Late Monday, the Celestia Foundation announced that it had secured $100 million in funding led by Bain Capital Crypto. The round was joined by Synclash Capital, 1kx, Robot Ventures, and Placeholder, bringing the total capital raised to $155 million.
The specific allocation of the new funds was not disclosed.
Celestia (TIA) Price Surges More Than 20%
Nonetheless, Celestia Foundation co-founder Mustafa Al-Bassam stressed the core developers’ commitment to the new technology roadmap.
“When Celestia launched last year as the first modular data availability layer, it expanded block space from the dial-up era to the broadband era. Now, our core developers have introduced a technology roadmap that expands block space to the fiber era, all while maintaining verifiable and low-latency integrity,” Al-Bassam said .
The market reacted positively after the announcement. The foundation’s native token, TIA , surged by almost 21% in value, but later stabilized at 12.25%. TIA is currently trading at $6.40, giving it a market cap of $1.36 billion. Despite this surge, the token is still over 65% below its February 2024 high .
Read more: What are the best altcoins to invest in September 2024?
Interestingly, this announcement came a month before Celestia’s token unlock was scheduled for October 31st.
“This deal was an OTC transaction done a few months ago with the foundation at a valuation of $3.5 billion, and it will also unlock in October. Investors would break even if they sold at $7.50 at full unlock,” said crypto analyst Sisyphus.
According to CryptoRank data, the event will distribute 175.74 million tokens, which is 16.4% of the total supply. At the current market price, these tokens are worth approximately $1.12 billion, or 82.2% of the token’s total market cap.
Token unlock details are as follows:
- 182,240 TIA for research, development and ecosystem improvement, valued at $1.17 million.
- Series A and B investors were allocated 65.01 million TIA, for a total of $418.52 million.
- 58.08 million TIAs are reserved for early core contributors, valued at $373.9 million.
- Seed investors were allocated 52.47 million TIA, for a total of $337.79 million.
With the Celestia token unlock, some traders plan to short TIA tokens. However, Sisyphus expressed concerns about the potential market volatility surrounding the unlock.
“If too many people know about the unlock, it’s a bad short. Conversely, if it’s not widely discussed yet, it’s still a viable short,” he said .
This perspective illuminates the delicate balance that traders must maintain when trying to predict market movements.
As October approaches, the impact of the token unlock on TIA’s market stability is becoming increasingly clear. Traders should apply rigorous risk management practices to mitigate the impact of the expected volatility.
