July was a month of steady progress and celebratory milestones for Cartesi and the Ethereum ecosystem. The PRT Honeypot, our first stage 2 dApp with a fully functional fraud-proof system (and one of only two in the entire space), marked its first month on Ethereum mainnet, and Ethereum reached its 10-year mark.

Alongside these milestones, with renewed focus, a clear mission, and a commitment to the ecosystem that aligns closely with our values, Cartesi continues to push forward in bridging the gap between web2 and web3, aiming to make dApp development with mainstream tooling simple and accessible. Here’s a look at everything that happened at Cartesi in July.

Tech

The PRT Honeypot, Cartesi’s trustless, bug bounty-style appchain, has now been live for over a month and continues to invite hackers worldwide to test its robust, permissionless fraud-proof system. What makes this version unique is that anyone can run nodes, participate in validating the app logic, and challenge the results.

To help you get involved, our developer advocates have created easy-to-follow video tutorials that guide node runners through the node setup process. Whether you want to run a node locally or use a cloud setup on Fly.io, these step-by-step walkthroughs are ready to onboard new validators.

For tech enthusiasts and anyone interested in learning more about Cartesi’s fraud-proof system, PRT (Permissionless Referred Tournaments), our contributor Chinonso prepared an article to break it all down:

It’s worth mentioning that PRT marks Cartesi’s first iteration in solving fraud proofs. While the system is already functional, ongoing improvements aim to boost efficiency and introduce an economic model to make delay attacks unfeasible.

On the research side, a more performant algorithm is already taking shape, and it’s one you might recognize by name: Dave. Conceptualized with the same commitment to decentralization and security, Dave enhances the PRT system with improved liveness.

On this note, our peer-reviewed paper on Dave, published in the ACM Digital Library, stands as a milestone in Cartesi’s academic and technical rigor. For anyone interested in the nuances of rollup security and dispute resolution, it’s a must-read.

And speaking about fraud proofs and rollups standards in decentralization and security, this month’s IBTIA podcast highlight was the discussion our hosts João Garcia and Gabriel Coutinho had with L2BEAT’s founder Bartek Kiepuszewski and researcher Luca Donno. If you missed it, head over to YouTube to learn more about what it means to raise the bar for Ethereum scaling:

July also brought a key update to the Espresso Reader, now at v0.4.0, running seamlessly on Cartesi Node v2.0.0-alpha.6. This upgrade improves performance and compatibility, streamlining developer workflows for teams building with Cartesi and Espresso’s composable architecture. Key improvements include enhanced local execution infrastructure, more reliable blockchain data handling, increased database consistency, and safer data parsing aligned with the latest node versions. These advancements continue to move this integration development forward.

Developer Tooling

On the developer tooling front, our contributors have been busy all month round and release several useful building blocks.

Danilo developed Node.js bindings that allow seamless interaction with the Cartesi Machine directly from JavaScript environments. This toolkit enables developers to integrate Cartesi’s framework within Node.js applications, simplifying testing and development workflows. It’s a valuable resource for anyone looking to build or prototype applications using Cartesi Machine in a familiar JavaScript ecosystem. Explore the release and its documentation here.

And more, Danilo also hosted a live coding session focused on building a PRT (Permissionless Referred Tournaments) Reader Node, demonstrating the step-by-step process of creating a node that reads and processes PRT data. These are great learning resources for developers interested in Cartesi’s fraud-proof system and in interacting with PRT data in real time. Check out the code repository here: PRT Reader Node - GitHub. All this, while spreading the word about Cartesi Machine:

Guilherme has published an in-depth report analyzing the gas costs associated with Cartesi Rollups version 2. This breakdown offers valuable insights to help developers better understand gas consumption and cost-efficiency when building on Cartesi Rollups. Read the report here.

Lyno updated Cartesapp, a high-level Python framework designed to streamline development on Cartesi Rollups Node version 2. This update brings full compatibility with the latest Rollups node, making it easier for Python developers to build, test, and deploy scalable decentralized applications using Cartesi’s stack. The framework abstracts much of the complexity involved, accelerating dApp development with simplified APIs, auto-generated tools, faster startup, robust testing, and seamless continuous integration. See this new GitHub release of Cartesapp here.

Ecosystem

This month, Espresso Foundation honored Cartesi along with ecosystem projects Comet, DrawingCanvas, and DCA.Monster as part of Cohort 0, celebrating their contributions to the previous composable testnet. This collaborative recognition highlights the growing synergy between the two projects and their ecosystems.

On RIVES’s front, the Cartesi-powered fantasy console for verifiable gameplays, they announced they are working on a mobile version. If you haven’t explored RIVES yet, take a stroll over to rives.io and try your hand at nostalgic retro games like Snake, Tetris, Antcopter, or even DOOM.

Brazil remains a flagship region for Cartesi adoption. In July, registrations opened for the course Intro to Blockchain, Web3, and Rollups, developed by national research institutions RNP, ESR, and CPQD with efforts from Professor Antonio Rocha of UFF. Featuring Cartesi as a hands-on infrastructure case study, the course quickly became oversubscribed, with 170 signups for just 70 spots, highlighting strong demand for blockchain education with practical rollup experience.

This program is part of the broader ILIADA initiative, supported by Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI), helping nurture the next generation of Brazilian Web3 builders and researchers.

Cartesi’s role in Brazil extends beyond education, with its infrastructure already used to build blockchain-powered solutions focused on urban mobility and public services, with ongoing projects improving electric bike-sharing and public transport transparency.

Cartesi Foundation

This month, the Cartesi Foundation completed its $500,000 USD open market buyback of $CTSI, reaffirming its commitment to the ecosystem, developers, and broader community. Originally announced in April, the initiative reflects a strong belief in Cartesi’s vision and its potential to shape the future of decentralized application development.

To crystallize this commitment, the recent blog post outlined Cartesi’s renewed focus and vision for the future of rollups within the Ethereum ecosystem. This means Cartesi is doubling down on its role as a core engineering project for Ethereum, sharpening its focus on developing robust, verifiable infrastructure such as Cartesi Rollups and fraud proof systems. By aligning closely with Ethereum’s technical needs, Cartesi aims to deliver lasting value grounded in decentralization, security, and long-term utility.

As part of Cartesi’s efforts to radically focus on its core strengths, the coprocessor initiative has now been formally wrapped up for the time being. Nevertheless, recognizing the value it may hold for the broader community, the project remains available as an open-source resource, enabling developers and users to access, build upon, and benefit from its existing codebase. Find all resources here.

In other news, the Cartesi Foundation was also proudly included in Ethereum’s Strategic Reserve, a curated list of aligned projects committed to Ethereum’s future growth by holding ETH as part of their treasury.

Community

July marked Ethereum’s 10th anniversary, a milestone Cartesi celebrated alongside the community and many ecosystem projects that came together to highlight they 'believe in somETHing' with a memorable X takeover:

Community engagement remained lively, with contributor Bruno Maia joining another Web3 Global Media X Space to discuss ethics and innovation, while co-founder Felipe Argento shared insights into Cartesi’s architecture and the rationale behind appchains on a recent Blockster podcast episode.

The biggest win, though, is seeing community members step up and break down Cartesi in their own words. Shoutout to Perrie for diving deep and turning her research into this thoughtful thread. She first caught our eye during the NFT giveaway we ran with Espresso, or more accurately, caught the eye of our AI Agent, Cartesian Plushie AI, who picked her submission for the quality of her content. She’s been Cartesi-pilled ever since and safe to say she’s not disappointing. Check out why devs shouldn't be writing smart contracts like it's still 2016:

And make sure you didn’t miss our penguin aura farming following Cartesi’s Stage 2 news, which stole the show and repped all the community love:

Meanwhile, mainstream and crypto-specific media outlets spotlighted Cartesi’s innovative approach to decentralized security. This month’s highlights include features from CryptoTimes, Blockchain Reporter, and Cointelegraph Brazil, illustrating the growing reach and interest in rollup tech and its developments.

To finish in style, Galxe’s quest for our PRT Honeypot supporters continues through the end of the month, rewarding community members with CTSI for completing simple steps and learning more about it.

That’s a Wrap

July confirmed Cartesi’s positioning in the L2 landscape and the broader Ethereum ecosystem. From advancing our infrastructure with the fraud-proof system and broadening educational initiatives to earning recognition across media and partner alliances, the ecosystem is tangible and accelerating.

As August unfolds, we encourage everyone to dive into the PRT Honeypot, get familiar with validator node operations, and continue exploring and building with Cartesi.

Stay tuned for next month’s ecosystem updates, and as always, join the conversation on Discord and follow us on your favorite social channels.