The "staking shovel" TIA, which is now disregarded by everyone, is once again facing a community opinion crisis. During this period of prolonged downward movement in price and marginalization of the narrative, Celestia's network revenue has continued to be sluggish, and the viability of the DA track has also faced challenges. Against this backdrop, its co-founder John Adler has proposed a disruptive governance proposal.
Cancel staking, Celestia wants to revolutionize "POS".
Co-founder John Adler recently proposed a disruptive governance proposal advocating for the network to completely abandon the current Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism in favor of a "Proof-of-Governance" (PoG) model. Once this proposal was put forward, it sparked heated discussions in the crypto community, directly addressing the core concept of blockchain governance structure.
If the proposal is adopted, the Celestia network will undergo a series of structural reconstructions: first, the issuance of TIA tokens will be reduced by approximately 20 times, greatly compressing circulation inflation, corresponding to a reduction ratio of up to 95%. Secondly, existing delegated staking and liquidity staking contracts will be completely abolished, and the on-chain governance mechanism will be simultaneously terminated.
The new issuance of TIA will be fully paid to validators as off-chain incentives for running nodes; validators will no longer be elected through token voting but will be decided by an off-chain governance mechanism. In addition, Celestia will adopt a fee burning mechanism to reward token holders, with daily protocol revenue of approximately 100 to 300 USD directly used for TIA value support.
Adler even advocates for the complete removal of the concept of "stake." He believes that in the absence of token issuance rewards and not relying on staking votes to elect validators, the act of "staking" becomes redundant, LST loses its foundational existence, and TIA itself becomes a direct vehicle for value capture.
Adler's proposal is essentially aimed at addressing the inflationary pressure of TIA's price downward movement over a prolonged period, by constructing a more scarce and compact token economic model to inject fundamental logic into the network's long-term value.
However, at the same time, this proposal also challenges several assumptions that are considered "taken for granted" in the mainstream consensus of Ethereum, such as whether the economic security of the blockchain truly relies on punishment mechanisms (slashing), whether PoS is essentially a permissioned "proof of authority" mechanism (a variant of PoA), and whether blockchain systems can operate sustainably through a "no governance profit model." If this proposal is adopted, it will not only restructure the economic model of Celestia but may also pose a challenge to the current staking governance logic dominated by Ethereum.
Source: Blockworks Research.
However, just as this governance proposal aimed at "rebuilding the foundation of the token economy" has yet to be implemented, the community has continuously exposed the Celestia team's behavior of cashing out in large amounts, leading to divergent interpretations of the proposal's original intent. On one hand, the project party emphasizes that the PoG model is expected to curb inflation, repair the token model, and restore market confidence; on the other hand, on-chain data shows that several core team members quickly completed large cash-out operations after the unlocking window opened, with a total cash-out exceeding 100 million USD, raising market skepticism.
Is this deflationary reform really for the long-term value of TIA, or is it a system cover-up after the team "sold at a high position"? Against the backdrop of TIA having fallen by 92% and the continuous loss of user trust, Celestia's "modular vision" is facing an unprecedented trust crisis.
Is selling the only way?
Community user @0x CircusLover's tweet accuses the Celestia core team of serious opacity in multiple areas including token unlocking, fund operations, and market promotion. This revelation has been described by some observers as an exposure of Celestia's "criminal model," raising strong doubts in the market about the project's internal governance and integrity.
According to its disclosure, Celestia executives completed the unlocking of TIA tokens in early October 2024, followed closely by the unlocking of team members. In the following months, several core figures were exposed for cashing out large amounts through over-the-counter transactions or resource exchanges. For example, project co-founder Mustafa was reported to have realized over $25 million through OTC channels and has since moved to Dubai, while another key figure, Andy, was accused of accepting compensation in TIA for promotion, and Yaz was fired and exited the crypto space due to sexual harassment allegations. Users claim to have relevant victim information and evidence of the transactions and plan to publish complete materials in the near future.
In addition, he mentioned that Celestia had paid a seven-figure sum to the well-known institution Abstract in exchange for its "separation" from competitor Eigen, and had paid media personalities Jon Charb and Bankless to maintain the project's positive image. This series of financial operations was accused by whistleblowers of being a typical operation of "paid promotion."
Another focal point of controversy centers around the role of Bankless host David, as the community questions his frequent advocacy for TIA despite having no actual experience using Celestia's data availability services or building protocols. Instead, his contradictory statements regarding whether he holds TIA tokens in multiple public appearances have led to widespread doubts about the integrity of his remarks.
Although this revelation has not yet received an official response, it has already triggered a trust crisis in some circles, especially under the further amplifying effect of TIA's current market price pressure and continuous employee sell-offs. Celestia once gained popularity with the narrative of "modular data availability," but now, the series of questions surrounding its core team governance, public opinion manipulation, and funding flow are plunging this once-promising project into an unprecedented public relations crisis.
"There is actually evidence everywhere in the entire Crypto circle, but no one is willing to talk about it publicly because 'they are too big'."
Previously, crypto KOL Mosi provided a data table on the internal team token distribution and monetization of Celestia, showing that team members have sold a total of approximately 9.43 million TIA, with an estimated cumulative cashing amount reaching up to 109 million USD based on the market price at the time. These tokens belong to the "Team" category, owned by early core members and contributors.
The largest sell-off address is celestia 1 erglsz..., having sold 2,609,516.29 TIA, corresponding to a cash amount of 27,368,523.82 USD. Multiple addresses have sell-off amounts exceeding millions of dollars, indicating that the team was actively cashing out at the early stage of the token unlock.
Below this tweet, a user quotes Celestia COO Nick White's statement for mockery, "I have never sold a single TIA" resonates with the one hundred million dollars in the image above.
In October last year, Celestia announced that it had "completed $100 million in financing" just before a major unlocking event, which sparked optimistic expectations within the community regarding its financial strength. However, according to crypto investor Sisyphus, this financing was actually an over-the-counter transaction completed months earlier, with the tokens involved set to unlock in October. Such behavior has been viewed by some community members as typical information manipulation: "first selling off tokens over the counter, then packaging it as good news, and finally guiding retail investors to take over before the unlocking window."
Relevant reading: "Celestia suspected of 'raising prices for unloading', selling coins packaged as financing before a large unlock"
Although Celestia's current valuation is marked by the outside world at 3.5 billion dollars, its actual revenue is far from supporting such inflated valuations. According to public data, Celestia's average daily protocol revenue is less than a hundred dollars, with annual potential around 5 million dollars. Industry insiders generally point out that Celestia's market pricing resembles a premium prepayment for a "future narrative" rather than being based on existing usage data or business models. Because of this, once market sentiment cools, its valuation bubble is likely to face compression.
In the face of various accusations and public controversies surrounding Celestia, the founder of Celestia publicly stated that despite the current market being filled with "increasingly outrageous FUD," all founding members, early employees, and core engineers remain on duty. He also revealed that Celestia currently has over 100 million dollars in funding reserves, with sufficient cash flow to support operations for more than 6 years.
In this industry, to survive, every project must go through ups and downs. Almost all tokens experience a 95% fall at some point in their lifecycle, which is the norm rather than the exception," Mustafa wrote in a tweet. Now, TIA has fallen 92% from its peak.
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Proposal to cancel stake, team cashes out 100 million? Celestia facing a Crisis of Confidence
The "staking shovel" TIA, which is now disregarded by everyone, is once again facing a community opinion crisis. During this period of prolonged downward movement in price and marginalization of the narrative, Celestia's network revenue has continued to be sluggish, and the viability of the DA track has also faced challenges. Against this backdrop, its co-founder John Adler has proposed a disruptive governance proposal.
Cancel staking, Celestia wants to revolutionize "POS".
Co-founder John Adler recently proposed a disruptive governance proposal advocating for the network to completely abandon the current Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism in favor of a "Proof-of-Governance" (PoG) model. Once this proposal was put forward, it sparked heated discussions in the crypto community, directly addressing the core concept of blockchain governance structure.
If the proposal is adopted, the Celestia network will undergo a series of structural reconstructions: first, the issuance of TIA tokens will be reduced by approximately 20 times, greatly compressing circulation inflation, corresponding to a reduction ratio of up to 95%. Secondly, existing delegated staking and liquidity staking contracts will be completely abolished, and the on-chain governance mechanism will be simultaneously terminated.
The new issuance of TIA will be fully paid to validators as off-chain incentives for running nodes; validators will no longer be elected through token voting but will be decided by an off-chain governance mechanism. In addition, Celestia will adopt a fee burning mechanism to reward token holders, with daily protocol revenue of approximately 100 to 300 USD directly used for TIA value support.
Adler even advocates for the complete removal of the concept of "stake." He believes that in the absence of token issuance rewards and not relying on staking votes to elect validators, the act of "staking" becomes redundant, LST loses its foundational existence, and TIA itself becomes a direct vehicle for value capture.
Adler's proposal is essentially aimed at addressing the inflationary pressure of TIA's price downward movement over a prolonged period, by constructing a more scarce and compact token economic model to inject fundamental logic into the network's long-term value.
However, at the same time, this proposal also challenges several assumptions that are considered "taken for granted" in the mainstream consensus of Ethereum, such as whether the economic security of the blockchain truly relies on punishment mechanisms (slashing), whether PoS is essentially a permissioned "proof of authority" mechanism (a variant of PoA), and whether blockchain systems can operate sustainably through a "no governance profit model." If this proposal is adopted, it will not only restructure the economic model of Celestia but may also pose a challenge to the current staking governance logic dominated by Ethereum.
Source: Blockworks Research.
However, just as this governance proposal aimed at "rebuilding the foundation of the token economy" has yet to be implemented, the community has continuously exposed the Celestia team's behavior of cashing out in large amounts, leading to divergent interpretations of the proposal's original intent. On one hand, the project party emphasizes that the PoG model is expected to curb inflation, repair the token model, and restore market confidence; on the other hand, on-chain data shows that several core team members quickly completed large cash-out operations after the unlocking window opened, with a total cash-out exceeding 100 million USD, raising market skepticism.
Is this deflationary reform really for the long-term value of TIA, or is it a system cover-up after the team "sold at a high position"? Against the backdrop of TIA having fallen by 92% and the continuous loss of user trust, Celestia's "modular vision" is facing an unprecedented trust crisis.
Is selling the only way?
Community user @0x CircusLover's tweet accuses the Celestia core team of serious opacity in multiple areas including token unlocking, fund operations, and market promotion. This revelation has been described by some observers as an exposure of Celestia's "criminal model," raising strong doubts in the market about the project's internal governance and integrity.
According to its disclosure, Celestia executives completed the unlocking of TIA tokens in early October 2024, followed closely by the unlocking of team members. In the following months, several core figures were exposed for cashing out large amounts through over-the-counter transactions or resource exchanges. For example, project co-founder Mustafa was reported to have realized over $25 million through OTC channels and has since moved to Dubai, while another key figure, Andy, was accused of accepting compensation in TIA for promotion, and Yaz was fired and exited the crypto space due to sexual harassment allegations. Users claim to have relevant victim information and evidence of the transactions and plan to publish complete materials in the near future.
In addition, he mentioned that Celestia had paid a seven-figure sum to the well-known institution Abstract in exchange for its "separation" from competitor Eigen, and had paid media personalities Jon Charb and Bankless to maintain the project's positive image. This series of financial operations was accused by whistleblowers of being a typical operation of "paid promotion."
Another focal point of controversy centers around the role of Bankless host David, as the community questions his frequent advocacy for TIA despite having no actual experience using Celestia's data availability services or building protocols. Instead, his contradictory statements regarding whether he holds TIA tokens in multiple public appearances have led to widespread doubts about the integrity of his remarks.
Although this revelation has not yet received an official response, it has already triggered a trust crisis in some circles, especially under the further amplifying effect of TIA's current market price pressure and continuous employee sell-offs. Celestia once gained popularity with the narrative of "modular data availability," but now, the series of questions surrounding its core team governance, public opinion manipulation, and funding flow are plunging this once-promising project into an unprecedented public relations crisis.
"There is actually evidence everywhere in the entire Crypto circle, but no one is willing to talk about it publicly because 'they are too big'."
Previously, crypto KOL Mosi provided a data table on the internal team token distribution and monetization of Celestia, showing that team members have sold a total of approximately 9.43 million TIA, with an estimated cumulative cashing amount reaching up to 109 million USD based on the market price at the time. These tokens belong to the "Team" category, owned by early core members and contributors.
The largest sell-off address is celestia 1 erglsz..., having sold 2,609,516.29 TIA, corresponding to a cash amount of 27,368,523.82 USD. Multiple addresses have sell-off amounts exceeding millions of dollars, indicating that the team was actively cashing out at the early stage of the token unlock.
Below this tweet, a user quotes Celestia COO Nick White's statement for mockery, "I have never sold a single TIA" resonates with the one hundred million dollars in the image above.
In October last year, Celestia announced that it had "completed $100 million in financing" just before a major unlocking event, which sparked optimistic expectations within the community regarding its financial strength. However, according to crypto investor Sisyphus, this financing was actually an over-the-counter transaction completed months earlier, with the tokens involved set to unlock in October. Such behavior has been viewed by some community members as typical information manipulation: "first selling off tokens over the counter, then packaging it as good news, and finally guiding retail investors to take over before the unlocking window."
Relevant reading: "Celestia suspected of 'raising prices for unloading', selling coins packaged as financing before a large unlock"
Although Celestia's current valuation is marked by the outside world at 3.5 billion dollars, its actual revenue is far from supporting such inflated valuations. According to public data, Celestia's average daily protocol revenue is less than a hundred dollars, with annual potential around 5 million dollars. Industry insiders generally point out that Celestia's market pricing resembles a premium prepayment for a "future narrative" rather than being based on existing usage data or business models. Because of this, once market sentiment cools, its valuation bubble is likely to face compression.
In the face of various accusations and public controversies surrounding Celestia, the founder of Celestia publicly stated that despite the current market being filled with "increasingly outrageous FUD," all founding members, early employees, and core engineers remain on duty. He also revealed that Celestia currently has over 100 million dollars in funding reserves, with sufficient cash flow to support operations for more than 6 years.
In this industry, to survive, every project must go through ups and downs. Almost all tokens experience a 95% fall at some point in their lifecycle, which is the norm rather than the exception," Mustafa wrote in a tweet. Now, TIA has fallen 92% from its peak.