Celestia Launches mamo-1 Testnet to Boost Blockchain Scalability Up to 128MB Blocks

Modular blockchain platform Celestia has launched a new public testnet, mamo-1, aimed at significantly boosting network scalability in preparation for upcoming mainnet upgrades.

Announced via Celestia’s official blog, mamo-1 is engineered to handle data throughput of up to 128MB blocks every six seconds—equating to 21.33MB per second. This marks a 16x increase over the current mainnet capacity and is intended to simulate real-world performance for data-intensive decentralized applications.

Following the earlier Mammoth Mini prototype, which achieved 27MB/s in lab tests, mamo-1 now opens testing to the public with full integration into Celestia’s data availability layer, supporting light nodes and data availability sampling. The testnet is backed by 21 validators across Amsterdam, Paris, and Warsaw, ensuring realistic network conditions.

A major feature powering this upgrade is Vacuum!, a new data transfer protocol that improves bandwidth efficiency by delivering data only to peers who request it. It also introduces Validator Availability Certificates, allowing nodes to signal which data they hold. Even if data is partially missing, Vacuum! enables recovery through distributed backups.

Celestia says these enhancements pave the way for 1GB block support in the future. Since its October 2023 mainnet debut, Celestia has hosted over 20 rollups, including notable projects like Eclipse, Movement Labs, and Dymension. However, it faces growing competition from EigenDA and Avail in the data availability space.

Despite the launch, Celestia’s token TIA remains under pressure, trading at $2.52, down 30% this month and 88% off its February all-time high. Still, a recent Nansen report noted strong developer activity on the network, suggesting confidence in Celestia’s long-term potential.