Sub-2-second preconfirmations on a fully decentralized, based rollup. No trusted operators. No centralized sequencing. Just Ethereum validators doing what they do best.
The journey:
Q1: Pacaya upgrade deployed on Hekla testnet, laying the foundation for preconfirmations
Q1: Partnered with OpenZeppelin to develop next-generation based rollup architecture with Proposer-Prover Separation (PPS)
Q2: Pacaya hardfork went live on Alethia mainnet, introducing batch-based proofs and multiproving
Q2: Preconfirmations launched on Hekla testnet, achieving ~2-second finality
Q2: Strategic partnerships with Fabric, Commit-Boost, and Nethermind to develop validator tooling and preconfirmation standards
Q3: Preconfirmations activated on mainnet, slashing confirmation times from ~45 seconds to ~2 seconds
Q3: Phase 1 whitelisted partners validated stability across real production workloads
Q3: Hoodi testnet launched with full preconfirmation support, replacing Hekla
Users experienced 20-30× faster confirmation times. The future doesn't choose between speed and decentralization. It has both.
Read more:
100% ZK coverage achieved in December 2025. Every single block on Taiko mainnet is now proven with zero-knowledge proofs via SP1 and Boundless. Not someday. Today.
The journey:
Q1: Started at 5% ZK coverage in February
Q1: Gradually increased to over 30% by end of March
Q1: Achieved 100% ZK coverage for Taiko-proposed blocks
Q2: Maintained 100% ZK for Taiko-proposed blocks while community provers handled growing share
Q2: Processed over 847 million cumulative transactions by end of Q2
Q3: Community provers continued scaling network proof generation
Q4: Achieved 100% ZK coverage for ALL blocks on mainnet (December 4)
Multi-prover system (SP1 + Boundless) ensures redundancy and reliability
Stage 2 rollup maturity in sight, not theory. Decentralization roadmaps are easy. Actual decentralization is rare. We chose the harder path.
Read more: Taiko Achieves 100% ZK Coverage
When it matters most, the best teams choose based rollups.
The partnerships:
Q1: OpenZeppelin collaboration on minimal, modular based rollup protocol with improved governance, neutral sequencing, and optimized fee mechanisms
Q2: Fabric & Commit-Boost partnership to develop validator tooling and preconfirmation standards for the entire based rollup ecosystem
Q2: Nethermind strategic partnership to enhance protocol performance, sequencing, and execution layers
Q3: Chainlink Data Streams integration established Chainlink as official oracle infrastructure, providing sub-second market data for Taiko dApps
Q3: Real-time data integration with Dune Analytics, giving the community access to on-chain insights through customizable dashboards
Q4: ENS chose Taiko's stack for Namechain - Ethereum's most critical naming infrastructure launching as a based rollup via Nethermind's Surge
Q4: Chainlink ACE integration - Taiko joined Ethereum and Linea as one of three launch partners for institutional compliance infrastructure
Q4: Updated Alethia Whitepaper - Technical blueprint showing production-ready based rollup architecture with Ontake, Pacaya, and Shasta specifications
The infrastructure that will last decades can't depend on trusting a single operator. ENS understood this. Others will follow.
Read more:
Real power, real accountability, real decentralization.
The journey:
Q1: Taiko DAO launched on Hekla testnet in January, designed with Aragon featuring multi-threshold multisig, optimistic governance, and community veto power
Q1: Security Council announced in April with eight distinguished members from research organizations, security firms, and public goods initiatives
Q2: DAO soft launch on May 1 with Security Council operational and proposal infrastructure in place
Q3: Binding on-chain governance activated on mainnet in October - token holders can now veto protocol upgrades
Q3: Security Council appointed heavyweight Board Directors:
Joy Lam (former Head of Global Regulatory at Binance)
Professor Felix Oberholzer-Gee (Harvard Business School)
Professor Wen Yonggang (IEEE Fellow, NTU Singapore)
Advisor: CPA Ren Jang (Head of Strategy at Flipster)
Not governance in name only. The community has actual decision-making power over protocol upgrades and parameters.
Read more: Taiko DAO Appoints Board Directors
ULTRA TX and Gwyneth enable atomic cross-chain transactions between L1 and multiple L2s. No bridges. No message passing delays. True synchronous composability.
The journey:
Q1: Taiko mainnet renamed to Taiko Alethia in February, reaffirming commitment to truth and transparency
Q1: Gwyneth development progressed with successful Uniswap L1-L2 liquidity sharing demos
Q1: ULTRA TX implementation demonstrated synchronous composability potential
Q4: Comprehensive technical writeup published November 2025, explaining how Gwyneth achieves synchronous L1-L2 composability
Testnet coming 2026. Ethereum doesn't have to feel like islands. It can feel like one chain.
Read more: ULTRA TX & Gwyneth — Synchronous composability across L1 & L2
Infrastructure and applications grow together. We're building both.
Community engagement:
Q1: Taiko Takeoff launched to support projects with marketing, funding, networking, and technical assistance - Avalon Labs featured first with 134% APY TAIKO pool
Q1: Taiko Status introduced with five levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Based) rewarding token holders with enhanced access and allocation opportunities
Q1: Trailblazers Season 4 launched with 4.5M TAIKO reward pool, split Liquidity Royale tracks, and Status integration
Q1: DoraHacks Grant Factory Hackathon concluded with largest MACI-powered vote, $20K+ in prizes
Q1: $25M Grant Fund announced for 2025 to support DeFi, AI, RWA, SocialFi, Gaming, and more
Q1: Based Rollup Summit in San Francisco featuring Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin
Q2: Trailblazers Season 5 launched with 3M TAIKO rewards including 700K for Liquidity Royale
Q2: Based Rollup Summit Cannes Edition with 500+ participants including Justin Drake, Tomasz Stańczak, and ecosystem leaders
Q3: Trailblazers Season 5 concluded with 3M TAIKO distributed
Q3: Trailblazers Season 6 launched with The Arena and The Undercity dual-track system
Q3: Moon Party with K11 Art Foundation in Seoul alongside Maserati, Hypebeast, and luxury brands
Q3: Korea Blockchain Week presence with official Taiko Seoulmates Party
Q3: TOKEN2049 Singapore - partnered with ForkOff and IoNet to host "AI, DePIN & RWA Builders" forum
Q3: Monthly Galxe campaigns featuring ecosystem projects like GemsTown, Symbiosis, CoNFT, engaging thousands of new users
Ecosystem growth:
Q1: TAIKO listed on Revolut, opening access to 45 million users across 50 countries
Q2: TAIKO listed on Binance Futures with 1.495M TAIKO rewards distribution
Q4: Avalon Labs partnership - Leading Bitcoin-focused capital markets platform deploying complete RWA and stablecoin infrastructure on Taiko, bringing institutional-grade yield products and sustainable liquidity
Q4: TaikoSwap - Native DEX launched with battle-tested Uniswap architecture (ETH/USDC, TAIKO/USDC, TAIKO/ETH pairs)
By the numbers:
909.3M transactions processed since mainnet launch
2.3M active addresses engaging with the network
$12.6M in rent paid to L1 - real value settled on Ethereum
Over 1 million combined followers across Discord and X
Multiple Trailblazers seasons engaging hundreds of thousands of users
Read more:
The most difficult technical problems aren't impossible. They're just hard.
Based rollups work. Decentralized sequencing works. Full ZK coverage works. Sub-second finality works. All without compromise.
We didn't wait for permission. We didn't accept "good enough." We built what Ethereum scaling should be.
From launching our DAO in January to achieving 100% ZK coverage in December, 2025 was about execution. We proved that you can build infrastructure that's fast, secure, and fully decentralized; not eventually, but today.
Shasta hardfork: Enhanced ZK requirements, permissionless preconfirmations, protocol optimizations
Gwyneth testnet and production rollout
Continued ecosystem growth and strategic partnerships
The future is based. The future is fast. The future is proven.
The future is Taiko.
Explore open positions on our job board.
Get the latest from Taiko:
Website: https://taiko.xyz.
Discord: https://discord.gg/taikoxyz.
GitHub: https://github.com/taikoxyz.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/taikoxyz.
Community forum: https://community.taiko.xyz.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@taikoxyz.
Warpcast: https://warpcast.com/taikoxyz.
Contribute to Taiko on GitHub and earn a GitPOAP! You will also be featured as a contributor on our README. Get started with the contributing manual.