Iris Coleman
Feb 05, 2026 14:20
Celestia argues Layer 2s ought to turn out to be sovereign networks utilizing modular information availability, citing $4.4B in Solana validator prices as cause to keep away from conventional L1 structure.
Celestia is making its case for why Layer 2 networks ought to lower ties with their dad or mum chains and embrace what it calls “sovereign independence” — a pitch that arrives simply as Vitalik Buterin publicly de-emphasizes L2s in Ethereum’s roadmap.
The modular blockchain community revealed a weblog submit on February 5 arguing that the standard L2 mannequin — the place rollups function subordinate extensions of Ethereum — has run its course. As an alternative, Celestia needs builders constructing high-performance networks to make use of its information availability layer whereas sustaining full management over their execution environments.
The Financial Argument
Celestia’s core pitch facilities on validator economics. The submit cites eye-popping figures: Hyperliquid reportedly paid $311 million in token issuance throughout 2025 to keep up its validator set, whereas Solana shelled out roughly $4.4 billion in the identical interval. These prices stem from the necessity to incentivize decentralized validators who deal with ordering, execution, and information availability concurrently.
“Constructing a Celestia-enabled sovereign community bypasses this overhead,” the corporate argues. By outsourcing information availability to a specialised supplier, networks can theoretically obtain comparable safety ensures with out the large inflation required to bootstrap a local validator set.
The timing is not coincidental. Buterin said on February 4 that L2s are “now not important as capability suppliers” following current Ethereum upgrades that expanded mainnet throughput. ETH dropped 7.34% within the 24 hours following the announcement, buying and selling at $2,109.76 as of February 5.
Why This Issues for L2 Builders
Celestia takes direct purpose on the Proof-of-Authority various that some chains undertake to keep away from validator inflation. The submit calls PoA programs “a centralized database with a token hooked up,” arguing they create an inescapable tradeoff the place small validator units turn out to be bottlenecks as throughput calls for enhance.
The corporate positions its structure as a center floor: centralized execution for pace, however with information posted to Celestia so customers can independently confirm state with out trusting sequencers.
For builders at present constructing on Ethereum L2s, the message is pointed: “Keep tethered to an structure that now not places them first, or transfer to infrastructure tailor-built with their wants in thoughts.”
What’s Really Being Supplied
Strip away the positioning and Celestia is actually promoting information availability as a service. Networks utilizing Celestia can run their very own sequencers whereas posting transaction information to Celestia’s chain, theoretically attaining sub-second latency with no need to match the infrastructure prices of standalone L1s.
Whether or not this mannequin beneficial properties traction relies upon largely on how Ethereum’s personal scaling roadmap evolves. L2 founders have indicated they’re going to proceed constructing regardless of Buterin’s feedback, with many pivoting towards specialization — privateness options, application-specific chains, or regional deployments — slightly than competing purely on charges.
Celestia’s TIA token serves because the cost mechanism for information availability on the community. The corporate is directing builders to its Head of Partnerships for additional discussions.
Picture supply: Shutterstock
