The skyrocketing popularity of modular blockchain Celestia has sparked a heated debate about the legitimacy of Ethereum’s data availability (DA). Even Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has started speaking out frequently. So, what exactly is DA, and what does the debate surrounding its legitimacy mean?
DA, or data availability, is an important component of modular blockchain architecture like Celestia. Unlike a monolithic blockchain, modular blockchains divide different parts of a blockchain network into corresponding functional layers, such as execution, data availability, consensus, and settlement.
The execution layer is responsible for processing transactions and updating states. The data availability (DA) layer stores the data required to verify the validity of transactions. The consensus layer determines the transaction order and final confirmation within a block, and the settlement layer verifies Rollup L2 state data and handles fraud proof/validity proof.
With the escalation of the L2 war and the continuous development of modular narratives, projects focused on execution, such as Rollup, or projects focused on data availability like Celestia, are emerging.
In the modular world, the core function of data availability (DA) is to ensure that data on the chain is available for all network participants to use and access, thus reducing costs and expanding the suite blockchain. By separating data availability and execution, modular architecture allows for specialization and higher throughput, improving interoperability and reducing costs.
In terms of scalability, modular blockchain solutions like Celestia allow developers to build more scalable blockchains by combining specialized modular chains. This can be achieved through Rollup-as-a-service providers such as Caldera, AltLayer, and Conduit, making it easier to deploy new L2 solutions.
In the case of Ethereum, the modular approach utilizes the L1 main chain as the settlement and data availability layer, while various L2 solutions like Rollup serve as the execution layer, achieving scalability.
So why has there been a recent debate about DA involving Vitalik and the community? The reason is simple: besides Ethereum, new solutions like Celestia, EigenLayer, and Avail have emerged as mainstream projects in the data availability layer.
With the development of Celestia, it has become a competitor to Ethereum in terms of data availability, offering scalability, sovereignty, flexibility, and shared security. This has led some general-purpose L2 solutions like Manta and ZkFair to adopt Celestia instead of Ethereum.
The direct impact of this shift is seen in Manta Pacific’s migration of the data availability layer from Ethereum to Celestia, resulting in a significant reduction in costs. This transition has sparked extensive discussions within the Ethereum community.
The motivation behind such a move is undoubtedly to reduce the cost of data availability. By migrating to Celestia, Manta Pacific has reported a cost reduction of 99.81% compared to using the Ethereum mainnet.
Although third-party DA solutions like Celestia sacrifice some security compared to Rollup as the DA layer on Ethereum, the cost impact is more critical for these L2 solutions.
As a result, new projects like Aleo, Dymension, ZKFair, and even Polygon have opted for new DA solutions like Celestia to lower costs. Polygon has even chosen to switch to NEAR, claiming it is “8,000 times cheaper” than Ethereum.
It is foreseeable that as long as the cost advantage continues to exist, more L2 solutions integrating new DA solutions like Celestia will emerge, causing a significant impact on Ethereum. This has sparked a competition between the Ethereum community and the Celestia team for defining the DA layer of Ethereum L2.
In summary, the debate about DA legitimacy revolves around the argument of whether general-purpose Rollup L2 solutions should switch from Ethereum to modular blockchain DAs like Celestia or Avail.
In conclusion, the emergence of various DA solutions like Celestia has weakened the competitiveness of Ethereum’s DA. This includes Celestia, EigenDA/MantleDA, NEAR, and others, all playing a role in the evolving landscape of the DA race.
From the perspective of the booming TIA market price, it is evident that the DA race is gaining mainstream attention along with the evolving landscape of L1 and L2 solutions.
Therefore, the debate about DA legitimacy will likely become a major narrative in 2024 and may even give rise to new “Ethereum killers.” We will have to wait and see what new projects emerge in this space.
Related articles:
– Monolithic Blockchain vs. Modular Blockchain: The Next Steps for Ethereum, Solana, and Celestia Competition
– An In-Depth Look at Celestia’s Core and Economic Model: The Explosive Narrative of Modular Blockchain
– Celestia is Live! Token TIA Breaks $2, Steps to Claim Airdrop by “Updating Keplr Wallet”