Cartesi AMA Hosted by Crypto Nation

Published in

Cartesi

13 min readJan 8, 2020

On January 7th, 2020, The Cartesi team conducted a live Q&A session on Telegram hosted by Crypto Nation. We’ve compiled all of the questions and edited them for the Cartesi community members to read. Some of the questions, answers, responses and sequences may have been edited or modified for clarity and readability.

We want to give a big thank you to HarSimar and everyone who participated by asking questions or were just curious enough to follow along. Thank You!

Main Participants: Erick de Moura (CEO of Cartesi), Colin Steil (COO of Cartesi), HarSimar (Crypto Nation Founder) & Community Participants.

HarSimar — We are glad to have you with us today.

Erick de Moura (CEO of Cartesi) — I’m Erick, Founder and CEO of Cartesi. I’m a software architect and technical leader with 20 years of experience. I led the development and offered consulting services to tech companies in different verticals. Before getting into blockchain in 2017, I was building production-ready systems for telecom companies, involving big-data and analytics. Throughout my career, I gathered extensive experience in software best practices and development processes. Very excited to be here for the AMA.

Colin Steil (COO of Cartesi) — Hey all! I’m Colin, Co-Founder and COO of Cartesi. I am a previous venture capitalist and start-up founder with a passion to make blockchain a reality. I have an expertise in execution and years of experience in community building as well as business operations around the globe. It’s a pleasure to be here and take part in the AMA!

HarSimar — Thanks for the introduction.

Erick — Thank-you. In a nutshell, Cartesi brings a real operating system to blockchains. Cartesi provides a Linux runtime environment for scalable blockchain DApps. Complex and intensive computations run off-chain while retaining the security guarantees of the blockchain. DApps developed with Cartesi will be significantly more powerful and easier to build. Cartesi is the only software-based verifiable off-chain compute system that gives developers a vast array of software that evolved in the last 30 years and that enable the applications we use on the Internet today.

HarSimar — Here is the first question.

Q1. To execute code (e.g. Java) in many apps, the code often leaves the Virtual Machine to use the kernel & then interact with the hardware, being prone to attacks. How does the Cartesi architecture & machine specification prevent this?

Erick — The Java virtual machine runs under a host operating system. In this case, some Java function calls will result in direct calls to the host OS and these could lead to a variety of security problems.

The Cartesi Machine also runs under a host operating system. However, the programs that run inside the Cartesi Machine have absolutely no access to this host operating system. Instead, they can only access a target OS that is running inside the Cartesi Machine (a RISC-V port of Linux).

It is this OS that is used by the programs run inside the machine (emulator). So, if you run a Java program inside a Cartesi Machine, its host OS is the Cartesi Machine’s target OS. In theory, such a program could compromise the target OS. It is much, much more difficult to compromise the host OS because you would have to find vulnerabilities in both the target OS and the Cartesi Machine emulator.

Q2. What is the role of the CTSI in the Cartesi ecosystem? What are the benefits to long-term token holders?

Colin — We will soon be publishing more information on the utility of the token. For now, we can summarize it as follows: CTSI has been designed to overcome the basic challenges that blockchains face in terms of usability and scalability. The Cartesi Network will rely on PoS protocols to provide services such as a side-chain optimized for high throughput and temporary data storage for DApps.

CTSI is also used in the incentive protocol as specified in the Cartesi Core (whitepaper) and other convenient services that the Cartesi Network will offer (ex: commit-reveal protocols).

Finally, CTSI will isolate DApp developers and users from the instabilities of the different underlying blockchains. In the long run, CTSI is expected to capture most of the value in the DApp ecosystem, with DApps being portable across different blockchains.

Q3. What are the biggest challenges for Cartesi to for building a secure and successful Linux Infrastructure? How did the name Cartesi come from? Is there any Inspiration?

Erick — This is a somewhat open question. Cartesi’s whitepaper goes into detail about the challenges and solutions involved in creating our decentralized Linux infrastructure. Cartesi relies on an upstream RISC-V Linux port repo maintained by the Linux Foundation.

The main architectural component of our tech is a self-contained and reproducible VM that emulates a RISC-V architecture.

Combined with the VM architecture, an interactive dispute resolution protocol and cryptoeconomic incentives create the required basis to achieve what we call a decentralized Linux infrastructure.

About the name Cartesi… It is a reference to the philosopher Descartes. For Descartes, mind and body are two different “substances” but they interact coherently in each human being. Cartesi also relies on a fundamental duality: A duality between the consensus layer and the computational layer, that belong to two different levels of reality, but work coherently with each other

HarSimar — https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-works/ You can read more about it. ^^

Q4. Can you briefly explain what’s the top three milestones that your team aims to execute before the end of the year? Whom do you see as your biggest competitor in this space?

Colin — In terms of goals for 2020, you can find our immediate focuses below:

Next couple of weeks: First Cartesi DApp — Tower Defense Game

Q1/2020: SDK’s first version — installation tools, documentation, and tutorial.

Q2/2020: Cartesi Network on Testnet

(TBD) 2020: Cartesi Network and mining on Mainnet

In regards to competitors, Cartesi is a unique project in a certain way. Truebit and Off-chain Labs both have a similar protocol for off-chain computation that involves an interactive dispute resolution (verification game).

However, in our case, we have different choices of virtual machine architecture and cryptoeconomic incentives in order to fulfill our vision. Namely, to provide DApp developers with a wealth of software infrastructure already available for Linux. In that respect, there’s no project that is similar to Cartesi currently.

Q5. Adoption is one of the important factors that all sustainable blockchain projects should focus to be more attractive in the investors’ eyes. What Cartesi has done and plans to do to achieve real-world adoption?

Erick — That’s a very important question. First of all, Cartesi is all about adoption. Cartesi exists to bridge the gap between blockchains and the mainstream software development world. A fundamental aspect of our vision is to make it as seamless as possible to onboard mainstream developers that are not familiar with blockchains.

Providing a Linux runtime environment for DApps is a huge step forward, but not enough. We will prioritize making developers’ lives as easy as possible with rich SDK’s and tutorials that will enable professionals to do better DApps and more easily at every new milestone reached by the project.

Additionally, we are working to develop strategic partnerships with public blockchains as we strongly believe we can help each other. We are also working with PR campaigns and will move on with meetups and hackathons to provide widespread awareness and education.

The following questions were asked by the community and users who wanted to participate in the AMA.

What are the differences between Layer-1 and Layer-2? Why use Layer 2?

Colin — Thanks for the question! To put it simply, Layer-1 means blockchain platforms themselves (example: Ethereum). Layer-2 are protocols that are built on top of the base consensus layers, they are generally built in regards to scaling.

In terms of Cartesi, we are unique in the sense of layer-2 in that we allow decentralized applications to be run on Linux in a way that’s verifiable by the blockchain. Complex processing can be executed off-chain free from blockchains’ computational limits and corresponding fees.

There are 3 core issues prevalent in crypto and blockchain: security, interoperability, and scalability. How does CTSI plan to overcome these issues?

Erick — Good question.

(1) Security. CTSI plays a fundamental role in the incentive mechanism entailed by our arbitration system. Meaning that collaterals need to be placed by participants to discourage them from malicious behaviour. (2) As Cartesi integrates with multiple blockchains it will become easier for bridges to exist. Cartesi will be a great catalyst for the transmission of data across chains. (3) Scalability — CTSI will also play an important role in a Data Availability system that will be based on a side-chain. That chain will provide greater throughput for applications.

What role do you think Cartesi will play in making blockchain highly adaptable for the worldwide stage?

Erick — Cartesi is chain-agnostic. It is part of the vision to integrate Cartesi with the most relevant public chains. With that, developers don’t need to worry about the longevity of particular blockchains. They can easily port their DApps across chains that are already integrated with Cartesi. We see that as a great factor to foster a wide adoption of Cartesi.

What’s your vision? What types of problems do you need to solve in this industry?

Colin — Our vision is to make the development of decentralized applications as close as possible to their centralized counterparts.

With Cartesi, we are solving two main problems: the restrictive development environment, as well as computational scalability. Both of these things will allow DApps to become much more powerful and easier to build with Cartesi.

How does Cartesi deal with the issues of scalability, security and interoperability associated with crypto and blockchain technology? As a developer I am familiar with solidity and solidity++; can I build DApps on Cartesi and what are the modalities involved?

Erick — Cartesi is fundamentally a layer-2 solution for computational scalability. Complex computations run off-chain while retaining the blockchain security guarantees.

With Cartesi you’ll be able to build your DApp's decentralized logic using software that compiles for Linux. It’s not only about supporting more programming languages, it’s also about doing stuff that you do in conventional software development (say, compress/decompress files, access a SQL database, read an image file etc.). Developing in solidity imposes many challenges to developers — like even converting a number to String is not that easy.

One of the disadvantages of Blockchain is: “Its complexity means end users find it hard to appreciate the benefits.” How will Cartesi be able to solve this? How will you gain the “TRUST” of many users that have negative thoughts about Blockchain?

Erick — The vision of Cartesi is to make DApps easy to develop and as convenient to use as centralized applications. The convenience of development and usability are our goals. Cartesi will allow for DApps to be closer to what we experience on the Web2.0. DApps can be more complex and compelling, performing better and reducing the inconveniences of blockchain usage for the final users.

As we know, every successful project has a few stories behind the scenes, what’s the story behind Cartesi and its success? What was the original vision when Cartesi first emerged as an idea? Are there any special prototypes or upcoming Cartesi updates that you want to show/share with us?

Colin — Great question! The story behind Cartesi is quite interesting. The Cartesi founding team initially got into crypto as a result of Augusto Teixeira (our Chief Scientific Officer) being friends with Serguei Popov (Founder of IOTA and inventor of the Tangle).

Serguei Popov, one of our Advisors, initiated Augusto into the crypto scene through the Bitcoin whitepaper and sparked his interest in the technology, knowing that Augusto is a leading expert in cryptography and game theory. The idea originally came from implementing AI on the blockchain in the form of a trustless marketplace for data scientists, however, Augusto needed much more than his own skills to make that happen especially on the computer architecture level. This is where Diego Nehab (our CTO) got involved. From here, we realized that what we were building at Cartesi was much more generic than we originally thought and the project has turned into what we have now as a result of the team coming together and Erick (a former roommate of Diego) and I helping to form the business side of the company.

In terms of prototypes, we currently have released Cartesi Core as open-source on our GitHub repository here: https://github.com/cartesi. In the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing our first DApp, a fully decentralized tower defence tournament game called Creepts. Keep a watch out for this!

What global problems does CTSI aim to solve and why is it important to solve?

Erick — Basically to turn DApp development mainstream. To help to fulfill the vision of a decentralized Web. For that to happen, something like Cartesi that gives the software stacks and tools that were developed in the last 30 years is necessary.

What plans are in place for global expansion, are you focusing only on one market at this time? Or are you focusing on building, developing, or getting customers/users, or partnerships? Can you please explain this?

Colin — Thanks! We are working hard on our marketing efforts and global reach recently.

We have just opened up 5 new international communities. Through these specific targeted regions, we will be expanding our global outreach.

Russian — https://t.me/CartesiRU

Chinese — https://t.me/CartesiCN

Turkish — https://t.me/CartesiTR

Vietnamese — https://t.me/CartesiVN

Korean — https://t.me/CartesiKR

As we mentioned above, we are engaging with various blockchain projects to develop meaningful partnerships together that will enable more adoption and Cartesi to become mainstream for developers.

There are many who believe that Blockchain will change the world. On the other hand, a new blockchain project is born every day. Too much is promised by projects and only a few of them actually execute. What does Cartesi add to the blockchain ecosystem that is different than other projects to change the world?

Erick — Blockchain as a general platform for a decentralized Web is still in its early stages. We see that not only scalability is a major barrier to a significant production of compelling DApps. The lack of software infrastructure, the difficulty of development are huge barriers as well. The fact that we are bridging blockchain with mainstream software platforms will help the ecosystem a lot.

The main problems in some DeFi projects are Interoperability issues. How does Cartesi solve this Interoperability problem? Which blockchains will Cartesi be interoperable with?

Colin — We agree with this! We believe DApp developers shouldn’t have to worry about which blockchain will survive in the long run — and they should be easily portable or interposable with other platforms. With Cartesi and CTSI, we will be able to enable DApp developers to do just that. CTSI will isolate DApp developers and users from the instabilities of the different underlying blockchains and allow them to easily port their DApp to whichever blockchain makes sense in the long run. As Cartesi connects with multiple blockchains, bridges and secure transfer of data across different chains will be easier to build. For instance, it will facilitate applications like decentralized exchanges or cross-chain atomic swaps.

Why a Linux and not a Windows operating system? How do you intend to make developers build on Cartesi and encourage them to switch to Cartesi over other projects? One common problem is that of the inactive and useless states of DApps. How does Cartesi seek to overcome this issue of inactive DApps?

Erick — I like to say that Linux is eating up the world ;). It’s the most relevant OS nowadays in many aspects. Also, Cartesi and public blockchains have an intimate relationship with open-source software. Linux and RISC-V are very good representatives of the open-source (and open standard) worlds with more and more adoption. (Even Microsoft is embracing open-source and Linux, which is an interesting factor to consider).

Finally, it’s important to say that in principle, Cartesi’s architecture and platform can also (easily) support other OS’s. But at this point, we don’t see a need to invest or to promote this possibility.

Can you say a few words about your team? Where are you located? How many team members and devs? Previous experience?

Colin — Good question. We currently have a team of 10 people and are distributed all over the world. Some of our team can be found in Brazil, Taiwan, as well as the USA. Besides Erick and I, the rest of the team are all highly experienced developers with great backgrounds. You can check more into our team on the specific section of our website: https://cartesi.io

As a newcomer, which steps should I take for the easiest way to start building DApps on Cartesi? Which conditions and requirements would I need?

Colin — During Q1, we’ll be releasing the first version of our SDK, this will be the easiest starting point for developers which will include installation tools, documentation, and tutorials.

Currently, we only have highly technical readmes on our GitHub, but this is soon to change!

We also welcome all developers who are interested in building with Cartesi to join our development community on Discord, you can find the invite here. You are welcome to ask any questions related to the tech or development there: https://discord.gg/atz6g4

In terms of conditions and requirements, with Cartesi you’ll be able to build your DApp decentralized logic using software that compiles for Linux. So as a general developer familiar with building on a Linux OS, you’ll have a great head start.

As a layer-2 blockchain platform, how can I achieve high throughput on Layer-2? Can you explain more about the Cartesi dispute settlement?

Erick — Cartesi increases computation throughput. Meaning that it’s possible to run many more microprocessor instructions (program steps) per unit of time than could be conceivable on-chain.

That being said, any improvement on TPS in the underlying blockchain helps the performance of Cartesi DApps.

Cartesi will also use specific second-layer systems like side-chains and state channels to increase even more the performance of its applications. We will provide more details on it later.

The dispute settlement system is an interactive protocol mediated by the blockchain (called verification game). It’s the same algorithm specified by Truebit and Off-chain labs. We have a detailed explanation on the white paper about it.

HarSimar — Thanks Erick and Colin for sparing your valuable time and knowledge with us. Good wishes for Cartesi.io

Colin — Thanks! It was a pleasure to be here, and thanks to the community for such great questions.

Erick — It’s been a great pleasure!

Quick Links:

Website: https://cartesi.io

Telegram Community: https://t.me/cartesiproject

Telegram Announcements: https://t.me/cartesiannouncements

Discord Dev Community: https://discordapp.com/invite/Pt2NrnS

GitHub: https://github.com/cartesi

Social Media:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/cartesiproject

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cartesi