  Off-chain scaling techniques allow mutually distrustful parties to execute a
contract locally among themselves instead of on the global blockchain. Parties
involved in the transaction maintain a multi-signature fraud-proof off-chain
replicated state machine, and only resort to on-chain consensus when absolutely
necessary (e.g., when two parties disagree on a state). Off-chain scaling is
the only way to support fully scale-out decentralized applications ("dApps")
with better privacy and no compromise on the trust and decentralization
guarantees. It is the inflection point for blockchain mass adoption, and will
be the engine behind all scalable dApps. Celer Network is an Internet-scale,
trust-free, and privacy-preserving platform where everyone can quickly build,
operate, and use highly scalable dApps. It is not a standalone blockchain but a
networked system running on top of existing and future blockchains. It provides
unprecedented performance and flexibility through innovation in off-chain
scaling techniques and incentive-aligned cryptoeconomics. Celer Network
embraces a layered architecture with clean abstractions that enable rapid
evolution of each individual component, including a generalized state channel
and sidechain suite that supports fast and generic off-chain state transitions;
a provably optimal value transfer routing mechanism that achieves an order of
magnitude higher throughput compared to state-of-the-art solutions; a powerful
development framework and runtime for off-chain applications; and a new
cryptoeconomic model that provides network effect, stable liquidity, and high
availability for the off-chain ecosystem.
