Celestia is a modular blockchain network designed to provide a foundational data availability (DA) layer, enabling other blockchains to scale by separating execution from consensus and data availability. Unlike monolithic blockchains like Ethereum, which handle consensus, execution, and data availability in a single layer, Celestia specializes in ordering transactions and guaranteeing that transaction data is published and available. This allows developers to deploy their own scalable blockchains, known as rollups or sovereign chains, using Celestia for secure consensus and data availability while handling execution independently.
LABS
Glossary
Celestia
Celestia is a modular blockchain network that functions as a specialized data availability (DA) layer, providing consensus and guaranteed data publication for separate execution layers like rollups.
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definition
BLOCKCHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE
What is Celestia?
Celestia is a modular blockchain network designed to provide a foundational data availability layer, enabling other blockchains to scale by separating execution from consensus and data availability.
The core innovation of Celestia is data availability sampling (DAS), a technique that allows light nodes to verify that all data for a block is available without downloading the entire block. This enables the network to scale securely as more light nodes join, increasing throughput without compromising on decentralization or security. By providing this scalable, pluggable DA layer, Celestia aims to solve the data availability problem, a key bottleneck for scaling monolithic chains and a critical security requirement for optimistic and zero-knowledge rollups.
Developers can use Celestia to launch two primary types of chains: sovereign rollups and modular rollups. Sovereign rollups post their transaction data to Celestia and handle their own settlement and governance, offering maximal sovereignty. Modular rollups, like those built with the Celestia Stack, use Celestia for DA and consensus while leveraging a separate settlement layer (like Ethereum) for execution proofs and bridging. This modular approach reduces costs and complexity, allowing new chains to bootstrap security from Celestia's validator set.
The Celestia network is powered by its native token, TIA, which is used for paying transaction fees for data publishing ("blobspace") and for securing the network through Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus. Validators stake TIA to participate in block production, while delegators can stake to validators to earn rewards. This economic model aligns incentives for network security and data availability, creating a marketplace for scalable blockchain data.
In the broader modular blockchain ecosystem, Celestia's role is analogous to a foundational infrastructure layer. It does not natively support smart contracts; instead, it provides the raw materials—ordered, available data—upon which execution environments are built. This specialization makes it a key enabler for a multi-chain future, where application-specific blockchains can scale efficiently by composing specialized modules for consensus, data, execution, and settlement.
key-features
MODULAR BLOCKCHAIN ARCHITECTURE
Key Features
Celestia is a modular blockchain network that specializes in data availability and consensus, enabling other blockchains to launch and scale efficiently.
01
Data Availability Sampling (DAS)
A technique that allows light nodes to verify data availability without downloading an entire block. Nodes download small, random samples of block data to probabilistically confirm all data is published, enabling secure and scalable block verification.
- Enables Light Client Security: Light nodes achieve security comparable to full nodes.
- Foundation for Scaling: Allows block sizes to increase without forcing nodes to download more data.
02
Modular Architecture
Celestia decouples the core functions of a blockchain into distinct layers: execution, settlement, consensus, and data availability. It provides the consensus and data availability layers, allowing other chains (rollups, sovereign chains) to handle execution independently.
- Separation of Concerns: Optimizes each layer for its specific task.
- Sovereign Rollups: Deployed chains have full control over their governance and upgrade path.
03
Consensus & Settlement
Celestia provides a neutral consensus layer using Tendermint and a minimal settlement layer. It orders and confirms transactions but does not execute them. This provides a shared security foundation and a canonical ordering of data for all rollups built on top.
- Shared Security: Rollups inherit security from Celestia's validator set.
- Interoperability Hub: Provides a common ground for cross-rollup communication via data availability proofs.
04
Blobspace
The namespace within a Celestia block dedicated to storing data blobs from rollups and other modular chains. Blobs are arbitrary data committed to the chain via data availability (DA) proofs.
- Pay for Data, Not Computation: Users pay fees based on data size (bytes), not computational complexity.
- Efficient Resource Market: Creates a marketplace for block space focused purely on data publication.
05
Rollup-Centric Design
The architecture is optimized for deploying and scaling rollups (optimistic and zk-rollups). Celestia acts as a high-throughput data availability layer, solving the primary bottleneck for rollup scalability and cost.
- Plug-and-Play DA: Rollups can easily use Celestia for data availability instead of a monolithic L1.
- Reduced Costs: Significantly lowers transaction fees by decoupling expensive execution from cheap data publication.
06
Sovereign Chains
A blockchain deployed on Celestia that maintains full sovereignty over its execution and governance, unlike a smart contract on a settlement layer. It uses Celestia purely for ordering transactions and ensuring data availability.
- Independent Fork Choice: The chain's community decides which chain history is canonical, not the settlement layer.
- Flexible Stack: Developers can choose any virtual machine (EVM, CosmWasm, etc.) and have full upgrade autonomy.
how-it-works
MODULAR BLOCKCHAIN ARCHITECTURE
How Celestia Works
Celestia is a modular blockchain network that separates the core functions of consensus and data availability from execution, enabling a new paradigm for scalable application development.
Celestia operates on a modular architecture that decouples the traditional blockchain stack. Instead of a single chain handling consensus, data availability, and execution (like Ethereum or Bitcoin), Celestia specializes in providing consensus and data availability (DA). This means it orders transactions and guarantees that transaction data is published and accessible, but it does not execute those transactions or manage smart contract state. This separation allows other chains, known as rollups or sovereign chains, to offload these foundational tasks to Celestia, focusing their resources solely on execution.
The core innovation enabling this is data availability sampling (DAS). Light nodes on the Celestia network can verify that all data for a block is available without downloading the entire block. By performing multiple random samples of small pieces of the block data, these nodes can achieve high statistical certainty that the data is published and accessible. This allows the network to securely scale its block size (and thus its data availability capacity) while keeping it possible for lightweight devices to participate in validation, maintaining decentralization.
Developers deploy their application-specific blockchains, or sovereign rollups, on top of Celestia. These rollups post their transaction data (the "blobs") to Celestia's data availability layer and inherit its security and consensus. Because execution is separate, each rollup has full autonomy over its virtual machine (e.g., EVM, CosmWasm, Move), governance, and upgrade path. This model eliminates the need for a shared execution environment, preventing network congestion from one application from affecting others and enabling unparalleled scalability and flexibility.
From a node's perspective, Celestia utilizes Tendermint for its consensus mechanism and the Cosmos SDK for its application layer logic. Validators stake the native TIA token to participate in consensus and produce blocks. The network uses Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to secure the chain, and validators are incentivized to correctly publish full block data. The entire system is designed to be minimal and generic, providing a neutral foundation upon which any type of execution layer can be built and interoperate.
modular-vs-monolithic
BLOCKCHAIN DESIGN PARADIGMS
Modular vs. Monolithic Architecture
This section contrasts the integrated, all-in-one approach of monolithic blockchains with the specialized, layered framework of modular architectures, using Celestia as a primary case study.
01
Monolithic Blockchain
A monolithic blockchain is a single, integrated network that handles all core functions: execution, consensus, data availability, and settlement. Examples include Ethereum (pre-Danksharding) and Solana.
- Pros: Simpler security model, atomic composability.
- Cons: Inefficient resource usage, limited scalability, and upgrade complexity as all layers must evolve together.
02
Modular Blockchain
A modular blockchain decouples core functions into specialized layers, allowing for independent innovation and scaling. The typical stack separates:
- Execution Layer: Processes transactions (e.g., rollups).
- Settlement Layer: Handles dispute resolution and finality.
- Consensus & Data Availability Layer: Orders transactions and ensures data is published (e.g., Celestia).
04
Data Availability Sampling (DAS)
Data Availability Sampling (DAS) is a cryptographic technique that allows light nodes to verify data availability with minimal resources. Light nodes download small, random samples of a block. If the data is withheld, sampling will eventually detect it with high probability. This is foundational for secure scaling in modular architectures, as it removes the need for all nodes to store all data.
05
Sovereign Rollups
A sovereign rollup is a type of execution layer that posts its transaction data to a modular DA layer like Celestia and handles its own settlement and dispute resolution. Unlike smart contract rollups (e.g., Arbitrum on Ethereum), sovereign rollups have their own fork-choice rule and can upgrade their consensus without permission from the underlying layer, maximizing sovereignty.
06
Modular Stack Example
A complete modular stack illustrates the division of labor:
- Execution: Rollups like dYmension RollApps or Fuel process user transactions.
- Settlement: Layers like Celestia (for sovereign rollups) or Ethereum (for smart contract rollups) provide finality.
- Data Availability: Celestia or EigenDA ensure transaction data is published.
- Consensus: The DA/Settlement layer (e.g., Celestia's Tendermint) orders transactions.
ecosystem-usage
CELESTIA
Ecosystem & Usage
Celestia is a modular blockchain network designed to provide a scalable data availability layer, enabling other blockchains (rollups) to securely post and verify transaction data without executing it.
01
Data Availability Layer
Celestia's core function is to provide data availability (DA). It ensures that transaction data for rollups is published and accessible for verification, a prerequisite for security. This is achieved through Data Availability Sampling (DAS), where light nodes can cryptographically confirm data is available without downloading it all. This decouples consensus and execution, allowing specialized chains to scale.
02
Modular Stack & Rollups
Celestia enables a modular blockchain architecture. In this model:
- Celestia handles consensus and data availability.
- Rollups (like Optimistic or ZK Rollups) handle execution, posting their transaction data to Celestia.
- Settlement layers (like Ethereum or Cevmos) can handle dispute resolution and bridging. This separation allows developers to deploy scalable, application-specific blockchains (sovereign rollups) without bootstrapping a new consensus network.
03
Sovereign Rollups
A sovereign rollup is a blockchain that uses Celestia for data availability but has its own governance and fork-choice rules for settlement. Unlike smart contract rollups, they are not dependent on a parent chain's smart contracts for validity. Developers have full control over the stack, enabling faster innovation and customization of the execution and settlement layers.
04
TIA Token Utility
The native TIA token is used for:
- Pay for Data Blobs: Rollups pay fees in TIA to post their transaction data to Celestia's blockspace.
- Staking & Security: Token holders can stake TIA to participate in consensus via Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and secure the network.
- Governance: TIA stakers can participate in on-chain governance to decide on network upgrades and parameters.
05
Key Technical Components
- Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMTs): Allow rollups to download only data relevant to them, enabling efficient light client verification.
- Celestia-Node: The software that powers nodes on the network (full, light, bridge).
- Rollkit: A modular framework for building sovereign rollups that can settle to Celestia.
- Blobstream: A service that relays Celestia's data availability proofs to Ethereum, enabling L2 rollups on Ethereum to use Celestia for DA.
06
Ecosystem Projects
The Celestia ecosystem consists of chains built using its data availability layer. Examples include:
- Cevmos: A Cosmos SDK chain for settling EVM-compatible rollups.
- Dymension: A network of modular rollups (RollApps) using Celestia.
- Fuel: A modular execution layer using Celestia for DA.
- Movement Labs: Building Move-based L2s with Celestia. These projects leverage Celestia to avoid the scalability limits of monolithic blockchains.
technical-components
CELESTIA
Core Technical Components
Celestia is a modular blockchain network designed to provide data availability and consensus, enabling other blockchains to scale by offloading these foundational tasks.
01
Data Availability Sampling (DAS)
A technique that allows light nodes to cryptographically verify that all transaction data for a block is published and available without downloading the entire block. Light nodes perform multiple random checks on small chunks of data. If the data is withheld, the probability of detection increases exponentially with each sample, ensuring secure scaling.
02
Namespaced Merkle Trees (NMTs)
A data structure that organizes transaction data into separate namespaces, typically one per rollup or application. This allows rollups to download and verify only the data relevant to them, enabling efficient data retrieval and sovereign execution. It's a key innovation that makes Celestia's data availability layer practical for multiple concurrent chains.
03
Modular Architecture
Celestia decouples the traditional blockchain stack into distinct layers:
- Consensus & Data Availability (Celestia): Provides ordering and guarantees data is published.
- Execution: Handled by separate rollups (e.g., Optimint rollups) or sovereign chains.
- Settlement: Can occur on Celestia or another chain (like Ethereum for fraud/validity proofs). This separation is the core principle behind modular blockchains.
04
Optimint Rollup Framework
Celestia's default rollup framework (formerly Rollkit). It allows developers to deploy sovereign rollups that use Celestia for data availability and consensus. These rollups have full autonomy over their execution and upgrade path, unlike smart contract rollups which are constrained by their settlement layer's governance.
05
Tendermint Consensus
Celestia uses a modified version of Tendermint Core, a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine. It provides instant finality and high throughput for ordering transactions and guaranteeing data availability. The network's validators run Tendermint to propose and commit blocks containing the data blobs from rollups.
06
Blob Space
The dedicated portion of a Celestia block reserved for data blobs from rollups and other modular chains. Users pay fees in TIA (the native token) to post their data to this space. The capacity of blob space is a key scaling metric, as it determines how much data rollups can commit per block.
MODULAR BLOCKCHAIN ARCHITECTURE
Comparison: Data Availability Providers
A technical comparison of core mechanisms and guarantees for leading data availability solutions.
| Feature / Metric | Celestia | Ethereum (Blobs) | Avail | EigenDA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Core Architecture | Modular DA Layer | Monolithic with Proto-Danksharding | Modular DA Layer | Restaking-based AVS |
Data Availability Sampling (DAS) | ||||
Data Availability Proofs | KZG Commitments & Fraud Proofs | KZG Commitments | KZG Commitments & Validity Proofs | Proof of Custody |
Throughput (MB/s) | ~16 MB/s | ~0.75 MB/s (post-Dencun) | ~16 MB/s | ~10 MB/s |
Cost Model | Pay-per-byte | Dynamic EIP-4844 blob fee market | Pay-per-byte | Bid-based auction |
Settlement Guarantees | Sovereign rollups (self-settlement) | Smart contract rollups (settle on L1) | Sovereign or Smart Contract rollups | Smart contract rollups (settle on L1) |
Light Client Support | Full nodes via DAS | Limited (requires trust assumptions) | Full nodes via DAS | Requires operator set trust |
Data Retention Period | ~30 days (pruned) | ~18 days (pruned) | Permanent (archival) | ~21 days (pruned) |
CELESTIA
Common Misconceptions
Clarifying frequent misunderstandings about Celestia's role as a modular blockchain network and data availability layer.
Celestia is a specialized Layer 1 blockchain designed exclusively for consensus and data availability, not for general-purpose execution. Unlike monolithic L1s like Ethereum or Solana, Celestia does not natively process transactions or run smart contracts. Its core function is to order transactions and guarantee that the data for those transactions is published and available for download, a service known as Data Availability Sampling (DAS). Execution is delegated to separate rollups or sovereign chains that post their transaction data to Celestia. Therefore, it is more accurately described as a modular consensus and data availability layer that enables other chains to build on top of it.
CELESTIA
Frequently Asked Questions
Essential questions and answers about Celestia, the first modular blockchain network designed specifically for data availability.
Celestia is a modular blockchain network that specializes exclusively in data availability and consensus, allowing other blockchains (called rollups or sovereign chains) to post their transaction data to it for secure verification. It works by separating the core functions of a blockchain: Celestia handles ordering transactions and guaranteeing that data is published (consensus and data availability), while execution and settlement are delegated to separate layers. Validators on Celestia do not execute transactions; they simply order data blobs and use Data Availability Sampling (DAS) to ensure the data is available for anyone to download and verify.
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