Polychain Offloads $62.5M Celestia Stake Amid Criticism

- Polychain sells its $62.5 million TIA stake to the Celestia Foundation. - The sale follows community criticism over staking rewards and precedes the "Lotus" mainnet upgrade. On July 24, 2025, Crypto News reported that Polychain Capital sold its remaining $62.5 million stake in Celestia to the foundation, following criticism of its staking reward practices. The transaction involved the repurchase of 43.4 million TIA tokens, which the foundation will reassign to new investors on a rolling unlock schedule between August 16 and November 14, 2025. Polychain Capital, an early Celestia investor with an initial $20 million stake, faced community backlash for its handling of staking rewards after the firm generated over $80 million by selling rewards from its locked TIA tokens. This practice sparked allegations of insider gains and compromised the network's fairness. To address these concerns, Celestia's upcoming "Lotus" mainnet upgrade introduces a reformed staking rewards mechanism. The new system will align rewards with the vesting schedule for locked tokens. Consequently, if a portion of an investor's holdings remains locked, a proportional share of their staking rewards will also be locked. This change aims to improve equity and transparency for all token holders. In addition, the "Lotus" upgrade brings enhancements to strengthen the network, including a 33% reduction in TIA’s inflation rate and the integration of Hyperlane, which allows direct interoperability with blockchains like Ethereum. These improvements will enhance Celestia’s tokenomics and interoperability while addressing previous criticisms and bolstering the network's operational efficiency. As of 19:16 UTC on July 24, market data shows TIA trading at $1.899, representing a 3.828% drop over the past 24 hours.