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In an X conversation, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson answered whether the Cardano blockchain network is complete. An X user had asked the question, "Is Cardano finished? Meaning completed?"
In response, Hoskinson pointed to one major milestone that remains before he considers Cardano completed: the Leios upgrade.
"After Leios, yes. It has everything I wanted to do," Hoskinson answered. "Decentralized consensus, governance and development, EUTXO, Plutus, infinitely scalable, secure, built with formal methods, multiple independent nodes, recursively self-improving, and millions of people hold Ada," he continued.
The question from the X user about whether Cardano is complete comes after Hoskinson revealed that he was working on a concept that only Midnight a Cardano-related privacy sidechain can bring to the crypto space and that solves most of the problems. Hoskinson stated that he had almost designed it conceptually, describing it as the magnum opus of his career.
Leios upgrade
Leios, which was mentioned by the Cardano founder, refers to Cardano's next-generation consensus and scaling upgrade designed to massively increase transaction throughput and speed without sacrificing decentralization or security.
Leios delivers a phased throughput increase on mainnet, scaling from 2x to 30x current capacity, with full capacity demonstrated on testnet first. In September 2026, IOG developers demonstrated about 1,000 TPS with Ouroboros Leios in testing.
The public testnet (known as MusashiNet or Musashi Dojo) launched on June 23, 2026, rolling out through five phases (Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Void). According to a recent update from Input Output, the Musashi Dojo testnet has entered its Fire phase.
Leios accelerates Cardano throughput
Cardano's current consensus protocol, Ouroboros Praos, was designed for security and decentralization but was not designed for the throughput that a globally adopted layer 1 needs. Enter Leios, which enhances Praos by adding endorser blocks and committee-based validation, which increase the number of transactions Cardano can process.
Leios aims to increase throughput from about 5–10 transactions per second (TPS) to around 100 TPS, with a longer-term target of 1,000 TPS or more, subject to validation and parameter selection.
Areas where higher throughput could have a meaningful impact include global microtransaction ecosystems, decentralized supply chain tracking, scalable DeFi with time-sensitive transactions, decentralized identity for large populations, and real-time voting systems.