Celestia Foundation has announced the purchase of all remaining TIA tokens from Polychain Capital for $62.5 million. This deal comes ahead of a network upgrade that will change the distribution of staking rewards.
Deal with Polychain Capital
All remaining TIA tokens held by Polychain Capital were transferred at approximately $1.44 per token, matching the market price in early July 2025. The deal marks the exit of one of the project's key early investors and was reportedly motivated by criticism directed at Polychain for selling large amounts of staking rewards while many tokens were locked under a vesting schedule.
New Token Unlock Schedule
The foundation plans to redistribute these tokens to new investors according to a new unlock schedule, effective from August 16 to November 14. The names of the new token holders have not been disclosed.
Lotus Upgrade and New Staking Rules
To address concerns, an update called Lotus is planned for the Celestia network in late July. This upgrade will modify the distribution of staking rewards by locking them in proportion to each account’s unlocked token balance. For example, if 50% of an account’s tokens are unlocked, only half of its staking rewards will be accessible. If all tokens are locked, both the tokens and staking rewards will remain inaccessible until the unlock period ends.
The Celestia Foundation's deal with Polychain Capital and the upcoming Lotus upgrade highlight changes in the approach to token management and staking rewards within the project, which may influence the future development of the network.
