TIA is Modular Money

Every propaganda point I can think of

TLDR:

• Celestia is fundamentally new scaling tech.

• Gud narrative positioning as core of modular rollup ecosystem.

• Gud flows, the only liquid way to get exposure to modular narrative.

• Gud token utility and monetary properties.

• I have bags

Tech

Celestia’s data availability (DA) tech is a fundamentally new way of scaling blockchains.

Without getting too technical, Celestia introduces the concept of modular blockchains: “Instead of one blockchain doing everything, modular blockchains specialize and optimize to perform a given function.” Kinda like splitting blockchains into interchangeable lego blocks, where each block is specialized in one function.

Data availability sampling allows rollups that use Celestia to scale with number of nodes. With Celestia, rollups scale AND decentralize with more nodes.

What will a Celestia ecosystem will look like? Hundreds, thousands of rollups that use Celestia for data availability, a base layer for a new scalable ecosystem of rollups.

Token

TIA is a utility token with multiple value props:

• Rollups need to buy TIA to pay to use Celestia DA

• Proof of Stake. Users stake TIA to participate in consensus and secure Celestia. The more valuable the token, the more secure the network.

• Bootstrapping new rollups. Developers can launch rollups easily with TIA as gas and currency, pay TIA for DA.

• Airdrops. As the hub of the modular ecosystem, expect modular apps/rollups to airdrop to TIA holders/stakers to incentivize usage.

• Monetary premium. As more rollups adopt Celestia for data availability and gas, it further solidifies TIA’s status as money, garnering a monetary premium like BTC/ETH.

TIA is Modular Money.

Flows

• The “every VC is talking about modular” narrative is lazy thinking imo. I’d argue that allocators are actually underexposed to the Modular narrative. Almost none of them even have exposure to Celestia or any quality modular eco projects. Just see the investor list.

• TIA is the only liquid exposure to the modular narrative, allocators need to allocate. There’s a bunch of monoliths but only 1 modular bet (Until Eigenlayer launches token).

• TIA is the modular index token. So many rollups, easiest way to index on all of them is to own TIA.

• New coin, no overhang. FTX owns no TIA.

• No unlocks for a full year.

• No one actually understands what DA or modular is. They’ll have to learn when it’s higher. No one understands yet -> bunch of untapped bidders

Narratives

• Modular vs monolithic is going to be the Ethereum vs Solana of this cycle. Idealogical divides like this drive attention to both sides (the Solestia thesis). And clear winner on modular side is Celestia.

• Celestia alignment > “Ethereum alignment.” Ethereum alignment can be a parasitic relationship, where rollups hand wave alignment to attract liquidity from mainnet with no enforceable payoff for Ethereum. Celestia alignment will be much more mutually beneficial. Simply pay TIA → Get powerful scaling properties.

• Base layer for all rollups + vertically integrating the rollup stack. All these new rollups, rollup frameworks, rollup providers. Most plan to use Celestia for DA.

  Celestia is developing their own rollup framework, Rollkit. There is a future where Celestia dominates DA space so much that they can just vertically integrate the rollup stack and cut out the other rollup frameworks like Optimism, Arbitrum, Polygon, etc.

• Celestia becomes the refreshed “Cosmos hub.” Cosmos has great tech, but many problems: Leadership/execution vacuum, unifying asset and vision, fragmented UX, fragmented development… Celestia fills the void. Expect TIA flippening ATOM as the first step in this.

• A superior rollup/horizontal scaling roadmap vs Ethereum. Longer term (couple years), has a shot at competing and usurping Ethereum on the rollup/horizontal scaling roadmap. Fundamentally scales better at the base layer. Many execution risks in between, so not a core part of my thesis, but it’s a spicy narrative eh.

Looking Ahead:

Pay attention to key projects building in the modular ecosystem.

The ecosystem is just beginning to form, it’s still early imo. Has the highest big brain ratio of any ecosystem right now. Everyone built through the bear market to get to this point.

Second order effects of all these modular rollups is fragmentation of state/liquidity. All these rollups will need permissionless interoperability to connect with each other and preserve a unified user experience -> Hyperlane. usenexus.org

Disclaimers:

I have TIA bags (bought on open market).

As usual, not financial advice, do your research, develop your own conviction etc.

This post is mostly to lay out my own thesis for TIA so I don’t fumble the bag too early. I hope we all make it this cycle, good luck.