The “staking shovel” TIA, which is now no longer of interest to anyone, is once again facing a community opinion crisis. During this period of prolonged downward movement in prices and gradual marginalization of the narrative, Celestia’s network revenue has continued to be sluggish, and the feasibility of the DA track has also faced challenges. In this context, its co-founder John Adler has put forward a disruptive governance proposal.

Cancel the pledge, Celestia wants to change the fate of “POS”.

Co-founder John Adler recently proposed a disruptive governance proposal, advocating that the network should completely abandon the current Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanism in favor of a “Proof-of-Governance” (PoG) model. This proposal has sparked heated discussions in the crypto community as soon as it was introduced, directly addressing the core concepts of blockchain governance structure.

If the proposal is adopted, the Celestia network will undergo a series of structural restructurings: first, the issuance of TIA tokens will be reduced by about 20 times, greatly compressing circulating inflation, corresponding to a reduction ratio of up to 95%. Second, existing delegated staking and liquid 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 through off-chain governance mechanisms. In addition, Celestia will adopt a fee-burning mechanism to reward token holders, with approximately $100 to $300 of protocol revenue being directly used to support the value of TIA daily.

Adler even argues for the complete removal of the concept of “staking.” He believes that in the absence of token issuance rewards and without relying on staking votes to elect validators, the act of “staking” becomes redundant, LST consequently loses its basis for 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 long-term downward movement by constructing a more scarce and compact token economic model, injecting fundamental logic into the network’s long-term value.

However, at the same time, this proposal challenges several assumptions that are considered “taken for granted” in Ethereum’s mainstream consensus, such as whether the economic security of the blockchain truly relies on penalty 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 “non-governance profit model.” If this proposal is adopted, it will not only restructure Celestia’s economic model 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 token economic foundation” has yet to be implemented, the community has continuously exposed instances of the Celestia team cashing out 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, cumulatively cashing out over 100 million dollars, raising questions in the market.

Is this deflationary reform aimed at the long-term value of TIA, or is it a system cover-up after the team “offloaded at a high position”? Against the backdrop of TIA having fallen by 92% and a continuous loss of user trust, Celestia’s “modular vision” is facing an unprecedented crisis of confidence.

Is selling the way to go?

community users@0xCircusLoverThe tweet accused the core team of Celestia of serious opacity in multiple areas such as 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 reported to have realized significant cash-outs through over-the-counter (OTC) transactions or resource exchanges. For example, project co-founder Mustafa was accused of cashing out over $25 million through OTC channels and has since relocated to Dubai, while another key figure, Andy, was accused of accepting compensation in TIA for promotion, and Yaz was expelled and exited the crypto space due to sexual harassment allegations. Users claimed to possess relevant victim information and evidence of the trading transactions and plan to release complete materials in the near future.

In addition, he mentioned that Celestia had paid a seven-figure sum to the well-known organization Abstract in exchange for its “separation” from the competitor Eigen, and had paid media personalities Jon Charb and Bankless to maintain a positive image for the project. This series of financial operations has been accused by whistleblowers as a typical operation of “paid promotion.”

Another focal point of the controversy centers on the role of Bankless host David, as the community questions his frequent advocacy for TIA despite lacking practical experience in using Celestia’s data availability services or building protocols. Moreover, his contradictory statements regarding whether he holds TIA tokens in multiple public appearances have raised widespread concerns about the impartiality of his remarks.

Although this revelation has not yet received an official response, it has triggered a crisis of trust within certain circles, especially in the context of the current market price pressure on TIA and the ongoing employee sell-off, amplifying the effects further. Celestia had gained popularity with the narrative of “modular data availability,” but now, a series of questions surrounding its core team governance, public opinion manipulation, and funding flows 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 that time. These tokens all belong to the “Team” category and are owned by early core members and contributors.

The largest selling address is celestia1erglsz…, having sold 2,609,516.29 TIA, corresponding to cash of 27,368,523.82 dollars. Several addresses have sales exceeding one million dollars, indicating that the team has been actively cashing out at the early stage of token unlock.

Below this tweet, a user quoted Celestia COO Nick White’s statement to mock, “I have never sold a single TIA,” which resonates with the one hundred million dollars in the image above.

In October last year, Celestia announced that it had “completed a $100 million financing” on the eve of a major unlock, which sparked optimistic expectations in the community regarding its financial strength. However, according to crypto investor Sisyphus, this financing was actually an over-the-counter transaction completed months ago, and the tokens involved will be unlocked in bulk in October. Such behavior is viewed by some community members as typical information manipulation: “first offload over the counter, then package it as good news, and finally guide retail investors to take over before the unlock window.”

Although Celestia’s current valuation is marked by outsiders at 3.5 billion dollars, its actual revenue is far from supporting such inflated valuation. According to publicly available data, Celestia’s average daily protocol revenue is less than one hundred dollars, and its annual potential is only around 5 million dollars. Industry insiders generally point out that Celestia’s market pricing resembles more of a premium advance on a “future narrative” rather than being based on existing usage data or business models. Because of this, once market sentiment turns cold, its valuation bubble is likely to face pressure.

In the face of various accusations and public opinion turmoil surrounding Celestia, the founder of Celestia publicly stated that despite the market being filled with “increasingly outrageous FUD, all founding members, early employees, and core engineers are still on duty. He also revealed that Celestia currently has over 100 million dollars in reserves, with sufficient cash flow to support operations for more than 6 years.

“To survive in this industry, every project must go through ups and downs. Almost all tokens will 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 dropped 92% from its peak.

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