Celestia Launches mamo-1 Testnet
Celestia has made another splash with the launch of mamo-1, its latest public testnet designed to test permissionless data throughput capabilities of up to 21.33MB per second. If that number sounds modest, imagine streaming high-resolution video while playing online games and downloading large files at the same time—all over the blockchain network. Yes, that’s the data capacity being tested.
Introducing mamo-1
mamo-1 is a public testnet with 128MB blocks, enabling 21.33MB/s of permissionless data throughput. https://t.co/MvY90CJMqH
— Celestia (@celestia) April 14, 2025
The testnet processes a 128MB block every six seconds. It’s not just the numbers that are jaw-dropping, but also the way they distribute the data. Celestia relies on a new protocol called Vacuum! that utilizes lazy gossiping and Validator Availability Certificates (VACs) to distribute data more efficiently. This means validators can receive important information faster and more reliably.
At the same time, the Pull-Based Broadcast Tree (PBBT) structure also allows validators to rebuild blocks from only a portion of the data, using erasure coding techniques. This approach keeps the network running even if some of the data is inaccessible.
Furthermore, the mamo-1 testnet is not just an experimental lab. There are 21 active validators spread across Amsterdam, Paris, and Warsaw, so the simulations run are very close to real-world conditions. This is very important for developers who are building high-throughput applications such as on-chain games, ZK rollups, or web applications that can be verified directly on the blockchain.
Celestia’s Journey Throughout 2024
This is not the first time Celestia has shown off. On October 22, 2024, they launched the Mammoth Mini testnet which successfully implemented a block size of 88MB. The result? Permissionless data throughput reached an average of 27MB per second.
Two days later, they continued to announce the Ginger upgrade (celestia-app v3), which cut the block time from 12 seconds to just 6 seconds. The effect is a smoother user experience with much faster transaction finality. Moreover, the data availability capacity also immediately doubled.
On the other hand, CNF also reported that Celestia continues to refine their rollup strategy by optimizing blob usage, single-slot finality, and increasing block capacity. All of this is prepared as a foundation for a more mature Ginger launch.
Behind the Scenes of TIA Funding and Tokens
Of course, all of these innovations need fuel. And the fuel comes from a big funding of $100 million that the Celestia Foundation managed to raise on September 23, 2024. Although the TIA token has fallen by 54% since the beginning of the year, this injection of funds is a strong sign that confidence in this modular blockchain project is still high.
When this article was written, the price of TIA was trading at about $2.50 with sideways movement in the last 24 hours. Its market cap is also still around $1.5 billion.