Cardano’s Ouroboros Leios scaling upgrade is on track for a 2026 launch, according to IOG Director of Software Architecture Nicolas Biri. His recent comments echo founder Charles Hoskinson’s prediction that the upgrade could go live before the end of the year.
Nicolas Biri, in a recent statement, praised the engineering team led by Sebastian Nagel for making substantial progress on the Leios protocol. Biri noted that the team is handling the intensive work needed to bring the upgrade to life. He reiterated his confidence that Leios will be delivered successfully, possibly sooner than expected.
This followed Hoskinson’s earlier projection that the Cardano community could see Leios by the end of the year. Hoskinson claimed the upgrade would make Cardano the first third-generation blockchain to fully solve the blockchain trilemma, achieving meaningful scalability without sacrificing decentralization or security.
Ouroboros Leios is designed to become a cornerstone of Cardano’s long-term scaling strategy. The protocol aims to increase network throughput and improve transaction-processing efficiency using advanced parallelization techniques. Hoskinson has proposed a 24/7 development approach to accelerate delivery.
IOG confirmed the project is approaching a critical milestone. Last month, the company announced that the highly anticipated Leios testnet is scheduled to launch in June 2026. This marks the transition of Ouroboros Leios from years of academic research and simulations into real-world deployment.
According to IOG, the protocol is designed to deliver a 10x to 65x increase in throughput, potentially enabling Cardano to process over 1,000 transactions per second (TPS). While the testnet is expected in June, the timeline for a full mainnet deployment remains uncertain. However, recent comments from both Hoskinson and Biri suggest development is advancing steadily.
The post Cardano’s Ouroboros Leios upgrade set to launch this year appeared first on TheCryptoUpdates.


