Cardano developers have merged core components of the planned Leios scaling system, moving the blockchain closer to an upgrade that could eventually increase transaction capacity by as much as 15 times. The first stage is expected to target a three-to-fivefold increase, but further expansion will depend on testing, governance votes and participation from network operators.
According to CryptoSlate, Cardano’s consensus team added Praos2 to its main development branch. The component combines the network’s existing Ouroboros Praos consensus protocol with Leios. Developers also merged LeiosNotify and LeiosFetch, which are designed to help nodes share and retrieve the information needed to handle additional transaction batches.
One important piece of work is still unfinished: the process for selecting and retrieving “endorser blocks.” These blocks are central to Leios because they allow additional transactions to be validated and certified separately from the network’s ordinary block production.
Leios aims to expand Cardano’s processing capacity
Input Output Global, the developer preparing the upgrade, plans to introduce Leios through Cardano’s upcoming Dijkstra hard fork. The initial target is a capacity increase of roughly three to five times the current level.
IOG estimates that the existing Ouroboros Praos system has a transaction-data throughput ceiling of about 4.5 kilobytes per second. One reason for that limit is that blocks must spread across the network quickly enough for participants to maintain consensus.
Under the initial Leios rollout, the target range would rise to approximately 13.5 to 22.5 kilobytes of transaction data per second. Later adjustments could lift the range to between 45 and 67.5 kilobytes per second, equivalent to roughly 10 to 15 times the current ceiling.
Those figures refer to transaction data rather than a fixed number of transactions. The number of transactions the network can process will vary depending on their size and computational requirements.
The higher limits are not automatic. IOG’s plan calls for performance testing and separate governance approvals before later increases can be activated. As a result, the timing of Cardano’s full scaling objective remains uncertain.
Dijkstra testnet transition has not yet begun
Although the Leios software work has progressed, Cardano has not yet started testing Dijkstra’s new protocol rules on its public testnet. Intersect, the member-based organization responsible for maintaining the network’s continuity, said on Oct. 24 that the testnet had been restarted three days earlier under the existing Conway rules.
The testnet was running node version 11.1.3. Moving to Dijkstra’s protocol version 12 requires the forthcoming node 11.2 prerelease, as well as submission of an action to initiate the hard fork.
Developers have also revised the Leios prototype. The changes strengthen checks for endorser-block announcements and cryptographic certificates, while limiting the new Leios header format to Dijkstra and later protocol versions.
Applying those changes will require the prototype testnet to restart from its initial state and participating nodes to be updated. The restart will not affect Cardano’s existing mainnet.
Governance and operator readiness remain key conditions
Cardano’s planned capacity increases require a governance framework for Dijkstra’s new operating parameters. The first step is a proposed constitutional amendment, known as CAP-12, which had reached its fourth draft in October. Provisions still under discussion included numerical parameter limits, pledge leverage settings and procedures for disabling Leios.
The amendment requires approval from delegated representatives controlling at least 75% of the relevant voting stake and from two-thirds of the Constitutional Committee. The Dijkstra hard fork itself has a separate approval threshold: delegated representatives must represent 60% of stake, stake-pool operators must represent 51%, and two-thirds of the committee must support it.
After Dijkstra is introduced, operators will need to register additional cryptographic keys, called BLS keys, to certify Leios endorser blocks. IOG estimates that registered keys should cover about 90% to 95% of delegated stake before activation. The Leios certification mechanism requires signatures representing at least 75% of active stake.
Pools that do not register BLS keys will still be able to produce ordinary blocks, but they will not take part in voting on endorser blocks. Once registration is complete, developers plan controlled, high-load exercises on Cardano’s mainnet. Those tests will examine how quickly transaction batches move through the network, whether operators can certify them consistently and how much spare processing capacity nodes retain under heavier workloads.
The results will inform proposals for increasing Leios’s operating limits. Each later adjustment requires support from delegated representatives representing 67% of stake, stake-pool operators representing 51% and two-thirds of the Constitutional Committee. Such changes can be made without another hard fork if they stay within the constitutional limits approved earlier.
Current market picture
Moneyiar market data recorded at 22:39 on Oct. 25, 2026, showed Cardano’s ADA at $0.2052460416, down 0.31% over 24 hours and 6.04% over seven days.
For comparison, Moneyiar data recorded at 22:38 showed Celestia’s TIA at $0.5321576029, unchanged over 24 hours and down 11.85% over seven days. Akash Network’s AKT was $0.6519669788, down 0.21% in 24 hours and 7.03% over seven days. Cap’s CAP was $0.1084662705, up 35.1% over 24 hours and 55.28% over seven days.
