"Choosing a DA" Becomes the Norm
Until 2025, "just use Ethereum Calldata" was the default for most rollups. But as EIP-4844's blob capacity constraints began to bite in earnest, adoption of Celestia, EigenDA, and Avail accelerated sharply.
The split follows character lines. Cost-conscious gaming chains favor Celestia; DeFi protocols wanting to borrow Ethereum's economic security choose EigenDA; Avail, born from the Polkadot ecosystem, pairs naturally with IBC infrastructure. The division has become predictable.
Will Ethereum Calldata Disappear?
If Danksharding advances as planned, Ethereum L1 will likely reclaim its position as the overwhelmingly cheapest DA layer. The current three-way race is widely seen as a "competitive interim period" — within 3 to 5 years, the landscape will shift again.
This consensus reflects a deeper truth: DA markets are not winner-take-all. Instead, they stratify by use case, risk tolerance, and ecosystem alignment. The real innovation is not which layer wins, but that rollups now have genuine optionality.