The Rise of Modular Blockchains: Celestia & Beyond

The "Blockchain Trilemma" states that you can only optimize for two of three: Decentralization, Security, and Scalability. Monolithic blockchains (like Ethereum 1.0 or Solana) try to do everything in one layer.

The Modular Stack

Modular architectures break these functions apart:

• Execution: Processing transactions (e.g., Rollups like Arbitrum, Optimism).
• Settlement: Dispute resolution and bridging (e.g., Ethereum).
• Consensus: Ordering transactions.
• Data Availability (DA): Ensuring data is published (e.g., Celestia).

Why Celestia Matters

Celestia is the first modular blockchain network optimized solely for data availability and consensus. By offloading execution to rollups, it allows developers to deploy their own blockchains (rollups) as easily as a smart contract, with shared security from the start.