Breakthrough Throughput Bottleneck? Understand the SNARK Proof Mechanism and Parallel Chain Protocol Gigachain in One Article | CryptoSeed

Author: Lenaxin, ChainCatcher

Editor: Fairy, ChainCatcher

In over a decade of development in the blockchain industry, performance bottlenecks have always been the core challenge limiting the scalability of decentralized systems. The emerging project Gigachain is attempting to break the blockchain throughput bottleneck with a combination of "zero-knowledge proofs + parallel execution."

This project is incubated and supported by the Telos Foundation and completed its prototype development on May 1. This article will systematically outline Gigachain's technical concepts, core team, and project progress, exploring its prospects and significance.

What is Gigachain?

Gigachain is a high-performance blockchain execution protocol based on SNARK (Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge), designed to address the fundamental scalability bottlenecks of current decentralized blockchain systems.

Gigachain breaks through scalability limitations by introducing a trustless parallel execution mechanism. Its core idea is to divide transactions into non-conflicting batches, which are processed in parallel by multiple decentralized executors, generating SNARK proofs for each batch; subsequently, these local proofs are recursively aggregated into a concise global proof, thereby verifying the correctness of the entire block.

This architecture reduces computational waste from redundant executions and enables distributed processing of execution workloads while maintaining state consistency and network security. The Gigachain white paper indicates that in scenarios with highly parallel transactions, Gigachain can enhance the throughput of mainstream blockchains compared to traditional sequential execution models by over ten thousand times, and can also improve over five hundred times compared to in-node parallel solutions.

Additionally, Gigachain supports more complex on-chain computations, opening possibilities for high-load applications such as AI inference, on-chain gaming, and financial simulations. Its built-in economic incentive mechanism dynamically adjusts according to computational power demands, encouraging provers to compete on cost efficiency and reliability.

Team Background

Alberto Garoffolo is the Chief Technology Officer of Gigachain, with deep technical expertise and practical experience in cryptography and blockchain system architecture. Alberto has served as the head of zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) at Telos, Chief Technology Officer at Horizen, and engineering director at IOHK. He has been engaged in software development since 2000 and has focused on applying SNARK and zero-knowledge proof technologies to blockchain since 2018 to enhance system privacy, scalability, and decentralization. During his time at the Telos Foundation, Alberto led the development of several new protocols.

Other team members include senior engineers Ljubisa Isakovic, Marco Olivero, Momcilo Mlasinovic, ZK researcher Daniele Di Tulio, and chief ZK engineer Paolo Tagliaferri. They come from blockchain infrastructure projects such as Polygon, ConsenSys, and Avail, possessing frontline development experience.

Project Progress

In 2024, Gigachain received $500,000 in Pre-Seed investment from Presto Labs and support from the Telos Foundation for incubation. This funding has supported Gigalabs in collaborating with several strategic partners, including Horizen Labs Ventures (responsible for token economic model design) and Serotonin (responsible for brand building, website development, public relations, and marketing). After completing these key investments, Gigalabs retains some funds to pay for development contracting fees and gradually achieve independence from the Telos Foundation's incubation system.

Currently, the Gigachain prototype was completed on May 1, 2025, and the core technical solution has achieved preliminary verification of key functions. The project's upcoming development roadmap is as follows:

• Summer 2025: Launch a staking incentive program on the Telos chain
• End of 2026: Launch a testnet and open community participation for validation
• 2027: Mainnet launch, introducing a decentralized governance mechanism

Gigachain states that it will announce more details on how community members can participate in network construction as stakers, developers, and node operators in the future, further fulfilling its commitment to "balancing openness and decentralization."

(This article only introduces an early project and does not constitute investment advice.)