Layer 1 blockchain
Celestia ticker TIA
Summary
Proof-of-stake chain (chain ID celestia, still labelled Mainnet Beta) built on forks of the Cosmos SDK and CometBFT. Its job is to order and publish data blobs for other chains: users pay TIA to post blobs under namespaces, each block is erasure-coded into an extended square, and the header commits to it so light nodes can check publication by random sampling. The state machine records TIA balances, staking, governance, bridging and blob payments; it does not execute or validate blob contents and has no smart contracts. Validators, capped at 100, commit a block once more than 2/3 of voting power signs it; blocks target about 3 seconds since the July 2026 v9 upgrade. 179171819
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchainCelestia has its own proof-of-stake validator set, its own blocks and a fork-free BFT commit, so it is classed as a layer 1. Its job is specific: it orders and publishes data blobs for other chains and runs a fixed set of modules (transfers, staking, governance, bridging, blob payments) with no general smart contracts. The package hint was kept.
- Settlement family
- Cosmos SDK
- Scarce resource
- Stake (proof of stake)
- State model
- Accounts
- Finality
- Economic finality
- Who makes blocks
- Validators in the active set (at most 100 under current parameters) take turns proposing in proportion to voting power, following CometBFT proposer selection. TIA holders delegate to validators; double-signing is slashed 2% with permanent removal, and downtime leads to jailing without a slash.
- Fork choice
- No Nakamoto-style fork choice: a height is decided once validators with more than 2/3 of voting power commit it, and the spec calls the protocol fork-free under an honest majority of stake. Whether a block's data was actually published is checked separately by light-node sampling.
Qualifications
- Execution · Not applicable. Celestia does not execute application transactions or host smart contracts; rollups and other chains that publish data to it do their own execution.
- Tps · Not applicable. Transactions per second is a poor fit for a data publication chain; its capacity is a data size per block set by a governance parameter under a hard cap. The homepage figure refers to chains built on top and is kept only as a classified theoretical-peak claim, which is not comparable across chains.
- Data retention · Partial. Blob data has to stay available for sampling for about 7 days; nodes may prune it after that, so long-term access relies on archival operators or the rollup's own storage.
- Rollups using celestia · Partial. Rollups that publish data to Celestia are not Celestia layer 2s in the settlement sense: they usually settle on Ethereum, and Celestia neither verifies their execution nor holds their bridges. None is listed as a Celestia scaling layer here.
- Blobstream · Partial. Blobstream relayed Celestia data commitments to EVM chains; Celestia's docs say the SP1 deployments no longer receive new commitments as of September 2026, so users must run or source their own verification path.
- Fibre · Unknown. Fibre, a validator-run data path for larger blobs, is on the Mocha testnet only; its mainnet timing was not announced in reviewed sources.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Scalability and Security
- Gives up
- Operational decentralization of full nodes and consensus: validators and full nodes need server-class hardware and gigabit bandwidth, the active set is capped at 100, and blob data only has to stay available for about a week. Celestia also gives up execution itself; applications must run on other chains.The security emphasis is that light nodes can check data availability by sampling without trusting a validator majority; that holds only with enough samplers and at least one honest bridge node, and L2BEAT reports the block reconstruction protocol is still under development. The scalability emphasis refers to data publication capacity, not executed transactions.
- Full node at home
- Data-center class 5621Celestia's hardware page lists 32 GB RAM, 32 CPU cores, 12 TiB NVMe and 1 Gbps for a non-archival consensus node, and 64 GB RAM, 32 cores, 25 TiB NVMe and 1 Gbps for a non-archival bridge node, sized for a 7-day window. A sampling light node is listed at 500 MB RAM, one core, 20 GB SSD and 56 Kbps, and a browser light node (Lumina) exists, so checking data availability is practical at home while running a full node is not.
- Throughput claims
- Theoretical peak: 625,000,000 tx/s 82627Theoretical peak; not comparable across chains or with observed load.Undated homepage statement, retrieved 2026-09-27.The homepage calls this the potential throughput of chains built on Celestia and ties it to the Fibre data rate; Celestia itself does not execute those transactions. No transaction size, method, window or hardware is stated beside the figure. Fibre is not active on Mainnet Beta as of this review; it reached the Mocha testnet on 2026-09-24. Ignores execution, propagation and state growth on the chains that would process the transactions; not comparable with other chains' figures.
- Lab benchmark: 1 826Controlled benchmark; not observed network behavior.Terabit per second of blob data in a Fibre networking-layer test, not transactions.One large-scale test described in the 2026-01-13 announcement; its duration was not captured in this review.498 Google Cloud machines across North America with 48-64 vCPUs and 90-128 GB RAM each.A test of Fibre's networking layer on cloud machines in one region, not the live network. Fibre is a separate validator-attested data path; the announcement says a blob can be recovered from any honest third of validators, which is a different trust model from light-node sampling. Fibre was only on the Mocha testnet (celestia-app v10, activated 2026-09-24) at review time. A data rate only; it ignores downstream execution, storage and retrieval costs.
Scaling layers
No scaling layer recorded in this profile.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; Celestia's module list has no swap or hash-time-locked module and no smart-contract module, but a module list does not show whether two parties can exchange assets in one transaction they both sign, which was not reviewed. Token transfers over IBC or Hyperlane move assets between chains; they are not swaps. No cited source shows absence, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown rather than not present. 20 |
| Authenticated data publication | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Publishing data is Celestia's core job, done by the protocol: a signed blob payment places data as blobs under a namespace, block headers commit to it, and applications can fetch a namespace's blobs with inclusion proofs. Blob data has to stay available for sampling for about 7 days. Limit: after that nodes may prune it and older data depends on archival operators, so it is not a long-lived, owner-controlled data store. 134 |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | Light nodes check that each block's data was published by sampling random pieces of the erasure-coded block that the header commits to, instead of downloading it; the Lumina light node also runs in a browser. Limits: this assumes each light node reaches at least one honest bridge node and that enough nodes sample for a block to be rebuilt, and L2BEAT reports block reconstruction is still under development. 122130 |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | None found Earlier definition | No payment or state channel layer anchored to Celestia was found, and without smart contracts the chain cannot host dispute logic for one. IBC channels are messaging paths, not payment channels. 20 |
| Programmable spending | Partial (layer not stated) Earlier definition | Accounts support threshold multisig, vesting schedules and delegated permissions from standard Cosmos SDK modules, but there is no smart-contract module, so users cannot write their own spend conditions. 151620 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under the current definitions; vesting accounts release tokens on a continuous or delayed schedule, but the reviewed docs describe no way for the sender to cancel or reclaim them, and the module list has no recovery feature. Multisig accounts reduce single-key risk but are a plain threshold, not a recovery path. Absence was not exhaustively verified, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown rather than not present. 151620 |
| Rollups | Partial (layer not stated) Earlier definition | Rollups publish their transaction data to Celestia through OP Stack and Arbitrum Nitro integrations, and L2BEAT lists several. Celestia orders and keeps that data available but does not verify rollup execution or hold their bridges; those chains typically settle on Ethereum. Celestia's docs say the Succinct-operated Blobstream deployments, which let Ethereum contracts check Celestia data, no longer receive new commitments as of September 2026. 12131430 |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | None found | Celestia cannot host an AMM: it has no smart contracts and no exchange module. TIA trades on venues on other chains reached over IBC or Hyperlane; those venues are not Celestia products and were not reviewed. 20 |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | None found | Circle's USDC address list and Tether's supported-chain list do not include Celestia. Since the Matcha upgrade removed the token filter, tokens bridged in over IBC or Hyperlane can be held on Celestia, but those are bridged representations, not issuer-native stablecoins. 233334 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | None found | No algorithmic stablecoin mechanism can run on Celestia itself because it has no contract platform; bridged representations of such tokens were not reviewed. 20 |
| Bridges | Native to the protocolIBC (in-protocol modules), Hyperlane (in-protocol core and token-transfer modules) | Both are built into the Celestia state machine. IBC connects to other IBC-enabled chains; Hyperlane moves TIA to and from EVM chains, with a Base route named in Celestia's docs. The Matcha upgrade let non-TIA tokens use both, and the v8 upgrade added a forwarding module and a zero-knowledge proof option for checking Hyperlane messages. Risk: Hyperlane transfers inherit the security module each route uses: the original design relies on N of M multisig signers, who need not be Celestia's staking validators, with a zero-knowledge proof option since v8. IBC depends on each counterparty chain and correct light clients. Which module secures each live route was not verified. 101122232425 |
| Block explorers | Established in the ecosystemCelenium, Mintscan, Nodes.Guru, itrocket, Valopers, Stakeflow, NodeStake, Mammoblocks | Celestia's Mainnet Beta page lists eight explorers; Celenium (by Baking Bad) shows blob payments and namespaces, and the Cosmos chain registry lists more. Listing is not a quality check; explorer data is provider-indexed. 72829 |
| Hardware wallets | ThinLedger (through Keplr) | See custody rows: Ledger's Celestia page routes users through the Keplr wallet app, and Trezor says it does not support Celestia. 3132 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Through an intermediaryKeplr (third-party wallet app named on Ledger's Celestia page)Same as native: Unknown | Can: Review and sign Celestia transactions on a Ledger device connected to Keplr Can: Send and receive TIA in Keplr with a connected Ledger, per Ledger's pageLedger's page names only Keplr and does not mention staking; whether Ledger's own app manages TIA, and which on-device app signs, was not verified. 31 |
| Trezor | None foundSame as native: No | Cannot: Manage Celestia accounts with a Trezor device; Trezor's coin page says it does not currently support CelestiaThe Trezor page names no third-party route; absence of community signing paths was not exhaustively checked. 32 |
Public data
iKnow Blockchain has no public-data lookups for Celestia yet. This is a limit of the service, not a statement about the network.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Tokens and assets | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| NFTs | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
| Transactions | Not available yet | Public-data lookups for this chain are not built yet. |
Sourced developments
Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 27, 2026; next review was due Oct 7, 2026, 12:00 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
-
v9 upgrade cut Celestia's block time to about 3 seconds
The v9 upgrade activated at height 11,771,699. It carries CIP-048, which lowers the block time target from about 6 seconds to about 3 seconds by shortening consensus timeouts, and rescales block-count settings such as the evidence window so their real-time durations stay the same.
- Proposal:CIP-050 and CIP-048 marked Draft in the CIP repository
- Implementation:released in celestia-app v9; Mainnet Beta page lists v9.0.8
- Release:activated on Mainnet Beta
- Activation:active from height 11,771,699
Sources: Celestia Docs — Network upgrades (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — CIP-050: v9 Network Upgrade (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — CIP-048: Lower block time to 3 seconds (external site) · Celestia Docs — Mainnet Beta (external site) · celestiaorg — celestia-app v9.0.8 (external site)
-
v8 upgrade activated after Hibiscus (v7) was skipped
Celestia v8 activated at height 10,960,599 and carried the changes first planned for Hibiscus (v7): a forwarding module for single-signature onward Hyperlane transfers, a zero-knowledge proof security module for Hyperlane, and validator commission bounds of 20% to 60%. v7 never activated on Mainnet Beta because a forwarding-module bug surfaced during the testnet rollout.
- Proposal:CIP-049 Final
- Implementation:released in celestia-app v8
- Release:activated on Mainnet Beta
- Activation:active from height 10,960,599
Sources: Celestia Docs — Network upgrades (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — CIP-049: v8 Network Upgrade (external site) · Celestia blog — Upcoming Celestia Upgrade: Hibiscus (V7) (external site) · celestiaorg — celestia-app release notes (external site)
-
Celestia announced Fibre, a validator-run data path, now on testnet
Celestia's blog introduced Fibre, a data protocol validators run alongside the existing chain: users encode a blob, send pieces to validators, collect their signatures and post the commitment to Celestia. It accepts blobs from 256 KB to 128 MB. The headline rate came from a networking-layer test on cloud machines. celestia-app v10 with Fibre activated on the Mocha testnet on 2026-09-24; no mainnet date was given.
- Proposal:CIP-051 (Fibre Protocol) listed in the CIP index
- Implementation:included in celestia-app v10 testnet builds
- Release:testnet only (Mocha)
- Activation:not active on Mainnet Beta as of 2026-09-27
Sources: Celestia blog — Introducing Fibre (external site) · Celestia Docs — Network upgrades (external site) · celestiaorg — celestia-app releases (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — Celestia Improvement Proposals index (external site)
-
Matcha (v6) upgrade activated on Celestia Mainnet Beta
The Matcha upgrade activated at height 8,662,012. It bundled six changes: issuance cut to about 2.5% with a higher minimum validator commission, unbonding shortened to about 14 days, a 7-day light-client trusting period, higher block, square and transaction size limits, removal of the TIA-only token filter on IBC and Hyperlane, and an extension to the validator signing interface.
- Proposal:CIP-042 Final
- Implementation:released in celestia-app v6
- Release:activated on Mainnet Beta
- Activation:active from height 8,662,012
Sources: Celestia Docs — Network upgrades (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — CIP-042: Matcha Network Upgrade (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — CIP-038: Increase maximum block, square and transaction size (external site) · Celestia Improvement Proposals — CIP-039: Remove token filter for Hyperlane and IBC (external site) · Celestia Docs — Staking, governance, & supply (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for Celestia through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- How stake is distributed among the active validators was not verified. The parameter spec caps the set at 100, the Mainnet Beta page lists 100 validators and the Celenium explorer showed 100 active at review, while L2BEAT showed 97; no primary live count was used.
- Celestia's own pages disagree on staking timings: the slashing page says 21-day unbonding and a 5,000-block downtime window, while the v9 parameter spec lists 337 hours and 10,000 blocks. The profile follows the parameter spec.
- The fee docs say there is no protocol-enforced minimum fee, while the resource-pricing and v9 parameter specs list a network minimum gas price of 0.000001 utia; where collected fees go was not verified.
- No official figure for Mainnet Beta's current data rate per second was found, so none is recorded; L2BEAT's figure appears to predate the move to 3-second blocks.
- How many light nodes sample on mainnet, and whether block reconstruction works at current block sizes, was not verified.
- Which rollups currently post data to Celestia comes from L2BEAT, a third party, and was not confirmed from each project.
- The security module used by each live Hyperlane route (including the Base route) and the full list of IBC counterparties were not verified.
- A replacement for the retired SP1 Blobstream deployments was not identified.
- Fibre's mainnet date and final trust model were not announced in reviewed sources; it is on the Mocha testnet only.
- Whether Ledger's own app manages TIA or supports staking, and which device app signs, was not verified; Ledger's page names only Keplr.
- Stablecoins bridged into Celestia over IBC or Hyperlane since the token filter was removed were not reviewed.
- CIP-048 and CIP-050 are still marked Draft in the CIP repository even though the docs record v9 as activated on 2026-07-01.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.
- Celestia 101: data availability (external site)
- Data availability FAQ (external site)
- Data retrievability and pruning (external site)
- Submitting data blobs (external site)
- Hardware requirements (external site)
- Light node quickstart (external site)
- Mainnet Beta (external site)
- Network upgrades (external site)
- Slashing (external site)
- Hyperlane (external site)
- IBC (external site)
- Blobstream (external site)
- OP Stack Alt-DA introduction (external site)
- Arbitrum Nitro DAS server (external site)
- Multisig (external site)
- Vesting accounts (external site)
- celestia-app repository (external site)
- Consensus rules (celestia-app specs) (external site)
- celestia-app v9 parameters (external site)
- celestia-app v9 state machine modules (external site)
- Lumina: Rust implementation of a Celestia node (external site)
- CIP-032: Add Hyperlane to Celestia (external site)
- CIP-039: Remove token filter for Hyperlane and IBC (external site)
- CIP-046: ZK Interchain Security Module (external site)
- CIP-049: v8 Network Upgrade (external site)
- Introducing Fibre (external site)
- Celestia homepage (external site)
- Celestia chain registry record (external site)
- Celenium Celestia explorer (external site)
- Celestia data availability (no bridge) (external site)
- Celestia Wallet (external site)
- Celestia coin page (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- Supported protocols (external site)
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Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding