Celestia Foundation has announced the completion of a deal to buy back all remaining TIA tokens held by the venture firm Polychain Capital. The transaction amounted to $62.5 million, marking a significant end to the involvement of one of the project’s main early investors.
This is reported by Business • Media
Details of the deal and new token distribution strategy
As part of the agreement, the foundation acquired 43,451,616.09 TIA from Polychain Capital at a price of approximately $1.44 per token, which reflected the market value at the beginning of July 2025. All acquired tokens will be distributed among new investors according to an updated unlock schedule, which will be in effect from August 16 to November 14 of this year.
“The Celestia Foundation has worked with Polychain Capital to assign Polychain’s entire remaining TIA holdings to new investors. This month, the Foundation purchased 43,451,616.09 TIA from Polychain Capital for $62.5m. Polychain will shortly be undelegating their entire staked…”
The names of the new token holders are not disclosed. It is noted that this move is intended to reduce the pressure of criticism on Polychain Capital, which had previously faced accusations of mass selling staking rewards for TIA, despite the majority of tokens remaining locked according to the vesting schedule.
Impact of changes on the market and updates to the Celestia network
Analysts note that Polychain could have potentially realized TIA tokens worth up to $242 million, of which $179 million consisted of liquid staking rewards. The company’s initial investments in the project are estimated at around $20 million in funding rounds A and B.
In response to criticism, a major update called Lotus is scheduled for implementation in the Celestia network at the end of July. According to the new rules, staking rewards will be locked in proportion to the unlocked portion of tokens. This decision, according to the developers, is intended to reduce speculative pressure from large addresses with vesting.
From now on, if only 50% of the balance is unlocked, a user will only be able to receive half of the accrued staking rewards. In the case of complete locking, all rewards and tokens remain inaccessible until the unlock period is completed.
Previously, the co-founder of Celestia emphasized that the project continues to develop despite the daily FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) surrounding the platform.