Data availability / NETWORK PROFILE
Celestia
TIA CMC #92 in the snapshot
A modular network that orders and publishes application data, allowing separate chains to choose their own execution and settlement systems.
01 / THE PURPOSE
What is Celestia for?
Celestia provides data availability: confidence that a block’s published data can be obtained. Rollups can use it for transaction data without asking Celestia itself to execute every application or decide each application’s correct state.
02 / THE ARCHITECTURE
Three questions about the machinery.
How does it agree?
Consensus & securityA TIA-backed proof-of-stake validator set orders the chain using the Cosmos SDK and CometBFT stack. A separate data-availability network lets light nodes sample encoded pieces of block data.
Where do instructions run?
Execution modelThe base protocol processes its own transactions and blob payments, but arbitrary application execution occurs on layers above it. Namespaces help applications retrieve their own data without treating every blob as one shared contract state.
What is the token for?
TIA in the systemTIA pays for publishing blobs and other network transactions. It also supports staking, delegation, and governance; an application using Celestia may choose its own separate user-facing fee asset.
03 / THE DESIGN CHOICES
What comes with the design?
Each architecture makes choices about security, performance, coordination, and who can participate.
Available data does not by itself prove that a rollup’s state transition or withdrawal is valid.
Sampling confidence relies on the data-availability protocol’s assumptions and a functioning network of participating nodes.
Long-term retrieval may require archival services; paying to publish a blob is not a universal permanent hosting subscription.
04 / IN PRACTICE
Follow one use.
A rollup posts a batch of transactions as a blob and pays TIA. Its users verify the batch’s availability through Celestia, then rely on the rollup’s own execution and settlement mechanism to check balances and withdrawals.
05 / CHECK THE EXPLANATION
Sources & snapshot.
Network descriptions use the references below. The CoinMarketCap snapshot determines which assets are in scope and their captured rank; it does not assess the quality of a network.
- Celestia data availability layer Celestia Docs
- Overview of TIA Celestia Docs
- Paying for blobspace Celestia Docs
- CoinMarketCap top 100 snapshot Captured 14 Nov 2026 · See the complete scope audit
- Celestia (TIA) on CoinMarketCap Captured asset rank #92
Profile checked 14 Nov 2026. Network designs and ranked positions can change.