The first modular blockchain providing data availability as a service to other chains, enabling cheap rollup deployment.
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Celestia is a modular blockchain that specializes in data availability, the service of publishing rollup transaction data so anyone can reconstruct rollup state if the rollup operator misbehaves. Where Ethereum L1 provides both data availability and execution, Celestia separates the two: rollups can post their transaction data to Celestia at significantly lower cost than to Ethereum, while keeping their own execution and settlement logic. The chain launched in late 2023 as the first commercially-active data-availability-only blockchain.
Celestia validators provide block space; rollups pay TIA to publish transaction data, and validators are compensated through block rewards plus data-publication fees. Light clients can sample blobs to verify availability without downloading the full chain via Data Availability Sampling (DAS), a cryptographic technique that lets verifiers be confident with high probability that data is available based on a small number of random samples.
Celestia is used by sovereign rollups (rollups that don't post to Ethereum L1) and by some optimistic and ZK rollups as a cheaper alternative or supplement to Ethereum data availability. The data availability is significantly cheaper than Ethereum's calldata or even blobs (introduced via EIP-4844). Major rollup frameworks (Caldera, Conduit, Astria) integrate with Celestia.
Celestia provides DA but not consensus on rollup state; rollups using Celestia for DA must still secure their own execution layer. Some critics argue Celestia's economic security is lower than Ethereum's (smaller stake base), which may matter for high-value rollups. Celestia is one of several DA approaches; competing solutions include Avail, EigenDA (built on Ethereum restaking), and Ethereum's own blob upgrade.
See rollup for the broader scaling context this enables.