The Matcha upgrade is now live on Arabica testnet and deployed on Mainnet, marking one of Celestia’s most substantial steps toward scaling modular infrastructure. The update expands blockspace, adjusts inflation, and strengthens TIA’s long-term economic framework — all with the aim of positioning Celestia as a core routing layer for cross-chain assets.
Matcha Signals a Shift Toward High-Capacity, Cross-Chain Infrastructure
Developers emphasize that Matcha’s new block propagation system dramatically increases capacity, lifting maximum block size from 8 MB to 128 MB and enabling far larger, data-heavy rollup activity. This aligns with Celestia’s roadmap, which focuses on massive throughput and a token model designed to minimize dilution over time. Market sentiment has been volatile, especially with a major token unlock approaching that could increase selling pressure.
Celestia core developers, with input from the community, shipped 6 core protocol improvements in this upgrade.
Notably –
* Increases maximum block, square and transaction size
* Halves issuance to 2.5% and increases minimum validator commission to 10%
* Enables any asset to be…— Celestia (@celestia) November 24, 2025
The upgrade also expands interoperability, removing key asset filters through CIP-39 to allow IBC and Hyperlane routing of non-native tokens — a change that effectively converts Celestia into a cross-chain data corridor. Rollups that rely on blob posting stand to benefit directly from this shift. Developers also introduced Proof-of-Governance (PoG), a mechanism that allows the community to adjust monetary policy through on-chain voting.
CIP-41 cuts annual inflation from 5% to 2.5% and raises the minimum validator commission to 10%, a move aimed at reducing unnecessary token emissions and stabilizing the staking economy. Analysts describe these measures as a step toward making TIA more attractive as collateral within DeFi. Discussions continue around a more aggressive PoG proposal that could lower inflation to 0.25%, potentially shifting TIA toward a near-neutral or deflationary supply.
Volatility has defined TIA’s price action as the token has dropped more than 90% from its December 2024 peak of $19.70 to roughly $0.65, according to analyst-cited market data. The upcoming October 31 unlock of more than 175 million tokens — an 82% increase in circulating supply — is viewed as a significant short-term risk. Analysts note that Matcha’s combined boost in blockspace and reduced inflation is a calculated effort to strengthen TIA’s long-term economic foundation.
With Matcha, Celestia positions itself as a high-throughput, modular backbone for cross-chain ecosystems while attempting to reinforce token stability through controlled issuance.