Cartesi Ecosystem Updates #5, 2025

Newsletter/Jun 2, 2025/Marketing Unit

May was all about momentum: key releases on the tech front, an energized community pushing the boundaries of creativity, and on-the-ground builder engagement from Brazil to Korea. Here's your full roundup of what happened across the Cartesi ecosystem this past month.

Tech

Countdown to Cartesi Rollups Stage 2. For those who don’t know, L2Beat, the leading tracker for rollup security and decentralization, has implemented a countdown for all optimistic rollup projects that haven’t yet deployed a fully functional and permissionless fraud-proof system. If they don’t, they’ll be downgraded.

This mission has been on Cartesi’s table for a few months now, and we’re closer than ever to completing it.

Our PRT fraud-proof system, the predecessor of Dave (learn more from its creator, Gabriel Coutinho, in his Devcon talk), now has its own honeypot on testnet, and will soon go live on mainnet as Cartesi’s first Stage 2 rollup implementation.

Everything’s on track, and we can’t wait to celebrate this milestone with the community.

Speaking of milestones, a new release at the core of Cartesi’s technology is now live: Cartesi Machine Emulator v0.19.0, with numerous performance optimizations and new and improved APIs for interacting with the machine. It is also the first version to include primitives supporting ZK verification of Cartesi Machine execution, which in the future will serve as the basic blocks for Cartesi’s upcoming next-gen proof system implementations.

On another front, more progress came from the integration side. Espresso Reader v0.3.0 is now live, offering smoother compatibility with the latest Espresso Decaf testnet and support for Cartesi's Node v2 alpha.4. This brings us a step closer to a developer-friendly workflow where Cartesi and Espresso run seamlessly together, locally and reliably.

The Cartesi + Espresso SDK is now synced with the latest API version, and a CLI integration is on the horizon to round out the experience. Devs building with composable infrastructure should keep an eye on this space and are welcome to take the SDK for a test run in their quest to do more in Web3.

And last but not least, fresh from our tech team’s hands and marking another highlight of the past month: the rollups-contracts v2.0.0 packages are now live across all supported networks, fully deployed on both Testnets and Mainnets. Catch the full scoop on our Discord R&D #rollups channel.

Developer Advocacy

To help developers dive deeper into the Cartesi tech stack, May featured a special masterclass led by João Garcia, our DevAdvocacy Lead, organized in collaboration with the OpenBuild community for our Chinese audience. The session walked through hands-on demos and key technical concepts for building scalable and computationally powerful dApps on Cartesi. The full replay is available here. And that wasn’t the only public appearance. João also joined Kevin, the host of the Wavect podcast, where he unpacked the reasons to build with Cartesi and the benefits of our Linux-based appchains.

Documentation continues to evolve, with improvements aimed at making it easier for developers to build with the latest architecture reflecting the newest Node V2 release, along with a dedicated section for the Espresso integration to help teams get up to speed on this modular combo.

On the developer experience front, updates have been rolled out across several high-level frameworks, including Rust, Go, and Python, making it easier to experiment in different programming languages. The front end isn’t left behind either: new templates and tools are now available to help developers scaffold dApps faster.

Lastly, for those exploring AI interactions, our contributors introduced a Model Context Protocol template, enabling apps to communicate with AI agents in a more structured way.

Two new episodes of the I Build, Therefore I am (Brain to Board) podcast have been uploaded. This month, we caught up with two driving forces in our ecosystem. We welcomed Zach Prater to talk about WorldTycoon, and UFF Professor Antonio Rocha, who walked us through the many initiatives happening in Brazil. He shared how Cartesi is being used in academia and highlighted real-world solutions built with our tech that are receiving support from local government programs. For a full list of all episodes, check it out here on the podcast page.

Ecosystem

Brazil is rapidly emerging as a key region for Cartesi adoption and innovation, with meaningful initiatives driving real-world impact, led by Professor Antonio Rocha from Universidade Federal Fluminense, who has been mentoring students to build practical applications with Cartesi that address societal needs.

A public transport project built on Cartesi and backed by the local government is already showing how blockchain can support civic infrastructure by ensuring transparency and accountability. Meanwhile, a bike-sharing dApp supported by a local startup is highlighting Cartesi’s potential in urban mobility and community-led solutions. Importantly, these projects are open source, allowing other smart city initiatives to adopt and implement them.

An API integration now connects Cartesi Rollups to Brazil’s National Blockchain Observatory network, building important bridges between public digital infrastructure and our modular rollup architecture, while opening a playground for experimentation and new explorations of Cartesi-powered solutions.

Cartesi is also entering academic programs across the country. Web3 courses featuring Cartesi modules are being introduced to RNP’s partner institutions, preparing the next generation of builders and we are excited to be part of this regional momentum of blockchain adoption. Tune in to the latest episode of the I Build, Therefore I Am podcast for the full breakdown:

On the gaming side, World Tycoon continues its public playtest. This SimCity-style game lets players build and manage cities with onchain mechanics. And it's not just for fun, players can now tokenize their in-game state as NFTs and potentially monetize their creations, thanks to the latest release. That’s a big step in connecting gameplay with ownership. Want in? Their MVP is live in-browser and open to testers. Be sure to join their Discord. Rumor has it that everyone who helps test and provides feedback could be in for a reward.

Over at RIVES, the Game Jam challenge just wrapped up. Devs (and dev-curious players) were invited to build a single-player Tower Defense game with score-based elements like leaderboards and speedruns. With Cartesi-powered tech as a backend infra and the vibe-code energy high, the stage opened up for creative builders, and submissions rolled in. Community voting is next, and winners will be announced on June 6th 23:59h UTC.

And speaking of RIVES, contributor Carlo Fragni hosted a Cartesi-powered workshop at the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on May 27 and 29. A great opportunity for students to get hands-on with game development, built IRL with real infrastructure and mentorship.

Cartesi Grants Program

Wave 2 of the Cartesi Grants Program has officially wrapped up! As the 6-month program came to a close, the Grants Council spent the final month engaging with grantees, providing feedback on milestone deliverables submitted across various projects, and concluding the second phase of the program. For a detailed breakdown, don’t miss Grants Stewardess Hellen's recap of all the highlights from this wave.

Moving forward, Cartesi will continue to assess and review the active grants from Wave 2 to ensure they are delivering on their intended outcomes. A deliberate pause in the program will follow to reflect, learn, and analyze the overall impact of Wave 2, particularly in understanding how these grant programs serve as key touchpoints with the community.

Community

Cartesi and Espresso teamed up for a giveaway of their one-of-a-kind NFT collection: The Composables. Community members joined a three-day challenge on X and Telegram for a shot at guaranteed mint spots. With creativity pouring in, our AI Telegram agent Plushie reviewed entries and picked three winners: Perrie, Andy, and Johnny. We’re already seeing them rocking those Composable NFTs, but penguin creativity hasn’t fallen behind either.

In Korea, our ambassador Jay represented Cartesi at TokenPost events, engaging with local builders and raising awareness about the protocol within the community. And did you know we have a dedicated blog for Cartesi content in Korean? If you're part of the Korean community, keep an eye on it to better understand all things Cartesi.

In the X Spaces realm, it is always a pleasure to connect with our friends from the Web3 Global Media community. This past week, we joined one of their Thursday Spaces on the topic of AI, featuring none other than Bruno Maia taking the mic to share meaningful intersections between Web3 and AI. Catch the full conversation on their latest X Space here.

With Warpcast making headlines as it rebrands to Farcaster, it's a good time to highlight that Cartesi has been live on the platform since 2022. Follow us and join the conversation on our channel. And speaking of news channels, do you prefer reading these updates on Mirror for some added Web3 vibes? Say no more and check out our profile there.

By the way, did you catch our community choosing their penguin fighter? All were claimed. Gmert, Beeguin, Icepaper Maxi, DevTesi, SnowscriptDev, and the rest now all have an owner. Second edition ideation, anyone?

That’s a Wrap

May brought major progress across the board, from dev tools and tech releases to game development, builder engagement across continents, and growing community awareness. June is already shaping up to carry that momentum forward, especially as we get ready to enter Stage 2, meeting L2Beat’s high standards for rollup security and decentralization with the implementation of our permissionless fraud-proof system. Stay tuned for what’s next!

As always, for live updates, join us on Discord and make sure you're following us on X.