Key Takeaways
Input Output Global (IOG), the primary engineering group behind Cardano, has proposed a major consensus upgrade designed to increase the blockchain’s transaction capacity by up to 65 times. The initiative, named Leios, aims to push throughput to over 1,000 transactions per second as the network positions itself for long-term growth.
“Cardano is at a pivotal moment,” said Jeff Watson, head of technology at Input Output’s Cardano business unit, in a statement on Tuesday. “These proposals are about finishing what was started – increasing utility and improving the experience across the ecosystem, while positioning the network for its next phase of growth.”
The development team is requesting ₳27.7 million (approximately $6.9 million as of April 29) from the Cardano treasury to fund the next phase of Leios' development. The upgrade could enable the network to process 200 kilobytes of transactions per second, a significant jump from its current sustained capacity of a few kilobytes per second. The proposal comes as on-chain data shows large investors are accumulating ADA, with whale wallets adding tokens worth $214 million in recent weeks while the price hovered near its 52-week low of $0.24.
This initiative is the cornerstone of Cardano’s 2030 vision, which targets scaling monthly transaction volumes from around 800,000 to more than 27 million. Higher throughput is considered essential for generating sufficient transaction fee revenue to sustain the network as its treasury reserve declines. A vote by ADA holders on the Leios budget will conclude on May 24, testing the network's decentralized governance model.
The Leios upgrade is a multi-year effort that builds on Cardano's existing Ouroboros Praos consensus mechanism rather than replacing it. Led by IOG product manager Carlos López De Lara, the project introduces endorser blocks and committee-based validation to boost efficiency while preserving decentralization. An alpha version of the public testnet is scheduled to launch by June 2026.
Running in parallel is the Van-Rossem hard fork, scheduled for late June 2026. This separate upgrade targets performance improvements for Plutus, Cardano's smart-contract platform. Together, the two initiatives aim to address network congestion that has occasionally surfaced during high-profile token launches and prepare the blockchain for wider adoption in decentralized finance and real-world asset tokenization.
While Cardano’s ADA token trades near $0.25, down roughly 65 percent over the past year, large investors have been quietly increasing their holdings. According to market intelligence firms, the number of wallets holding substantial ADA positions has climbed to 424, a four-month high. This accumulation near the critical $0.245 support level suggests some large players see value ahead of the scaling upgrades.
The optimism is tempered by regulatory headwinds in the United States. Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has warned that proposed legislation could potentially lead to ADA being classified as a security, which would impact its liquidity and exchange listings. However, the ecosystem continues to expand, with the partner chain Midnight launching in March 2026 to offer confidential smart contracts for regulated industries.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
