Hi! Imagine that you are using a blockchain, where the transaction speed is the same as that of banking systems, but at the same time it remains decentralized, stable and reliable. This is exactly what the Cardano team is striving for, and recently Charles Hoskinson, one of its founders, shared details about a major new protocol update called Ouroboros Leios.
This is not just a "cosmetic repair." Leios is the result of eight years of work and research. Its key feature is a multi—level block structure: input, ranking, and approval blocks. This architecture allows processing tens of thousands of transactions per second, which potentially puts Cardano on a par with the fastest blockchains like Solana. However, although Solana promises up to 65,000 transactions per second, it regularly suffers from failures and unstable operation.
For comparison, Ethereum now handles 15-30 transactions per second, Avalanche claims 4,500 (in laboratory conditions), but in reality the numbers are more modest. Cardano promises not just high speed, but flexible and reliable productivity growth thanks to a special system called "tick-tock". This means that the deployment will take place gradually to avoid problems and "childhood illnesses" like other projects.
It is also important that Leios is only part of a large—scale plan. In the future, it will be complemented by other technologies like Hydra, Mithril and Starstream updates, which will improve scalability, security and interaction between network participants. All this is necessary to support both DeFi and AI applications.
Leios should be fully ready by the end of 2025, with launch in 2026. Several teams around the world are working on this at once, 24/7, which is called "follow the sun."
Hoskinson stresses that the goal is not just speed. Cardano wants to become a world-class platform that does not sacrifice decentralization or security for efficiency. And if everything works out, it could be a game changer for the entire blockchain industry.
Well, now a question for you: would you use such a network if it really provided high speed without compromising on security and decentralization?
