###What is Cartesi? Cartesi is building an operating system for DApps. The project enables complex and intensive computations to run in a Linux environment, outside the blockchain, without compromising decentralization. Cartesi aims to make DApps significantly more powerful, easier to develop, and portable. Cartesi aims to bring mainstream scalability and convenience to developers and users of decentralized applications. ###What makes Cartesi Unique? Development limitations on blockchain platforms can frustrate both developers and users, turning them away. Cartesi allows developers to build on well-established software they are familiar with and running them in a Linux environment. The project aims to bridge the gap between the centralized and decentralized worlds of application development. Some of its key highlights include: - Scalability: Intensive computations on massive amounts of data are performed off-chain with the same security guarantees offered by the blockchain; - Programmability: DApp logic runs under Linux, and is coded with a choice of thousands of open-source software components available for Linux; - Ease of Adoption: Developers can work in a familiar environment with no artificial limitations and with access to all their favorite tools; - Decentralization: Consensus is securely reached on-chain with no need for a reputation protocol, Trusted Execution Environment, or servers controlled by a single party; - Portability: Cartesi aims to make DApps portable across the most important public blockchains that support smart contracts; - Privacy: DApp states can be kept private among application participants. ###CTSI Overview and Use Cases Cartesi aims to bring mainstream scalability and power to decentralized applications through a network of nodes. The CTSI token has been designed to incentivize Cartesi Node operators to engage with the system honestly and in an efficient way. It comprises the following use cases: - Cartesi Core: The Cartesi Core relies on an arbitration mechanism that uses CTSI as collateral to enforce honest behavior; - Cartesi Side Chain: Users of the Cartesi Side Chain pay for temporary data storage for Cartesi DApps with CTSI. Block generators receive CTSI block rewards and the fees paid by users adding data to the Side Chain; - Consensus System: CTSI is used to participate in the Side Chain's Proof-of-Stake consensus system. Miners with the highest stakes have a higher probability of being selected to generate the next block; - Data Availability Protocol: CTSI will also power a data availability protocol to aid with the transfer of large data blobs used for machine snapshots.