Celestia Unveils Matcha Upgrade to Enhance Scalability with 128MB Blocks

Celestia has announced the implementation of its highly anticipated v6 upgrade, known as Matcha, which is currently operational on the Arabica testnet and is set to launch on the Mainnet. This upgrade signifies a crucial leap forward in Celestia’s ongoing mission to enhance scalability and efficiency in blockchain technology, according to the Celestia blog.

Enhanced Block Size and Scalability

The Matcha upgrade enables Celestia to scale up to 128MB blocks, a significant increase facilitated by a new high-throughput block propagation mechanism. This development is a pivotal step towards Celestia’s long-term goal of achieving 1 GB/s data throughput, enhancing its capability to handle larger volumes of transactions efficiently.

Economic Adjustments and Routing Layer

In addition to scalability improvements, Matcha reduces inflation from 5% to 2.5%, improving the monetary properties of Celestia’s native token, TIA. This move aims to make TIA more viable as collateral in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications and prepares the network for a future shift to Proof-of-Governance.

The upgrade also removes the token filter for Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) and Hyperlane, transforming Celestia into a versatile routing layer for any asset. This change allows users to bridge any asset to Celestia, enhancing its role as a cross-chain asset routing solution.

Key Changes and Improvements

The Matcha upgrade incorporates several Celestia Improvement Proposals (CIPs), including CIP-36, which reduces the trusted period to seven days, and CIP-37, which shortens the unbonding period to approximately 14 days. These changes are designed to enhance network security and capital efficiency.

Another significant change, CIP-38, introduces a mechanism to increase maximum block, square, and transaction sizes, setting the stage for further scalability enhancements. CIP-39 removes the token filter, enabling broader asset bridging capabilities.

Moreover, CIP-40 extends the Privval interface for arbitrary message signing, allowing validators to engage in high-throughput offchain protocols securely. CIP-41 reduces issuance to 2.5% and increases the minimum commission to 10%, ensuring validators maintain adequate incentives.

Additional Network Enhancements

The Matcha upgrade also addresses network issues such as reward claiming post-stake movement and broken Interchain Accounts (ICA) functionality, primarily used by liquid staking protocols. Furthermore, the Data Availability (DA) network will receive concurrent upgrades, including non-consensus-breaking changes like CIP-34 and CIP-35, which introduce data pruning mechanisms to reduce storage costs for nodes.

As Celestia continues to roll out the Matcha upgrade, these enhancements are expected to bolster its infrastructure, paving the way for future developments and increased adoption in the blockchain ecosystem.

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