor Antonio Rocha from UFF leads students to promote local projects, with one student having deployed an "anti-machine learning" model on the Cartesi Machine, connecting the RNP Brazil research blockchain network, showcasing the deep collaboration between local universities and the industry.

Application Implementation: Fluminense Federal University (UFF) in Brazil, in collaboration with the local government of Niterói City (, launched a public transport application based on Cartesi, allowing users to enjoy advantages such as trusted verification and privacy protection without needing knowledge of blockchain. This is an important part of the promotion of social applications.

On-chain art platform — Drawing Canvas is being upgraded to the latest version of Cartesi Rollups and Node, performance testing is complete, and the testnet will soon be launched. We look forward to becoming the new "artist" of on-chain art. Follow the X account to stay updated with the latest news.

Game Innovation - World Tycoon integrates elements of real economy into the well-known simulation city game, redefining city building gameplay in the era of cryptocurrency. The team has completed funding from Cartesi Grants and launched an online MVP, which is now open to private testers.

Latest updates on the Cartesi Grants program: new breakthroughs in developer tools and ecosystem integration.

1. Think&Dev board game development framework has made significant progress

The development of the third and fourth milestones has been completed:

Multi-Match Hall System: Supports managing multiple game matches simultaneously.

XMTP Integration: Real-time in-game chat functionality

DRAND Connection: Provides secure on-chain random number generation

Significantly enhance the scalability and interactive experience of multiplayer turn-based games.

2. The integration solution of RiscZero and Cartesi is officially released.

Core Value: Verifying complex off-chain computations through zero-knowledge proof )ZK(

The developer resource package includes:

Detailed technical documentation

Complete example code

Significantly simplify the development process of privacy-protecting dApps.

3. Cartesi-Chainlink collaboration enters the second phase

Current focus: in-depth technical architecture research

The future will achieve:

Scheduled task trigger

off-chain verifiable computation

Complex conditional logic processing

Developer Incentive Program

Recommended developers who successfully obtain funding can receive a reward of 500 USD CTSI.

Participate through the DevDrop program

Developer Promotion Cartesi places great importance on the quality of documentation, considering it key for developer adoption. We are committed to providing clear and user-friendly documentation and guides to foster community growth.

The developer promotion team is全面重构 the Cartesi documentation, optimizing tutorials and overall architecture to help developers better understand products such as Cartesi Machine, Cartesi Rollups, Dave, and Cartesi Coprocessor.

The Rust and Go frameworks have been updated to support the latest Node version, ensuring seamless integration with the Coprocessor. The Coprocessor toolchain is also being actively improved for easier access for developers.

The new episode of the podcast "I Build, Therefore I Am" (Brain to Board) is now live, focusing on ecosystem builders. João Garcia interviews Shaheen Ahmed (Comet app) and Michael Asiedu (RiscZero + Cartesi integration).

community

In addition to the "fur logo" trend and the celebration of International Penguin Day, April is a month full of joy. In the Telegram group of the Cartesi community, we are very happy to see the enthusiasm and activity of everyone. At the same time, we also welcomed our AI partner "Plushie AI", who was trained on all things Cartesi related to our Easter egg hunt with a prize of CTS I. Thank you to everyone who participated! Still missing? Join Telegram, stay in touch with community members, chat with Plushie, and more.

In different regions around the world, Mykhailo from Lviv is discussing with developers how to leverage Cartesi to achieve more innovative possibilities.

As for the anonymous user who keeps making interesting memes on X? Go support them and give that "Cartesians" a follow! Also, if you've been active on Warpcast recently, don't forget to join the /cartesi channel and help support Cartesi's growth on Farcaster!

Upcoming event During the upcoming ETHLisbon conference in Lisbon, our Developer Advocacy Lead João Garcia will serve as a mentor from May 9 to 11, ready to collaborate with developers and share his insights.

Every Monday, we hold the latest ecosystem update call, and additionally, a new episode of the "I Build, Therefore I Am" podcast series will be released every two weeks. Stay tuned.

To learn more about the event arrangements, you can check Cartesi's public event calendar at any time.

Cartesi's 2025 Acceleration Year

From the technical foundation to ecological applications, Cartesi's RISC-V strategy is unleashing tremendous potential:

Developer-friendly: The Linux environment attracts traditional developers to flock into Web3.

Real use cases: public transport systems, blockchain games, and ZK proofs demonstrate diverse implementation capabilities.

Community-driven: Global developers and universities collaborate to drive long-term innovation.

Next steps focus: Mainnet Rollups go live and deep integration with EigenLayer, Cartesi may become the RISC-V ecosystem benchmark.

About Cartesi

is a powerful modular blockchain protocol that provides developers with a complete Linux environment and high-performance Rollup technology, aimed at supporting the next generation of decentralized applications. By integrating Linux, the Cartesi Virtual Machine enables developers to leverage decades of battle-tested programming languages, tools, and code libraries to build dApps. Cartesi provides each dApp with an independent Rollup layer and dedicated computing resources, significantly enhancing computational scalability while ensuring that decentralization, security, and censorship resistance remain unaffected.