Enhancing Blockchain Network Scalability Through Parallelization and Aggregation Techniques: A Survey

Blockchain is known for its potential to create high transparency, decentralization, and unprecedented security. However, it is still confronted with scalability problems which pose a significant barrier to its wide adoption. Scalability constraints result in high transaction fees, high latency, and low throughput in many blockchain networks. To handle this bottleneck, several scaling solutions have been developed. Recent research has explored hybridization of scaling solutions, paving the way for major scaling innovations. This article analyzes how parallel and aggregated scaling methods can be integrated to achieve exponential scalability in blockchain networks. We examine fundamental concepts, techniques, implementation strategies, and then propose ZKShard, a paradigm based on zero-knowledge proofs and sharding. In the proposed system, key components such as parallelization, communication, aggregation, user experience and interaction were examined. We also explored ZKShard applications in domains such as Decentralized Finance (DeFi), New Financial Technologies (NFTs), and Supply Chain Management. Finally, we discussed research challenges and future directions based on security, cross-shard communication, data availability, smart contracts, and consensus mechanism.