Cartesi - The Blockchain OS is a decentralized Layer-2 infrastructure that supports Linux and mainstream software components. For the first time, developers can code scalable smart contracts with rich software tools, libraries, and the services they're used to, bridging the gap between mainstream software and blockchain.

Cartesi accomplish the task of bridging the gap between mainstream software and smart contracts by utilizing the vast realm of existing programming tools available on Linux. It’s worth remembering here that a huge proportion of the world’s tech – from supercomputers to smartphones and cloud services – runs on Linux. The outcome is that Cartesi is a very attractive environment for developers since it provides some features that enhance dApp programming.

Perhaps the most important of these features is Cartesi’s ability to provide real-world computation within a blockchain setting, taking full advantage of both environments. Blockchains struggle to perform intensive computations available to external platforms but provide a level of security that is otherwise unmatched. By relying on the processing power of Linux, Cartesi grants developers access to all of the tools and services that have been developed for this operating system over the last two or three decades.

There have been other optimistic rollup solutions but there are a number of key features that set Cartesi apart from the rest. The top features that make Cartesi unique are:

Mainstream programmability: Cartesi is the only software-based off-chain computing solution that is fully verifiable. This is more than an incremental improvement over other decentralized applications and allows developers to code smart contracts and dApps directly using the mainstream software stacks on a Linux VM.
High degree of scalability: Cartesi can achieve million-fold computational scalability by implementing a variant of optimistic rollups off-chain. In 2020, Cartesi released the Descartes software development kit to support scalable computation without compromising on decentralization.
Privacy: because of the way it is structured, Cartesi can preserve the privacy of dApp users, such as gamers running decentralized games who wish to conceal their data.
Portability: Cartesi is not wedded to a specific blockchain because its off-chain nodes do not recognize which chain they are working on. This means that Cartesi will run on most of the top blockchains. It is currently compatible with Ethereum, Binance Smartchain, Matic, and Elrond, with others soon to be added.

CTSI is the utility token of the Cartesi platform. It has a number of functions, such as acting as fuel for the Noether Proof of Stake system. Effectively, stakers receive rewards in CTSI. In turn, CTSI holders can stake or become a node runner. Network users also pay fees in CTSI and the token plays an important role in the Descartes SDK, where it is used to pay incentives to nodes for the execution of verifiable and enforceable communication. As such, the uptake of the project and demand for the CTSI coin will have an effect on its price on exchanges.