Cartesi Ecosystem Updates #6, 2025

Newsletter/Jul 4, 2025/Marketing Unit

June was a breakthrough month for Cartesi. Our first Stage 2 rollup application went live on Ethereum mainnet with the debut of the PRT Honeypot, a public, bug bounty style appchain putting Cartesi’s permissionless fraud-proof security model to the test.

This milestone signals that Cartesi has met the highest standards of decentralization and trustlessness set by L2BEAT, distinguishing us among the top Ethereum L2 projects, one of only three to claim Stage 2 status in the recent recategorization and the only Optimistic Rollup to achieve that.

As the PRT Honeypot invites challengers to validate and potentially claim the prize, with the first jar refill already in, the entire ecosystem is rallying around this new era of rollup maturity. But that’s not all. June also brought progress across our infrastructure and developer tooling, Brazil adoption initiatives, and community efforts worldwide. Let’s dive into the updates from the past month.

Tech

Cartesi’s PRT Honeypot launched on mainnet, marking the first live Stage 2 rollup app secured by our PRT (Permissionless Refereed Tournaments) fraud-proof system. You may recall the previous Honeypot initiative launched in September 2023 with an authority mechanism for settling disputes but focused on challenging the robustness of the Cartesi Rollups stack and signaling its mainnet readiness. It also introduced a novel, community-driven approach to launching appchain infrastructure, with testing carried out openly and collaboratively by the broader developer community.

The app remained uncracked throughout its run, holding a total of 1,772,889 CTSI, which was recently withdrawn to support other initiatives related to the new Honeypot. The idea remains the same: funds deposited into the Honeypot can only be withdrawn by Cartesi unless someone successfully exploits the system and claims the pot. This time around, a fraud-proof mechanism has been added, making it an open challenge to test the robustness of Cartesi’s permissionless security. Read more about the PRT Honeypot in its dedicated blog post, and take a walk on X to explore how this could inspire other rollups in their quest for Stage 2:

Part of the permissionless nature of this newest version, anyone can now become a validator and challenge computations onchain, creating a fully trustless environment. For those looking to get started and explore, our DevAdvocacy team published a step-by-step guide for running validator nodes, including a guide for easy deployment on Fly.io, that’s allowing users to be sure the node is running without using their own machine’s resources:

On the infrastructure side, a new alpha version of the CLI (v2.0.0-alpha.15) has been released, featuring major updates to the node, contracts, and development flow. This release is currently intended for core developers and testers. It includes enhanced support for account abstraction SDKs. While the CLI already allowed users to make multiple transactions without signing each one, the new version adds compatibility with the Alchemy and ZeroDev SDKs, expanding possibilities for developers. It also introduces Passkeys, enabling users to create, store, and manage wallets on passkey enabled devices without needing to personally handle seed phrases or private keys. In addition, this release comes with a new Java template, expanding the design space by enabling Java developers to build and deploy their favorite Java applications on Cartesi.

Regarding the node, the latest Cartesi Rollups Node v2.0.0-alpha.6 introduced a snapshot feature that lets nodes periodically save their state, helping them avoid full syncs from genesis after restarts. One other goal of NodeV2 is to reduce dependency on Docker, which caused occasional setup issues in previous versions. Discussions are ongoing to simplify node operations for both testnet and mainnet. For curious tech enthusiasts eager to follow R&D discussions, Cartesi’s research happens openly and transparently. Everyone is welcome to follow the conversations in dedicated Discord channels.

These updates, along with cleaner CLI behavior and various usability improvements, further enhance the developer experience and place convenience at the center. And now, with verifiable security built in and showcased by our PRT Honeypot, the pieces are coming together for a leading architectural approach to launching products, and everyone should “study Cartesi,” as L2Beat researcher says:

Ecosystem

Brazil continues to lead in Cartesi adoption, with new educational initiatives, integrations, and research efforts guided by Professor Antonio Rocha of Universidade Federal Fluminense. A hands-on Web3 course featuring Cartesi is now expanding to the Blockchain National Observatory community - a key initiative to promote blockchain technology in Brazil and a deliverable of the Ilíada Project developed by RNP (Rede Nacional de Ensino e Pesquisa) and CPQD (Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações), with support from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI). Taking place online in July, the program will introduce Cartesi development to over 2,000 partners, hackers, and developers across the region. The inaugural class will serve as a pilot and, depending on demand, may be repeated for future cohorts.

Looking ahead, a hybrid version of the course will launch in September at the Federal University of Bahia, combining online and in-person sessions to further grow Cartesi’s academic community.

Moreover, users of the Blockchain National Observatory will soon be able to instantiate VM machines using Cartesi APIs, offering a “tasting menu” experience to explore the observatory’s blockchain network. This setup will enable the development of Cartesi dApps directly on the network. Documentation has already been prepared and will be made available, likely attracting developers interested in testing and building with Cartesi in this environment.

In applied projects, the electric bike-sharing dApp supported by a local startup has entered a new six-month development phase. New features such as tokenized carbon credits, usage tracking, and incentives for bike returns are being integrated, showcasing blockchain’s potential to solve urban mobility challenges. On the same topic of urban mobility, check out a demo of another Cartesi-powered dApp focused on improving the public bus system. This project has caught the attention of Niterói’s municipality (Rio de Janeiro), which is now advancing with its implementation, setting a precedent for other smart cities to follow:

On another vertical, a third scientific paper from the UFF Blockchain research group led by Professor Rocha has been accepted for publication, once again showcasing Cartesi as the core technology enabling academic exploration. Titled Blockchain-Based Location Validation in an Environment of Mutual Distrust, the paper will appear in the Journal of Internet Services and Applications this year.

This work builds on previous research and is a derivation of the team’s earlier project involving a timetable-based bus contract system. Another paper is currently under review and is expected to be accepted soon, continuing the group's contribution to blockchain innovation through academic research.

This latest paper follows two prior publications by the group: Auction-Based Resource Allocation Using a Layer-2 Blockchain, presented at the 6th International Conference on Blockchain Computing and Applications (BCCA 2024) and A New BRAIN-Based Approach to Resource Allocation Using Consortiums, published at the 21st International Wireless Communications & Mobile Computing Conference (IWCMC 2025).

According to Professor Antonio Rocha, Cartesi’s usability plays a key role in streamlining the research process. Its familiar programming environment allows students and researchers to focus on problem-solving and scientific inquiry, rather than spending excessive time learning blockchain-specific languages or architectures. Cartesi makes prototyping and validating blockchain-based solutions significantly more intuitive and flexible.

June also saw significant engagement with the community in Brazil through events and media. Cartesi was featured on podcasts, articles and panels, with contributors like Carlo Fragni hosting two lectures for UFF undergraduate Game Programming students, exposing them to the full functionalities and potential of the RIVES framework, and speaking at the TokenNation event in São Paulo:

Developer Advocacy

Supporting builders remains a top priority for our developer advocates. This month, they introduced new tutorials, updated front-end templates, and enhanced documentation for Node V2, ensuring users will find everything ready when the new version is released. Moreover, the Cartesi-Espresso integration also received a documentation refresh integrating Node V2 Alpha that will allow anyone to use the most advanced and stable version of the node as soon as it becomes available. The Dev Advocacy team continues to refine Cartesi’s tooling and docs, making it easier to build and run scalable, modular dApps.

The “I Build, Therefore I Am” podcast hosted by our star João Garcia, remains a valuable resource for connecting with the broader ecosystem, exploring different potential integrations, and bringing new perspectives to our community. This month's episodes featured conversations with key figures from Syscoin and Base, such as lead contributors Jagdeep Sidhu and Erick Brown, with discussions on blockchain security, alternative architectures, AI integrations, the developer journey, rollups, and practical considerations in the quest for adoption. Catch up on all episodes via our podcast page or on Spotify.

Community

Our community continues to thrive, with meaningful engagement across the board: from X Spaces on incentives and product-market fit, hosted by Web3Global Media and LunarStrategy, to animated art and good old memes by Cartesians spreading creativity.

And of course, the hot topic of Cartesi’s PRT Honeypot launching and reaching stage 2 according to L2Beat’s recategorization couldn’t be missed from the PR scene, with several media features in outlets like HackerNoon, Altcoin Buzz, CoinCodex, TheNewsCrypto, U.Today, Crypto Daily, etc. Check out a full report of the media coverage thanks to the support of our agency Market Across.

But if you prefer an audio walkthrough of what this is all about, just catch up on the latest episode of the Cartesian AI podcast:

Berlin Blockchain Week was another opportunity for our contributors Bruno Maia and Carsten Munk to connect in person with blockchain tech enthusiasts, with Carsten sharing insights on using Cartesi Machine to prove Linux execution with a Zero Knowledge Proof at ZuBerlin. Watch the presentation here (6:07:35).

To finish the month in style, we launched a new series of quests on our Galxe Space to celebrate the PRT Honeypot launch, with 5,000 CTSI tokens raffled among all our supporters who spread the word. Join here and good luck! And don’t forget to recommend our latest YouTube Shorts to your newbie friends. They’re a great shortcut to learning more about Cartesi.

That’s a Wrap

June solidified Cartesi’s position at the forefront of rollup innovation by launching a fully trustless Stage 2 app, making it the only Optimistic Rollup to achieve this milestone and a proud contributor to advancing Ethereum’s L2 landscape. We encourage everyone to join the conversation on Discord, try their hand at hacking the PRT Honeypot or running a validator node to test things out, share feedback, and continue interacting on our public channels. This is your ecosystem, and together we keep pushing the boundaries till WAGMI.

With momentum building, July promises further progress. Stay tuned for more updates, and as always, keep building and supporting Cartesi.