Cardano’s Ouroboros Leios Goes Live for Community Feedback

Cardano is advancing its long-planned upgrade aimed at increasing network throughput and is inviting the community to weigh in.

The “Ouroboros Leios” Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP) is now publicly available in the Cardano Foundation’s repository.

On August 27, Input Output’s Director of Software Architecture, Nicolas “BeRewt” Biri, announced the public release of the Leios CIP. Although too early to celebrate the upgrade, he notes that this submission is a significant milestone, and the team wants to ensure the community agrees with it first.

Reviewing Design and Trade-Offs

Biri said that the team is reviewing the design choices and trade-offs. The coverage areas include the detailed Leios variant, implementation materials (formal specifications and mini-protocols), trade-offs, potential positive effects on script budgets, and resistance to attacks.

He added that the team had planned to submit the PR by the end of August. The draft now includes feedback on failed transactions and aims to have minimal impact on dApps.

Community Debates Security, Speed, and Decentralization

Not all community members are convinced that Cardano can achieve higher throughput without compromise. 

One user questioned whether the network would need to make the same trade-offs as Solana to achieve speed. Biri responded that Cardano deliberately avoided that path, opting for a balance that does not sacrifice decentralization or security.

He added that Cardano’s security model limits certain speed optimizations, meaning that matching Solana’s speed would require reducing decentralization, reliability, or cost efficiency. So far, the Cardano community has not been willing to take that approach.

Community Approves $71M Funding For Upgrades

Earlier this month, the Cardano community approved 96 million ADA (around $71 million) to fund a year-long series of core upgrades. 

The proposal passed with 74% approval, marking the first time treasury funds have been directly allocated to core development.

With these moves, Cardano is taking a major step toward high-throughput, scalable, and community-driven development.

FAQs