Blockchain technology has revolutionized how we think about data storage, security, and scalability. However, as the blockchain ecosystem continues to evolve, new challenges arise, particularly around data availability.
Mina Protocol and Celestia have combined forces to bring the first modular decentralized data availability (DA) solution to the Mina ecosystem. The integration project is led by Geometry Research, a pioneering team in zk-SNARKs, with technical support from o1Labs. By bringing more DA solutions to Mina Protocol, builders will see the potential to improve the capabilities of zkApps significantly.
What is modular data availability?
Data availability refers to the problem of ensuring that all data in a blockchain block, particularly in the context of blockchain scaling strategies, is published to the network. This is crucial because if a block producer doesn’t release all of the data in a block, it becomes impossible to detect if there is a malicious transaction hidden within that block.
The data availability problem is relevant to increasing the size of blocks, sharding, and rollups, which aim to improve a blockchain’s throughput. Data availability proofs are a solution to this problem, allowing clients to check with a high probability that all the data for a block has been published by only downloading a very small piece of that block.
This is achieved through the use of erasure codes, which allow the recovery of the entire block even if a significant portion of it is missing. By implementing data availability proofs, blockchain networks can ensure that all data is available, thereby enhancing the security and decentralization of the network.
The Modular Movement
In the context of blockchain, modularity refers to the design principle of breaking down the system into smaller, independent components or modules that can be developed, deployed, and upgraded separately. This allows for greater flexibility and scalability of blockchain systems, enabling the development of infrastructure solutions that optimize for specialized functions while interacting seamlessly with other modules, overall contributing to a better developer experience. Not to mention, modular architectures also facilitate interoperability between different blockchain networks or protocols, promoting ecosystem growth and innovation across the entire industry.
This collaboration between Mina and Celestia makes sense for a few reasons. First, as Mina’s ecosystem grows to handle larger volumes of transactions, a data availability solution such as Celestia’s ensures anyone can inspect and verify the ledger of transactions. This is important for trust and further reinforces Mina’s position as a leading L1 for zero knowledge applications.
Second, Mina and Celestia have both made design decisions which prioritize accessibility, making it easier for anyone to verify on-chain information and secure the network. Celestia’s data availability sampling approach allows light nodes to verify data has been published without needing to download all the data for a block. Similarly, Mina’s succinct blockchain architecture (the chain itself is a 22 KB zero knowledge proof of the entire history) means any participant can validate transactions on any device like a full node, making true decentralization possible.
Third, Celestia pioneered the modular blockchain movement by decoupling consensus and data availability layers from execution and settlement layers. Mina, on the other hand, has been designed as a modular proof layer. Built from the ground-up with zero knowledge (ZK) proofs, Mina aims to be the most efficient and affordable place to settle and verify proofs of anything. Because of Mina’s small size, it is also possible to bridge the Mina state (a compact representation of every proof ever settled to Mina) to other chains through state-proof-based bridges, making all those proofs accessible on other chains.
In short, integration with Celestia’s modular data availability layer enhances Mina’s functionality, facilitating its role as a foundational layer for decentralized applications which create and consume zero knowledge proofs, thereby enabling the broader adoption of ZK technologies.
Why now?
The integration of Celestia’s modular DA layer with Mina’s ZK native blockchain will enable higher throughput for zkApps, particularly those that require large-scale off-chain data. This collaboration will streamline the building process for developers, making it easier to launch high-throughput, customizable zero knowledge applications and paving the way for unprecedented growth in the space. Under the hood, this integration is powered by Succinct’s Blobstream X and sets the stage for verifying foreign proving system proofs on Mina. The foundational work for this integration was an open-source research prototype developed by community builder Onur Inanc Dogruyol and 0xDogan.eth who helped with the idea.
This collaboration also comes at a crucial time for the Mina ecosystem, as it approaches a major mainnet upgrade that will enable easier zkApp programmability, a move targeted at significantly increasing developer activity and the number of products built on Mina. Mina will become one of the first ecosystems to offer zero knowledge smart contracts in production, and the addition of Celestia’s modular DA layer further streamlines the development process for ZK builders working towards a new generation of decentralized applications that prioritize user privacy and control.
Laying the groundwork for a number of projects seeking to scale operations in the ZK space, plans to leverage the modular DA layer are already underway. Zeko Protocol, a cross-chain zero knowledge scaling protocol built on Mina, which recently closed a $3 million pre-seed funding round, aims to use enhanced data availability to support zkApp use cases such as decentralized finance, AI, gaming, and more.
Conclusion
Advancing the next generation of zkApps requires addressing core issues in security, scalability, and decentralization. The integration of Celestia’s modular DA layer on the Mina Protocol tackles each of these fronts, making it easier for developers to build higher throughput zkApps and verify transactions natively.
By streamlining the building process, this collaboration between Mina and Celestia tees up the potential for unprecedented growth in the zero knowledge space and beyond.
About Mina Protocol
Mina is the world’s lightest blockchain, powered by participants. Rather than apply brute computing force, Mina uses advanced cryptography and recursive zk-SNARKs to design an entire blockchain that is about 22kb, the size of a couple of tweets. It is the first layer-1 to enable efficient implementation and easy programmability of zero knowledge smart contracts (zkApps). With its unique privacy features and ability to connect to any website, Mina is building a private gateway between the real world and crypto—and the secure, democratic future we all deserve.
