MilkyWay (MILK) is a liquid staking protocol for Celestia, a modular blockchain specializing in Data Availability.

MilkyWay (MILK) is a liquid staking protocol for Celestia, a modular blockchain that specializes in Data Availability. The project is yet to announce its detailed tokenomics, but recently the team announced an airdrop of 100 million MILK (1 fully diluted valuation (FDV) — that is, assuming the full supply and examining various price scenarios.

MilkyWay is a protocol that enables users to stake TIA and receive milkTIA — a liquid staking token (LST) that can be utilized across different DeFi applications. Users can trade milkTIA, use it as liquidity, or reinvest it, offering maximum flexibility.

The core technology stack of MilkyWay includes a built-in restaking module, which allows users to restake their TIA into additional security services within the Celestia ecosystem, or eventually into other modular chains. This contrasts with protocols like EigenLayer, which require users to manually select validators.

In MilkyWay, the protocol design optimizes validator selection for performance and safety. Moreover, MilkyWay’s Celestia-native architecture allows for the deployment of lightweight, gas-efficient DeFi modules, unlike multichain staking protocols.

MilkyWay aims to become the default staking infrastructure for rollups that use Celestia as their DA layer — just as EigenLayer has emerged as a secondary security layer for Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem.

MilkyWay’s technological edge lies in its seamless integration into the modular stack, providing not just staking but a middleware staking layer where staking, restaking, DA, and security services operate flexibly across layers. If Celestia’s rollup ecosystem continues to expand, MilkyWay is positioned to become a foundational component, not merely a “staking DApp,” but a core staking middleware for the modular Web3 world.

To date, MilkyWay has raised approximately $6 million across its funding rounds. The project’s seed round in April 2024 brought in $5 million, led by Binance Labs, Polychain Capital, and other investors such as HackVC, LongHash, and Crypto.com Capital.

MilkyWay has yet to release its official tokenomics. However, based on the announced airdrop of 100 million MILK, representing 10% of the total supply, it can be inferred that the maximum supply would be around 1 billion tokens.

According to the latest data from MilkyWay’s official page, the total value of assets staked and restaked through the platform has reached approximately $172 million. With TIA currently priced at around $2.94, the estimated amount staked is about 58.5 million tokens.

This indicates a relatively strong and active participation from the Celestia and MilkyWay communities.

The starting point assumes a total supply of 1 billion MILK tokens. In that case, the token price and FDV have a linear relationship:

FDV = Total token supply × Price.

Conservative Scenario

FDV ≈ $50 million (price ~ $0.05). At this price point, MILK’s value would only amount to 15% of KernelDAO's initial FDV upon listing.

This could happen if the market turns cautious or there is strong selling pressure from airdrop recipients. However, this is considered the most conservative and lower-bound scenario for MilkyWay.

Base Case Scenario

FDV ≈ $100-200 million (price ~ $0.10- $0.20). In this case, MILK would trade around $0.10- $0.20, aligning with KernelDAO’s current FDV (~$180 million).

This is a reasonable baseline scenario, roughly matching the segment of liquid staking/restaking projects on BNB Chain (like KernelDAO) that MilkyWay is targeting.

If MILK reaches ~ $0.10 (FDV ~ $100 million), it would be considered “undervalued” compared to KernelDAO.

At ~$0.20 (FDV ~ $200 million), it would be slightly higher but still acceptable if MilkyWay attracts healthy liquidity inflows.

Bull Case

FDV ≈ $700+ million. Achieving this would require a massive catalyst, such as a major exchange listing combined with extreme speculative sentiment, more than how KernelDAO once reached an ATH valuation.

However, this also implies significant sell pressure early on, likely leading MilkyWay’s FDV to retrace toward KernelDAO’s current levels.

A fair price range for MILK is likely between $0.10 and $0.30 (FDV ~ $100–300M), roughly in line or slightly above KernelDAO.

Only expect prices above $0.50 in case of unexpected, highly bullish catalysts.

Investors should closely monitor key metrics like circulating supply at TGE, unlock schedules, and token distribution between the team and community treasury to better assess realistic valuations.

Comparing MILK with