Cardano has unveiled Leios, an innovative protocol upgrade that represents the culmination of eight years of research and promises to revolutionize network performance. This upgrade introduces a highly sophisticated multi-level block structure, composed of input, sorting, and backup blocks, which could place Cardano ahead of its main competitors in terms of processing speed.
Lab simulations suggest that Leios would be able to handle tens of thousands of transactions per second (TPS), positioning Cardano as a direct rival to Solana, which currently leads the sector with theoretical peaks of 65,000 TPS, although it suffers from periodic drops and instability in the network.
The current landscape of blockchains offers notable contrasts: Ethereum only processes between 15 and 30 TPS on its main layer, while Avalanche claims to reach 4,500 TPS in lab tests, although these figures rarely reflect in real environments.
One of the most prominent features of Leios is its adaptable 'tick-tock' implementation framework, which allows for a conservative initial deployment followed by progressive performance optimizations. This staggered approach aims to avoid the stability issues that have affected other high-speed networks.
Leios is not an isolated improvement but part of a broader expansion of the Cardano ecosystem, which includes complementary technologies such as Hydra, Mithril, and the anticipated Starstream rollups. Together, these tools are designed to support a wide range of applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to artificial intelligence integration.
The development timeline indicates that Leios could be completed by the end of 2025, with full deployment expected in 2026. The project operates under a 'follow-the-sun' development model, where several independent teams work in parallel from different regions of the world.
Charles Hoskinson, founder of Input Output Global (IOG), emphasizes that Leios represents much more than a simple speed increase. According to him, this innovation seeks to create a blockchain capable of operating at a global scale, without compromising the fundamental principles of decentralization and security that underpin cryptocurrencies.
