diff --git a/snow/engine/avalanche/bootstrapper.go b/snow/engine/avalanche/bootstrapper.go
index 5646195..cdfb77b 100644
--- a/snow/engine/avalanche/bootstrapper.go
+++ b/snow/engine/avalanche/bootstrapper.go
@@ -17,7 +17,14 @@ import (
 )
 
 const (
-	cacheSize = 100000
+	// We cache processed vertices where height = c * stripeDistance for c = {1,2,3...}
+	// This forms a "stripe" of cached DAG vertices at height stripeDistance, 2*stripeDistance, etc.
+	// This helps to limit the number of repeated DAG traversals performed
+	//
+	// With stripeDistance == 2500, average DAG width == 25 and processedCache size == 100,000
+	// the graph can have depth up to 10,000,000 and hold every stripe in cache (100,000 / 25 == x / 2,500)
+	stripeDistance = 2500
+	cacheSize      = 100000
 )
 
 // BootstrapConfig ...
@@ -175,6 +182,9 @@ func (b *bootstrapper) process(vtxs ...avalanche.Vertex) error {
 					toProcess.Push(parent)
 				}
 			}
+			if vtx.Height()%stripeDistance == 0 {
+				b.processedCache.Put(vtx.ID(), nil)
+			}
 			b.processedCache.Put(vtx.ID(), nil)
 		}
 	}