Celestia’s “Matcha” Upgrade Targets Higher Throughput and Leaner Token Economics

Celestia has unveiled its largest software upgrade to date, known as Matcha, marking a pivotal step in the project’s evolution as a data-availability blockchain. The update focuses on dramatically increasing network capacity while refining token economics to better position Celestia as a core infrastructure layer for modular blockchain ecosystems.

At the technical level, Matcha expands Celestia’s maximum block size from 8 MB to 128 MB, a substantial leap that enables the network to process far more data in each block. This enhancement is paired with improvements to data propagation across the network, allowing for significantly higher throughput as more applications rely on Celestia to store and verify their data. The upgrade is designed to ensure that Celestia can scale efficiently as demand rises, especially from rollups and decentralized applications that depend on fast, reliable data availability.

Matcha also introduces meaningful economic adjustments aimed at strengthening long-term sustainability. One of the most notable changes is the reduction of annual token inflation from roughly 5% to about 2.5%, a move likely to appeal to long-term token holders by limiting supply expansion. Another key update is the removal of the “token filter” for cross-chain bridges. By eliminating this barrier, Celestia allows non-TIA assets to move more freely through its ecosystem, reinforcing its ambition to become a primary hub for cross-chain data availability and asset routing.

TIA, Celestia’s native token, has reacted positively in the short term, rising approximately 6% in the last 24 hours to around $0.65. Despite the uptick, the token remains down significantly from its all-time high of nearly $19.70 in December 2024. Still, supporters view Matcha as a major milestone that could help reposition Celestia amid increasing competition in the modular blockchain landscape.

The Matcha upgrade underscores Celestia’s commitment to scalability, interoperability, and economic efficiency—key ingredients for becoming a leading data-availability solution as the blockchain industry continues to expand.