The TIA Staking Opp

Built with the Cosmos SDK, Celestia is a data availability (DA) blockchain created as an affordable and efficient hub for Layer 2 (L2) rollups to publish transaction data. The idea is to offer L2s a cheaper place to post their data than the Ethereum mainnet, lowering gas costs for L2 users. 

Accordingly, Celestia allows L2s to modularly sidestep having to manage their own DA solutions in pursuit of better prices so they can focus instead on their execution layer, where the end-user magic—i.e., transactions—happens.

For example, the DeFi options project Lyra just announced that its Optimism-based Lyra Chain L2 is embracing Celestia for its DA needs. 

Considering all of this, as we stand on the precipice of a Cambrian explosion of L2s, Celestia is well-positioned as one of the first-mover DA solutions that’s ready to support the modular boom in rollups. 

That said if you agree that the future is bright for Celestia, one popular way to capitalize on the network’s rise is by staking its native token, $TIA.  

That’s because not only can you earn $TIA staking rewards—which is currently yielding 16.25% APR—but you might also qualify for airdrops targeted at Celestia stakers. 

For instance, the scaling solution Dymension just announced that it’s distributing 20,000,000 DYM tokens to people who had staked $TIA prior to December 19th, 2023.

Not too shabby, right? And more distributions like this are all but inevitable at this point. Fortunately, it’s easy to get started here, as the process of staking $TIA is straightforward. It would look like this:

• Create a Celestia wallet — I recommend Keplr, a user-friendly browser wallet for Cosmos chains like Celestia that also offers a streamlined staking interface. 
• Acquire $TIA — The easiest path here is to buy $TIA on a crypto exchange like Coinbase or Kraken. When you have the funds you want to stake ready to go, deposit them into the Celestia address you generated in Keplr. 
• Stake through Keplr — With your $TIA in hand, click on the “Manage Portfolio in Keplr Dashboard” button in your wallet. In the “Staking” hub, click on “Celestia,” and then choose a validator to stake with from the provided list. Input the amount of $TIA you want to stake and approve the final transaction with your wallet.

That’s all it takes to stake $TIA! You can then deposit more or unstake through your Keplr dashboard as you wish, just keep in mind that there’s a 21-day withdrawal queue so don’t stake any funds that you may need to access in the short-term. 

Another thing to keep in mind is that you can emulate the $TIA staking process described above for staking on any Cosmos chain that Keplr supports, e.g., Cosmos Hub, dYdX, Osmosis, etc. Acquire your tokens, deposit them to your wallet, and then deposit through the “Staking” dashboard. That’s it!

Zooming out, as the DA surge continues in crypto amid Ethereum’s rollup bloom, Celestia appears to be a strong contender for a “top project to watch” in this new bull market. 

Not only is the network interesting and useful in its own right, but its staking + airdrop opps combo is ideal for passive airdrop hunters who want to maximize the efficiency of their capital, i.e., one deposit to fetch multiple potential airdrops!