Celestia (TIA)

The layers of a blockchain are pulled apart here: the network orders transactions and guarantees data availability, while execution is left to other chains that publish their blocks to it. This modular approach was meant to let a team launch its own chain without building consensus and a validator set from scratch. Chains that use it as a data layer are called sovereign: they set their own rules. TIA pays for data publication and secures proof of stake. Celestia became the reference example of modular design in the industry.

Celestia does not execute smart contracts: an application brings its own execution layer and takes only ordering and data availability from the network.