Celestia Founder Drops Bombshell: $100M Treasury Revealed as TIA Defies FUD with 11% Rally

Celestia just flexed its financial muscle—and the market responded. While skeptics whispered about instability, TIA tokens ripped an 11% gain as founder Mustafa Al-Bassam unveiled a $100 million war chest. Here's why modular blockchains just got interesting.

FUD Meets Reality

The 'fear, uncertainty, doubt' crowd got silenced fast. That treasury—stacked with liquid assets—proves Celestia isn't some vaporware project begging for VC scraps. Meanwhile, traders piled into TIA like it was a Black Friday deal (which, for crypto, it kinda was).

Modular Money Moves

Unlike monolithic chains bogged down by legacy code, Celestia's modular design lets it scale without breaking a sweat. No surprise institutional sharks are circling—nothing gets Wall Street's attention like a blockchain that actually works. (Take notes, 'enterprise solutions' that haven't shipped since 2018.)

The Bottom Line

While meme coins crash and 'institutional adoption' remains a PowerPoint fantasy, Celestia's delivering real infrastructure—and getting paid for it. That $100 million isn't just runway—it's a middle finger to the doubters. Game on.

Celestia Under Fire over Unlock Timeline and Insider Sales Claims

Reports indicate that co-founder Mustafa Al-Bassam sold over $25 million tokens via over-the-counter (OTC) deals.

“Mustafa frantically dumped $25 million OTC and fled to Dubai to lay low Andy took money to pump, suspected of calling buys at the peak to offload Yaz was kicked out directly due to sexual harassment, leaving the crypto scene Nick and Abril are playing their duet in Paris… So, really, don’t talk ideals with projects; the script was written long ago, and the wallet is king,” one X user claimed.

The news came alongside reports of an unlock that gives the project’s executive team full access to their token allocations. Crypto commentator AB Kuai alleged that top executives fully unlocked and sold off their TIA last October. The analyst also claims that lower-level members unlocked TIA early by the end of that month.

I'll let the Celestia team answer that question. I just wonder why they're mass jeeting their token if they're as bullish on TIA as you are

One thing is for sure: They aren't buying pic.twitter.com/uFJzATM4LP

Notably, some Celestia builders, including Nick White, have denied these claims in the past. Notwithstanding, Celestia reportedly paid a hefty sum to an English-speaking influencer to shill, alongside allegations that former Developer Relations Lead Yaz was dismissed due to sexual harassment.

Celestia’s Al-Bassam responded, and while he did not directly deny the allegations, he reasserted the team’s resilience and long-term focus.

“Despite the FUD (which is getting more ridiculous by the day), all Celestia founders, early employees and Core engineers are still here and working as hard as we did when Celestia started 5 years ago,” he wrote.

No Crying in the Casino, Says Al-Bassam

Al-Bassam sidestepped the specifics regarding the accusations of financial mismanagement and premature sales. The Celestia executive explained that all tokens have a 95% drawdown at some point in their lifecycle.

“I’ve been in crypto since 2010 and it’s not new to me that you have to have a thick skin and eat gravel to survive,” Al-Bassam explained.

The crypto executive also revealed a war chest of more than $100 million, alongside a 6+ year runway, which, in his opinion, positions the network “to play the long game, for as long as it takes.”

His tone echoed earlier sentiments from May, when he addressed the fear that many founders feel during market downturns:

“A lot of founders tweeting less these days because price is down and scared of an angry horde of token holders replying etc. No crying in the casino applies to insiders too, so come ratio me all you want… I’m here to eat shit as a masochist,” Al-Bassam said in May.

Market Shrugs as TIA Price Climbs Double Digits

Despite the controversy, TIA posted a double-digit gain, suggesting that traders are unfazed by the accusations or bet on Celestia’s long-term vision.

The confirmed $100 million treasury and extended runway have tempered immediate fears, even as questions about insider behavior and governance remain.

BeInCrypto data shows TIA is up by over 11% on this news, and was trading for $1.56 as of this writing.

Still, investor scrutiny is unlikely to fade with the October unlock on the horizon. Will Celestia maintain momentum? Likely not amid prevailing cautious sentiment in the market, especially for altcoins.

This rally may prove a dead cat bounce, presenting as a temporary recovery in the price of a declining asset, followed by a continuation of the downtrend. This assumption comes as investor sentiment is likely to hinge less on war chests and more on transparency.

“TIA, calculated from its peak, has currently dropped by 92%,” analysts at Foresight News noted.

A recent proposal indicates the Celestia community plans to experiment with a Proof-of-Governance (PoG) mechanism. The proposal comes despite the allegations of investors with lockup stake-dumping, but some users laud developers for their efforts.

It's exciting to see the Celestia community consider experimenting with a PoG mechanism. Haters will say it's too little too late with all the allegations of investors with lockups stake-dumping, but at least devs are doing something. pic.twitter.com/3Ax745MoaY

A PoG model is where governance, not stake, selects validators. They proposed it as the logical terminus for liquid staking token (LST) evolution, redefining economic security in PoS (Proof-of-Stake) systems, eliminating unnecessary issuance while preserving validator incentives.