Celestia (TIA) is a modular blockchain network that seeks to redefine the architecture of blockchain technology. It is designed to allow anyone to deploy their own blockchain with minimal overhead. Celestia's approach separates the consensus and execution layers of blockchain, aiming to create a more scalable and customizable environment for developers. This network introduces a new primitive, data availability sampling, which allows it to scale by decoupling execution from consensus. Celestia does not impose any execution or settlement constraints, providing developers with the freedom to define their own execution and settlement environments. This flexibility opens up a world of new possibilities for builders and developers in the blockchain space.

Celestia operates by separating the core functions of a blockchain, thus aiming to overcome the scaling difficulties faced by traditional monolithic blockchains. It introduces the concept of modular blockchains, which decouple consensus from the execution of transactions. This allows for greater scalability without compromising security or decentralization. Celestia's network is designed to ensure data availability, a critical aspect of blockchain technology. It uses a technique known as data availability sampling, which allows nodes to verify that data is available for a block without having to download the entire block. This approach aims to minimize the resources required to reach consensus, as transaction validity rules can be decoupled from consensus rules.

Celestia's modular approach to blockchain technology opens up a wide range of potential use cases. It allows for easier experimentation as new application-specific or general-purpose blockchains can be deployed to Celestia and immediately inherit security from Celestia’s validator set. This enables developers to have control over the rules of an application through sovereignty, as they can make alterations to the tech stack without needing permission from outside applications. Furthermore, Celestia's focus on data availability makes it a suitable platform for applications that require high levels of data integrity and accessibility.

The concept of Celestia was born out of a desire to rethink blockchain architecture from the ground up. The project was inspired by the limitations of traditional monolithic blockchains, which perform all core functions of a blockchain, leading to scaling difficulties. Celestia's approach to blockchain technology was first outlined in a document titled "LazyLedger: A Distributed Data Availability Ledger With Client-Side Smart Contracts" by Mustafa Al-Bassam from the Department of Computer Science at University College London. The document proposed a design for distributed ledgers where the blockchain is optimized solely for ordering and guaranteeing the availability of transaction data. This marked the beginning of the journey towards the creation of Celestia, the first modular blockchain network.