TL;DR
- Celestia will launch its first major upgrade, Lemongrass, in several phases starting in August with Arabica Devnet, followed by Mocha Testnet and Mainnet Beta.
- Lemongrass includes improvements such as enforcing a minimum gas price and enhancements in data transfer between chains.
- Among the changes are also simplifications of network upgrades and CIP-20 to disable the Blobstream module and improve performance.
Celestia is preparing for its first significant update, called Lemongrass, which will bring a series of important improvements to its architecture and functionality. The update will initially be activated on Arabica Devnet in August with version 2.0.0 of celestia-app. It will be followed by an update on Mocha Testnet and, finally, on Mainnet Beta, expected in early to mid-September.
The update will be implemented in a carefully coordinated sequence by Celestia’s community of developers and researchers to ensure a successful and smooth hard fork activation.
Celestia’s first upgrade, Lemongrass, is coming. 🍵
Developed and coordinated with the community, Lemongrass includes 1-click Tia interactions with other IBC chains, Interchain accounts, and a new upgrade mechanism. pic.twitter.com/Lu6f3vWeU9
— Celestia (@CelestiaOrg) August 8, 2024
Among the key changes in Lemongrass are significant improvements to the consensus layer. Several important changes will be introduced, including CIP-6, which establishes a mechanism to enforce a minimum gas price for transactions, reducing spam and promoting network efficiency. CIP-9 will introduce Packet Forward Middleware (PFM), an essential tool for bridging data between chains that enables more direct and lower latency transfer operations, improving connectivity and speed in interchain transactions.
Celestia Evolves Through Simplification
Another fundamental component is CIP-10, which introduces a signaling mechanism for network upgrades. This system will allow validators to express their readiness for an upgrade, and when a quorum of 5/6 of the network stake is reached, migration to the new version will occur. This new method aims to simplify and speed up the upgrade process compared to previous mechanisms used in CometBFT.
CIP-14 introduces Interchain Accounts (ICA), allowing accounts on Celestia to be managed from other chains via IBC, enhancing interoperability between Celestia and other IBC-enabled chains within the Cosmos ecosystem. Finally, CIP-20 will disable the Blobstream module in the consensus layer to simplify the network’s architecture and improve its performance. This deactivation is in favor of zk-light clients, such as Blobstream X and Blobstream Zero, developed by the community.
With these updates, Celestia aims to optimize its operation, increase its interoperability, and simplify its technical structure, consolidating its position in the blockchain ecosystem.
