Cardano moves closer to 15x scaling breakthrough as developers merge key Leios code

Cardano developers have merged key Leios code as the network pursues a planned 15-fold increase in transaction capacity.

The blockchain's consensus team integrated Praos2, which combines Cardano's existing consensus protocol with the Leios scaling system, into its main development branch, according to a development report.

The team also merged LeiosNotify and LeiosFetch components, which help network nodes exchange information needed to process additional transaction batches. Work on selecting and retrieving those batches, known as endorser blocks, remains outstanding.

The progress comes as developer Input Output (IOG) prepares to introduce Leios through Cardano's forthcoming Dijkstra hard fork, targeting an initial three-to-fivefold increase in processing capacity.

Under its rollout plan, IOG intends to raise capacity to between 10 and 15 times the network's current ceiling through at least two subsequent adjustments.

However, those increases will depend on performance testing and separate governance approvals, leaving the timing of the network's full scaling ambitions uncertain.

The latest software progress brings Leios components closer to integration, although Cardano has yet to begin testing Dijkstra's new protocol rules on its public testnet.

On Oct. 24, Intersect, the member-based organization tasked with maintaining the network's continuity, reported that the testnet, restarted three days earlier, was operating under Cardano's existing Conway rules using node version 11.1.3.

Its transition to Dijkstra's protocol version 12 requires the upcoming node 11.2 prerelease and submission of a hard-fork initiation action.

Meanwhile, developers have updated the Leios prototype to strengthen checks on endorser-block announcements and cryptographic certificates. The changes also restrict the new Leios header format to Dijkstra and later protocol versions.

Implementing those modifications requires restarting the prototype testnet from its initial state and updating participating nodes. The restart does not affect Cardano's existing mainnet.

The technical changes are designed to support a substantial increase in the amount of transaction data Cardano can process.

IOG estimates that its current Ouroboros Praos system has a throughput ceiling of approximately 4.5 kilobytes of transaction data per second, partly because blocks must propagate quickly enough to preserve network consensus.

Leios introduces endorser blocks that allow additional transactions to be validated and certified separately from ordinary block production.

The initial rollout targets approximately 13.5 to 22.5 kilobytes per second, with later increases potentially raising that figure to between 45 and 67.5 kilobytes. Actual transaction counts will depend on transaction sizes and computational requirements.