🥛 PRO | Could Celestia be the next $ETH killer? 🔪

GM, this is Milk Road PRO, the x-ray machine in newsletter form!

(We show you what’s happening beneath all the hype!). 

The battle for dominance in the smart contract blockchain space is heating up. 

While Ethereum and Solana have been stealing the spotlight for years, a fresh contender is quietly making waves: Celestia.

If you buy into the app chain thesis—the belief that leading apps or successful fintechs will eventually evolve into their own blockchains—you’re probably rooting for Ethereum. 

And honestly, we’re in that camp too. 😫 

Why? Because Ethereum’s vision and roadmap are fully aligned with this idea. It’s ambitious, exciting, and full of potential. 

But let’s face it—Ethereum still has a long way to go, with its big plans likely taking years to fully materialize.

Enter Celestia. 🚀 

This up-and-coming blockchain has its sights set on the same massive goal as Ethereum:

👉 Becoming the foundation for hundreds, even thousands, of interconnected chains, all working together to deliver a seamless user experience. 

But here’s the kicker—Celestia isn’t waiting around. Its groundbreaking solution, Lazybridging, is set to launch this summer, leaving Ethereum’s estimated five-year timeline looking painfully slow in comparison.

Could Celestia be the real game-changer in the app chain era? Time will tell, but it’s clear this race just got a whole lot more interesting.

You should also know that Celestia is already proving itself with an impressive Data Availability (DA) solution that has clearly found its PMF (Product Market Fit). Without diving too deep now, here’s a crazy stat: 

Celestia's DA solution is seeing over 1.6x more demand than Ethereum’s.

Here is the chart. 

Celestia commands 62% of the market share. Surprised? You shouldn’t be – because its DA costs are 99x cheaper than Ethereum’s, making it the undeniable leader in this space.

With numbers like these, Celestia has already proven its ability to deliver top-tier solutions the market needs. The bottom line: It’s time to pay attention.

💡 It’s not Solana or Sui challenging Ethereum this time—it’s Celestia!

If you want to stay ahead in the crypto game, you need to keep tabs on projects that could disrupt the market—and Celestia is shaping up to be one of the biggest contenders yet. 

That’s why we’re here to break it all down for you.

Here’s what we’ll be covering today:

• Does Celestia have a founder-market fit?

• What is their core innovation?

• Why should we ignore the fees today?

• What concerns do we have about $TIA?

• And most importantly, should we consider buying $TIA?

P.S. - We’re hosting a PRO AMA next week — scroll to the bottom for more info. 👀 

If you’re new here, let us introduce you to our MR Playbook—our step-by-step guide for breaking down crypto projects. 

This framework helps us uncover what really makes a project stand out. Plus, by using the same approach every time, we can fine-tune it over time and easily compare projects side by side. 💪

Now, let’s kick things off by taking a closer look at the team behind Celestia and why they might just be the perfect fit to lead this revolution.

TEAM

Celestia is led by a powerhouse team of innovators with expertise across blockchain, computer science, and business. Here’s a quick look at the key players driving the project forward:

• Mustafa Al-Bassam – Co-Founder & CEO
  Mustafa holds a PhD in Computer Science from University College London. Before founding Celestia, he co-founded Chainspace, a blockchain project that was later acquired by Facebook.

• Ismail Khoffi – Co-Founder & CTO
  With a background in IT security, cryptography, and blockchain infrastructure, Ismail previously worked as a senior engineer at Tendermint and the Interchain Foundation, where he helped build key blockchain infrastructure.

• Nick White – COO
  Nick is an expert in blockchain infrastructure and artificial intelligence. Before joining Celestia, he co-founded Harmony Protocol, another blockchain project aimed at solving scalability challenges.

• John Adler – Co-Founder & Chief Research Officer
  John is best known as the creator of Optimistic Rollups, a groundbreaking solution for blockchain scalability. Before Celestia, he worked as a scalability researcher at ConsenSys, contributing to Ethereum’s development.

❗ When it comes to investing, the team is everything. ❗️ 

A strong team is the foundation of any great project. The best ideas in the world don’t mean much if they aren’t executed well. And here’s the good news: with Celestia’s leadership, execution is in highly capable hands.

Remember that paragraph! 

Now that we’ve met the team, let’s dive into the heart of the matter: what massive problem are they solving?

TAM (TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET) 

The answer might not be as simple as you'd like, but here’s how we see it: Celestia is positioning itself as a direct competitor to Ethereum. 

To truly grasp its potential, we first need to ask—what’s the total addressable market for Ethereum?

We firmly believe in a modular blockchain future, where thousands of chains will coexist. 

Rather than trying to do everything themselves, many of these chains will depend on external providers for specific functionalities such as DA for example.

Now, think about this: what if those external providers could offer even more value than that? 

Features like seamless interoperability, instant access to existing liquidity, or the advantage of plugging into an established user base. 

These are the massive markets Celestia is targeting—right alongside Ethereum.

While this vision might sound broad, one thing is crystal clear: 

👉 The top players in this space are poised to generate billions in revenue. Not today, not tomorrow, but eventually. And that’s the key takeaway here!

So no, Celestia’s product isn’t just aimed at a small niche. It has the potential to attract a wide audience and unlock significant revenue streams. 

With that in mind, we can confidently check this section off as ✅.

Now, let’s shift gears and dive into the most critical aspect—what Celestia’s product is bringing to the table.

PRODUCT

Before diving in, let me share a quick story. 

A few days ago, someone asked me why I favor crypto products over traditional ones—banks, brokers, etc. My response was simple: blockchain-based products are just better.

And let’s be real—people aren’t going to switch to crypto just because it promises more control over their funds or eliminates middlemen. That’s not enough. 

For mass adoption, crypto products need to outperform traditional finance on every level.

I’m not a “crypto maxi,” either. I value the ability to control my funds, but I’d gladly use TradFi systems if they offered clearly better solutions.

🧠 This is the mindset we should all adopt: focus on quality and utility over ideology.

At the same time, we need to stay forward-looking. Crypto is rapidly evolving, and being open-minded, critical, and avoiding “maximalist” thinking is crucial. If anything, we should all strive to be product maximalists.

The truth is, blockchains already offer massive advantages over traditional systems:

• They’re faster,

• Cheaper,

• More secure,

• Available 24/7,

• And accessible globally.

Through the lens of being a “product maxi,” it’s not AWS (Amazon Web Services), Bitcoin, or even Solana that will deliver the next groundbreaking innovation and much superior systems—it’s platforms like Celestia or Ethereum.

We genuinely believe our perspective is grounded in logic and reason, and we’re confident that we’re on the verge of witnessing the final end state for blockchains—delivered by Celestia, and it’s happening this year!

With that in mind, let’s dive in and explore what Celestia’s products are all about.

DAS (DATA AVAILABILITY SAMPLING)

Right now, L2s batch multiple transactions together and send only the final balances to Ethereum for settlement. Ethereum acts as the “settlement layer” where all balances are finalized and secured. However, to maintain trust and transparency, L2s must also post the underlying data somewhere.

This allows anyone to independently verify that the balances sent to Ethereum are accurate and haven’t been manipulated.

🤝 If this sounds confusing, here’s a simple analogy:

Imagine you go out to dinner with 10 friends and you pay the bill. Later, you tell everyone how much they owe you. But how can they be sure your math is right?

To solve this, you could post the bill online for everyone to see—showing exactly what each person ordered. This way, if anyone disputes the amount, they can double-check the details themselves.

That’s exactly what DA does: it provides a transparent way for anyone to verify that the math (or in this case, the transactions) checks out.

✍️ L2s and other chains can choose their DA provider, usually opting for the cheapest option since they just need a place to post data for verification if necessary.

What sets Celestia apart is its innovative approach to DA through a method called Data Availability Sampling (DAS).

As we mentioned earlier, most L2s today post their data to Ethereum DA, enabling anyone to verify the correctness of that data at any time. Celestia takes a different route—this verification happens instantly through "sampling" performed by light nodes.

Here’s how it works:

1. Data is broken into smaller chunks (samples) which light nodes need to verify.

2. When enough nodes participate in this sampling process, they collectively ensure that all parts of the block's data are accessible and valid.

3. The block can be finalized.

4. The work of light nodes is done.

5. The data is pushed and stored on the Celestia base layer in case anyone still wants to verify it later.

You might not know what a node is—think of it as a combination of hardware (meeting specific requirements) and software that performs a specific function.

Take Celestia's light node, for example. You could even install the necessary software on something as simple as a smartwatch to handle the "sampling" process. It’s that straightforward.

Celestia’s light nodes are purposefully designed with minimal hardware requirements, making them accessible and easy for anyone to operate. This innovative approach unlocks immense scaling potential for Celestia. 😉

Cool, but so far we’ve been talking about Celestia’s current DA solution. While it might sound exciting, the truth is the DA market isn’t exactly the most attractive space.

Why? Because the DA industry is becoming highly commoditized. With so many projects offering similar services, competition often comes down to price—and that’s a race to the bottom. 

Lower prices mean shrinking profits, and sooner or later, a competitor might roll out an even cheaper option. The result? Losing customers and revenue.

It’s a tough pill to swallow, but that’s just how competitive markets work. Here's where it gets exciting—what truly sets Celestia apart and positions it as a potential leader in the modular blockchain future.