This week, the modular blockchain Celestia announced the launch of its native token $TIA and simultaneously initiated its Genesis Drop. The airdrop targets 7,579 developers and 576,653 on-chain addresses located on Ethereum Rollups, Cosmos Hub, and Osmosis.

Today, Dr. DODO will introduce Celestia and the rules and token economics of the $TIA airdrop.

What Is Modular Blockchain?

Before diving into Celestia, it's essential to understand what a modular blockchain is. A modular blockchain is a new type of blockchain architecture that allows different blockchain modules or protocols to integrate into a unified network as plugins. The purpose of this architecture is to improve the scalability, interoperability, and flexibility of the blockchain while maintaining security and decentralization. The core idea behind modular blockchains is to break down different blockchain functions (such as consensus, transaction processing, data storage, etc.) into independent modules and allow developers to select and combine these modules as needed to create a customized blockchain that meets specific requirements.

Well-known Layer 2 solutions like optimistic rollups and zk-rollups fall under the category of modular blockchains, as they separate the execution layer from the Ethereum mainnet.

What Is Celestia?

With an understanding of modular blockchains, let's delve into Celestia's vision. Celestia is a proof-of-stake blockchain based on CometBFT and Cosmos SDK that provides a modular data availability layer, enabling developers to build various blockchain applications and protocols. Let's explore the roles of different block modules within Celestia:

1. Consensus Layer: The consensus layer is responsible for the network's consensus mechanism, ensuring that all transactions and data are processed correctly and fairly. Celestia employs a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism based on CometBFT and Cosmos SDK, ensuring network security and fairness.
2. Data Availability Layer: The data availability layer is at the core of Celestia and provides developers with a reliable data availability service. Developers can ensure the availability of their data by submitting PayForBlobs (PFB) transactions. This layer's design guarantees data availability while offering developers a straightforward data service.
3. Execution Layer: The execution layer is responsible for processing transactions and executing smart contracts. In Celestia's architecture, the execution layer is designed as an independent layer that can be offloaded to other blockchains or systems for processing. This design allows Celestia to focus on data availability while delegating transaction execution and processing to more suitable systems.
4. Settlement Layer (Optional): In some designs, Celestia may also include a settlement layer responsible for transaction settlement and finalization. This layer can be merged with the execution layer or designed as a separate layer.

Through this modular, layered architecture, Celestia can distribute different functions to different layers, enhancing the efficiency and scalability of the entire network. Celestia's goal is to serve as the shared consensus and data availability layer among various types of rollups operating in the modular stack. It can work in conjunction with Ethereum's Layer 2 solutions like Rollups to improve Ethereum's scalability, or it can collaborate with projects like Solana VM Rollup or Move Rollup to enhance interoperability within the broader blockchain ecosystem.

TIA Tokenomic and Genesis Airdrop Rules

After introducing Celestia, let's dive into the token economics of its native token, $TIA, and the rules governing the Genesis Airdrop.

Functions and Economic Model of TIA Token:

1. Building the Data Availability Network: The TIA token is an essential component for developers building modular data availability networks. Rollup developers use TIA as fees to submit PayForBlobs (PFB) transactions to the network to ensure data availability.
2. Use as a Gas Token: Similar to ETH in Ethereum's Rollups, developers can choose to use TIA as a gas token to quickly launch their chains without the immediate need to issue new tokens.
3. Staking and Network Governance: Celestia employs a proof-of-stake mechanism to secure consensus. Users can delegate TIA to Celestia validators to earn staking rewards and help protect network security. TIA also allows community participation in Celestia's decentralized governance, such as voting on network parameters and managing community pools.

Token Allocation and Release Rules for TIA:

• Initial Total Supply: 1 billion TIA tokens, with 20% allocated for public distribution (7.4% for Genesis airdrop and incentivized testnet distribution, 12.6% for future incentive allocations).
• Other Allocations: This includes 26.8% for the Celestia Foundation and core developers, 15.9% for seed round early investors, 19.7% for A and B round early investors, and 17.6% for initial core contributors.
• Inflation Rate: Starting at 8% per year, decreasing by 10% annually until reaching a long-term issuance rate of 1.5%.

Celestia Genesis Airdrop Details:

1. Research and Public Goods: Allocation of 6 million TIA tokens primarily to contributors to protocol public goods and infrastructure, as well as members of the Eth Research community.
2. Early Modular Ecosystem: Allocation of 14 million TIA tokens primarily to contributors to the Celestia ecosystem, participants in the Modular Summit, and super contributors on GitHub.
3. Early Adopters of Ethereum Rollups: Allocation of 20 million TIA tokens primarily to the top 50% active users of the top 10 Ethereum Rollups ranked on L2Beat.
4. Stakers and IBC Relayers on Cosmos Hub and Osmosis: Allocation of 20 million TIA tokens primarily to stakers and delegators on Cosmos Hub and Osmosis, as well as IBC relayers.

Airdrop claims will end on October 17, 2023, at 20:00, and unclaimed tokens will be distributed to developers and accounts with submitted addresses.

Author's Perspective

The launch of Celestia's Genesis Airdrop and the TIA token demonstrates the potential of modular blockchain technology in driving the development of blockchain ecosystems and incentivizing community participants. By providing a modular data availability layer and a flexible token economic model, Celestia not only offers a robust and adaptable blockchain platform for developers but also provides attractive incentives for users and ecosystem participants.

However, in today's multi-chain ecosystem, the public blockchain race is becoming increasingly crowded. Major institutions or exchanges are eager to create their own public blockchains. How to coordinate and convince them to use Celestia's data layer services, or even more fundamentally, does the blockchain world really need so many public blockchains? The fervor for launching new public chains that erupted this summer has now cooled down considerably, and many public chains have become empty networks without real users.

Celestia faces important challenges in ensuring the security and reliability of modular blockchains from a technical perspective and effectively managing and coordinating interactions between different modules and protocols. Most importantly, it must figure out how to collaborate with numerous public chains to attract real users.