Celestia co-founder cites $100 million war chest and six-year runway to ‘play the long game’ as native token drops over 90% from peak

Celestia’s TIA token recently hit an all-time low of $1.32, extending a 93% slide from its $20 peak last year.

The sell-off occurred amid unverified allegations that executives had cashed out after October’s token unlock, worth about $1 billion at the time. Claims from user “0xCircusLover” accused Celestia insiders of conducting several over-the-counter sales and coordinating heavily paid “shills” to prop TIA on social media.

Celestia co-founder Mustafa Al-Bassam pushed back on X, calling the general scrutiny "FUD," and stated that the project’s team remains intact. “All Celestia founders, early employees, and core engineers are still here,” he wrote. He added that 95% of drawdowns occur during the life cycle of most tokens and insisted that the project is well-funded to weather major downturns. “We have a $100 million war chest and a six-year runway, so we’re ready to play the long game,” Al-Bassam’s Sunday post reads.

Proof of governance

Elsewhere, John Adler, another Celestia co-founder, attempted to address concerns through onchain governance. Adler proposed swapping the network’s proof-of-stake model for an experimental proof-of-governance consensus. The new mechanism would slash new-token issuance by a factor of 20 and ditch complex liquid staking tokens.

Observers have previously blamed high inflation from the PoS system for diluting TIA circulation. The proposal aims to reduce unnecessary issuance from 5% to 0.25%, without compromising security, according to Adler.

Under PoG, token holders can decide the blockchain’s operators without staking tokens or earning passive income. Adler argued that the switch would create a fairer system without compromising network security. He also stated that the change should prioritize revenue and value accrual directly to TIA holders.

The proposal has garnered positive responses from forum members during the discussion phase. Token holders will decide whether the proof-of-governance plan proceeds to a formal onchain vote.

TIA jumped 12% to trade at $1.59 with a broad market upswing on Tuesday, according to The Block's price page.