Cardano's Next Major Upgrade Begins Testing as Dijkstra Testnet Goes Live

The public Dijkstra testnet is now open for participants, with a respin taking place on October 21 and running protocol version 11 (Conway) on node version 11.1.3. Intersect, a member-based organization for the Cardano ecosystem, announced the news in a recent X post, encouraging stake pool operators (SPOs) to begin onboarding ahead of the 11.2 release and hard fork to pv12.

Epochs on the testnet are one day in length, and SPOs can begin onboarding using configuration files available on Cardano Book, which also hosts the link to the Dijkstra testnet faucet. Development continues on node version 11.2, with a tagged version expected soon. This version will introduce the full Dijkstra hard fork feature set, apart from Leios, and will be used to hard fork the public Dijkstra testnet.

The Cardano network is currently using node version 11.1.3 until 11.2 is released. Once available, node version 11.2 is expected to introduce several additional capabilities, most notably LSM clearance for mainnet use. Development is also underway on node version 11.3, with a tagged release still at least two weeks away.

The weekly RC 2026w42 pre-release is considered a Leios-based prototype including the complete Dijkstra hard fork feature set, including Leios. This prototype provides an early integration opportunity for downstream tooling teams to explore Dijkstra functionality on the Musashi testnet, ahead of the formal 11.3 release.

CIP-23 introduces a new protocol parameter, minPoolMargin, which specifies a lower bound on the variable fee (margin) a stake pool may set. This change is now confirmed as fully included in the Dijkstra hard fork scope, addressing a long-standing request from SPOs.

Ouroboros Leios is planned to arrive with Dijkstra, Cardano's next hard fork. However, this is only the beginning of the rollout; Cardano will not suddenly reach full Leios capability. Stake pool operators will first register new BLS voting keys. Once enough stakes have registered, Leios can start using endorser blocks.

Capacity will be increased in stages, depending on mainnet outcomes and governance approval. The initial target is about 3 to 5 times the current Praos ceiling of 4.5 kilobytes of transactions per second (TxkB/s). At least two subsequent protocol parameter improvements seek to increase that to 10 to 15 times the current throughput.

Any subsequent increases will be determined by demand, the needs of builders, and the economics of operating the network. Dijkstra also includes nested transactions, account enhancements, guard scripts, Plutus V4, freely withdrawable staking rewards, and a new pledge-leverage parameter.