Buy Celestia (TIA)

The nodes in permissive distributed networks apply a fixed sequence of deterministic transactions to turn an initial state into a shared final state. All nodes use the same rule set for this purpose. The following functions are required for this purpose:

1. Execution layer, ensures valid transactions.

2. Settlement layer, verifies evidence and disputes about fraudulent blocks, bridge between execution layers.

3. Consensus, agree on the order of transactions.

4. Data availability, ensures that transaction data is available.

Traditional blockchains (monolithic) implement all 4 functions in a single consensus layer. As a result, this consensus layer must perform many different tasks and cannot be optimized for any of these functions. Thus, the monolithic approach limits scalability.

Modular blockchains create specialized layers, allowing them to be arranged flexibly. This specialization allows layers to function optimally and greatly increases throughput.

For example, modular blockchains can have multiple execution layers (rollups) that use the same settlement and data availability layers.

Celestia is a data availability (DA) layer that provides a scalable solution to the data availability problem. A DA layer must provide a mechanism for execution and settlement layers to check with minimal confidence that transaction data is available in permissive blockchains.

Two key features of Celestia's DA layer are data availability sampling (DAS) and Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMT). Both are new blockchain scaling solutions. DAS allows light nodes to verify data availability without having to download the entire block. NMT ensures that execution and settlement layers download only transactions that are relevant to them.

Data availability sampling (DAS).

In general, light nodes download only block headers that contain Merkle roots (kind of top of a tree diagram) of a block's data. To enable DAS, Celestia uses a two-dimensional Reed-Solomon coding scheme (error detection and correction method in transmission) to encode the block data. Because of its high complexity, we show it in a diagram:

It goes too far to explain this completely, the purpose of their system is to check if the data is available. If the Merkle proof is correct, then it is broadcast over the entire network via a gossip protocol. If enough (kxk) data is transmitted, full nodes can get full blocks together.

If you want to know more about DAS, have fun with their original paper.

DAS allows Celestia to scale up their DA layer. DAS can be performed by light nodes with limited power because they only need to process a small portion of the block data. The more light nodes, the more data they can download and store.

When increasing the number of light nodes, larger blocks (with more transactions) may become possible. To validate block headers, Celestia light nodes must download the 4K intermediate Merkle roots. If light nodes obtain improved bandwidth, this has a quadratic effect on Celestia's DA layer throughput.

When using a 2-dimensional Reed-Solomon coding scheme, this leads to the requirement of downloading the 4K intermediate Merkle roots.

The disadvantage of standard 1-dimensional Reed-Solomons is dealing with fraudulent block makers who pass the extended data incorrectly.

This is possible because Celestia does not need a majority by consensus to ensure fair data availability. If the extended data is incorrect, the original data may not even be retrievable, even though enough chunks (parts) have been delivered by the light nodes to generate a block.

Light nodes can refuse to validate blocks with incorrectly extended data by verifying the mismatch. Using 2 dimensions requires verification of only one row or column, making it all much faster. With 1 dimension, all original information must be downloaded.

Celestia partitions the block data into multiple namespaces, one for each application, using the DA layer. This allows each application to download only its own data and to ignore all other data from other applications.

For this to work, the DA layer must be able to prove that the supplied information is complete, i.e. all the data for a given namespace. For this, Celestia uses Namespaced Merkle trees.

An NMT is a Merkle tree where the leafs (leaves) are queried by the namespace identifiers. After all, a Merkle tree is a tree diagram and the leaves or branches branch the same as in a family tree.

The hash function is changed so that all nodes in the tree include the range of namespaces of all descendants. The following image shows an example of an NMT with a height of 3. The data is partitioned into 3 namespaces.

If an application requests the data for namespace 2, the DA layer must provide the data chunks D3, D4, D5 and D6 and the nodes N2, N8 and N7 as proof.

We admit that this is not all that easy to follow, but yes, blockchain and cryptocurrency do contain many mathematical principles.

This allows the application to check if the data is part of the block data and if all the information for namespace 2 has been delivered. If too little has been delivered, the application can discern this by looking at the namespace range of nodes.

For more details on NMTs, please refer to their original paper.

The Celestia DA layer consists of a Proof of Stake (PoS) blockchain. Celestia has dubbed this blockchain technology as the Celestia app, an application that provides transactions to enable the DA layer. It is built on Cosmos SDK (software development kit):

The Celestia app is built on the Celestia core, a modified version of the Tendermint consensus algorithm (Cosmos). Major changes to the vanilla Tendermint core:

1. Clearing code from block data in 2-dimensional Reed-Solomon coding.

2. Replaces the normal Merkle tree used by Tendermint to store block data with the Namespaced Merkle tree, which has already been discussed.

Similar to Tendermint, the Celestia core is connected to the application layer (state machine) by ABCI++, a major revolution in the ABCI (Application Blockchain Interface) world. However, the Tendermint peer to peer (p2p) network is still being used.

The Celestia app state machine is required to execute PoS logic and enable DA layer governance. This app is data-agnostic, that is, the state machine does not validate data, but neither does it store it.

Since a picture says more than 20 arguments we will keep this chapter a little shorter. It is all far too technical to explain and through this picture you will get an idea.

Of course, it is too crazy for words that you have to pay for Blobs at Celestia, but we never shy away from a cake fight.

The diagram above shows how the parts of Celestia work together from initiation to producing a block.

The above picture is actually a kind of summary, picture-wise, of what has already been discussed.

Those who enjoy plowing through may view the whole story from us.

This whole setup makes Celestia safe to work with.

TIA is the cryptocurrency of the Celestia network. At genesis, 1 billion TIA tokens were coined. In the first year there will be an inflation of 8%, then each year there will be 10% less inflation, until the bottom is reached and there will still be an inflation of 1.5% all other years.

Some of the coins will be locked. After 4 years, all coins will be on the market.

The role of TIA

To use Celestia for data availability, rollup developers will need to initiate PayForBlobs transactions on the network for payment in TIA. TIA is thus an essential part of the first modular blockchain network.

Part of Celestia's vision is that establishing a blockchain should be as simple as crafting a smart contract. In the modular era, developers no longer need to issue their own token to start their own blockchain, which is a huge advantage for developers.

It is possible at Celestia to simply use TIA as a gas token and as a currency and pay for data availability. This allows app developers to focus on their app or the execution layer, rather than immediately being required to launch a token with all the attendant issues.

TIA can be staked by any user by delegating it to a Celestia validator for a portion of that validator's stake proceeds.

TIA also allows you to vote via governance protocol on the future of this project, so it remains decentralized.

Those who want to run a node on Celestia have quite a few choices. With this, you can earn TIA. An extensive manual is available on their website.

Notable was the airdrop on Oct. 31, 2023, in which stakeholders from the Cosmos ecosystem, GitHub developers and Ethereum Layer 2 users were rewarded with TIA tokens. This action immediately catapulted TIA into the top 100 largest cryptocurrencies in terms of market capitalization.

Since then, TIA has shown an impressive price increase of more than 181%, positioning it as one of the top performers. At the time of writing, it is ranked 44th in CoinGecko.

Celestia has been pushing tremendously hard for such a young coin. They have a whole battery of players from all sorts of areas like rollups, virtual machines, bridging, cross chain, et cetera. We'll list some of the better-known ones:

Arbitrum, Cosmos, Marlin, Optimism, Osmosis, Polygon and many others.

Celestia also provides a foundation for gaming platforms that can securely manage assets across multiple blockchains, creating a new level of security and interoperability.

This popularity has resulted in a lot of use of their cryptocurrency, TIA, so the price is doing very well. They have soared in a short period of time and are already in the top 50 on CoinGecko.

It was established in Liechtenstein in late 2023. Their goal is to guide the ecosystem and guard Celestia's reputation.

They want users to be able to become "first class citizens" by keeping up with the network themselves as a light node, rather than then having to believe what centralized nodes tell you.

The Celestia community also believes that blockchain should be neutral, open source and a public good, so that no one is unfairly advantaged and the code can be audited and used by any person or organization for the benefit of the community. To uphold these values, the Foundation is working on:

1. Acquire funds for R&D so they can design scalable decentralized systems and enable secure light nodes.

2. Acquire funds for open source public works for the modular blockchain ecosystem.

3. Support and encourage open core development processes.

4. Support developers building infrastructure and applications based on Celestia.

In Liechtenstein, there is a law that strictly holds a foundation (Celestia Foundation) to its goals. The Foundation Supervisory Authority ensures that every foundation in Liechtenstein adheres to the mission for which it was established. This stick of faith adds a touch of reliability to the Celestia Foundation.

Since on-chain governance is prone to plutocracy (whoever has the most governance tokens has the most influence), at Celestia they use informal consensus at the "social layer," which roughly means that the atmosphere around decisions is sensed on social media. Kings, presidents and votes is something they are allergic to at Celestia. Point to Celestia from us.

The road ahead for Celestia will only be guided by the Foundation, but the decisions about it will be placed with the community and the user. These are always in conversation on Discord, Telegram, Reddit, Github and Twitter/X.

Predictions are high. Celestia has jumped into the top 100 like a comet and rolls on into CoinGecko's top 50. Despite adding many coins during the airdrop, the price has skyrocketed. There is a good chance that during bull markets this coin will rise substantially, as it is very useful when a lot of coins are moved back and forth. So buy Celestia especially during green times, when people trade a lot.

The coin is similar to coins like Arbitrum and Optimism. Its infrastructure does work differently, but the times when good profits can be grabbed are in line.

Still, we are not too confident of a stable price, as Celestia TIA has locked in a large number of coins, including those of the investors and the team. There is a fairly good chance, as far as we are concerned, that this will affect the price when the lock goes off. Relatively speaking, they are not huge quantities, but big enough to affect the price.

After 4 years all the locked coins will be on the market and there will be a fairly small inflation from then on, as validators now have to be paid. If the TIA rate is then above the current price we could start calling it an established coin.

If you bought large quantities of this coin then I would definitely watch their roadmap. If a large number are unlocked it would not be a bad idea to protect your investment.

As long as all coins are locked, given its exceptional modular design, this coin could well be heading for the top 20 and perhaps even the top ten. But it remains difficult to predict these things; after all, who would have thought Solana would do so well?