Celestia
Summary
Celestia is a modular blockchain network that provides a dedicated data availability (DA) and consensus layer for rollups and application-specific chains, using data availability sampling to allow light nodes to verify block data without downloading full blocks. Developed by Celestia Labs and launched on mainnet on October 31, 2023, the project raised $155 million from prominent venture capital firms including Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital. The project has faced significant controversy over its tokenomics, alleged insider token selling, and a 95%+ decline in the TIA token from its June 2024 all-time high of approximately $20.91.
Connected Entities
1 entities · 10 linked investigations- + 3 more
Timeline(14 events)
2019-01-01
Mustafa Al-Bassam publishes the 'LazyLedger' paper at University College London, introducing the concept that would become Celestia
CoinDesk2021-01-01
Celestia Labs formally founded by Mustafa Al-Bassam, Ismail Khoffi, John Adler, and Nick White
Crunchbase2022-10-19
Celestia Labs raises $55 million combined Series A and B round led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital at $1 billion valuation; FTX Ventures participates
CoinDesk2023-10-17
Celestia opens TIA airdrop claim period for eligible Cosmos and Ethereum ecosystem participants
Blockworks2023-10-31
Celestia mainnet beta launches; 60 million TIA airdropped to approximately 580,000 eligible addresses; TIA listed on major exchanges
CoinDesk2024-01-01
Celestia Foundation raises additional $100 million led by Bain Capital Crypto, bringing total disclosed funding to $155 million
The Block2024-10-30
Major token unlock event: approximately 175.59 million TIA released, representing roughly 79.52% of then-circulating supply; allegations later emerge of insider OTC selling around this event
CoinCarp2025-06-01
Viral X thread by 'Startup Anthropologist' alleges CEO Al-Bassam sold 25 million+ TIA via OTC deals; Al-Bassam responds denying misconduct and citing $100M+ treasury
CoinTelegraph2025-06-01
Co-founder John Adler proposes replacing proof-of-stake with 'Proof of Governance' to reduce TIA annual issuance by 20x
DL News2025-07-01
Polychain Capital sells remaining 43.45 million TIA stake ($62.5 million) to the Celestia Foundation amid criticism over staking reward sales
The Block2025-07-28
Lotus (v4) mainnet upgrade activates: 33% inflation reduction, staking reward locking for vesting accounts, Hyperlane integration
Celestia Blog2026-01-01
Celestia publishes 'Vision 2.0' roadmap targeting up to 1 Tb/s throughput via planned Fibre upgrade
Medium / KrewsDecision Log
- hash: 8aUf1P2Va15t4dbHir5pJmKQCzht6vyuyKhCqcg7e51D
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 5/31/2026, 7:32:03 AM
last updated: 5/31/2026, 7:32:08 AM
avoid.net — verified advice for a post-truth world