Cardano completes van Rossem upgrade and outlines Dijkstra hard fork roadmap with Ouroboros Leios, Nested Transactions, and Linear Leios targeting end of 2026.
Regulation & Gov ·
Cardano moved to Protocol Version 11 following activation of the van Rossem hard fork in epoch 644, introducing Plutus improvements and cost model enhancements designed to reduce smart contract execution expenses. The upgrade marks the first governance-driven hard fork in the network's history, signaling a shift from engineering-led coordination to community-directed development. Input Output outlined that the work establishes the technical foundation for the subsequent Dijkstra era hard fork, expected to arrive by the end of 2026.
The Dijkstra roadmap centers on three core features: Ouroboros Leios, a consensus scaling mechanism intended to substantially raise transaction throughput without compromising security properties; Nested Transactions, enabling transaction composition; and Linear Leios, a variant focused on optimizing finality. Ouroboros Leios is specifically projected for late 2026 deployment and aims to expand capacity materially across the protocol's proof-of-stake infrastructure.
Governance participation is ongoing, with community voting underway on committee elections that will shape future Cardano decisions. The timeline and technical scope of these components remain contingent on development progress and community approval, with several quarters remaining before end-of-year 2026 targets.