In this article5 sections
Cardano‘s Dijkstra testnet is open to stake pool operators again after a respin, with the network still waiting on the next node release before it can move to protocol version 12. Intersect, the member-based organization coordinating the upgrade, announced the public testnet availability in a post on X, U.today reported.
Crypto.news also covered the opening, citing Intersect’s October 22 Upgrade Bulletin #39, which said the restart took place on October 21 and invited operators to join ahead of the next node release. The testnet, known as DijkstraNet, currently runs node 11.1.3 under protocol version 11 in the Conway era, with one-day epochs.
Also readCardano Eyes $0.30 as ADA RSI Hits 67; TRON ETF Adds No Shares
Key facts
- DijkstraNet became publicly available after an October 21 restart, according to Intersect’s Upgrade Bulletin #39, as reported by Crypto.news.
- The network runs protocol version 11 (Conway) on node 11.1.3; operators can onboard using configuration files and a faucet hosted on Cardano Book.
- Node 11.2 is still in development, with a tagged version expected during the publication week, and will be used to trigger the hard fork to protocol version 12.
- Input Output’s estimate, cited by Crypto.news, is that pools holding roughly 90–95% of stake must register BLS voting keys before Leios can begin operating.
- CIP-23, which adds a minPoolMargin protocol parameter setting a lower bound on a pool’s variable fee, is confirmed as fully within the Dijkstra hard fork scope.
Two test nets, two tracks
Intersect described two parallel testing paths, according to Crypto.news. DijkstraNet will use node 11.2 to exercise Dijkstra features without Leios, while the separate Musashi testnet gives downstream tooling teams early access to a weekly pre-release prototype, labeled RC 2026w42, that contains the full Dijkstra feature set including Leios.
The bulletin said node 11.3, the formal Leios-inclusive release, still has substantial development work remaining and a tagged version is at least two weeks away. It provided no mainnet activation date and no required percentage of operators who must upgrade their node software.
Also read7 Altcoins at a Make-or-Break Moment: Injective, Chainlink, Solana, and More
The node 11.2 scope, as Intersect described it, includes the full Dijkstra hard fork feature set apart from Leios, and is expected to clear LSM for mainnet use. Crypto.news reported that the bulletin estimates memory requirements at approximately 12 GB when LSM is used, and that Intersect is already working with operators to test it and gather feedback.
What Dijkstra carries
Beyond the fork itself, the Dijkstra scope includes nested transactions, account enhancements, guard scripts, Plutus V4, freely withdrawable staking rewards and a new pledge-leverage parameter, according to U.today.
On BLS key management, Crypto.news reported that Intersect is weighing two options that would let pool owners avoid handling registration and rotation themselves. The bulletin said the existing pool registration certificate mechanism requires signatures from the pool cold key and every pool owner. The alternatives are a dedicated BLS key management certificate or permission to update BLS keys in pool parameters without owner signatures; Intersect identified the second as the more likely route for Dijkstra, with a fuller fix potentially deferred to the Euler era.
Governance work runs alongside. Crypto.news reported that the Hard Fork Working Group completed an initial walkthrough of the Dijkstra risk log, a constitutional update and guardrails meeting was scheduled for October 23, and the Amaru team is organizing a Node Diversity Workshop for November 12–13 in London.
Why it matters
The opening of DijkstraNet moves Cardano’s next hard fork into the testing phase, but it is not a mainnet upgrade. Cardano last moved mainnet to protocol version 11 with the van Rossem hard fork on July 18, as noted by Crypto.news. Stake pool operators, wallet providers and tooling teams are the groups Intersect flagged as affected by the change, and the timeline for mainnet remains undecided in the bulletin.
Leios is the part with the biggest consequences for capacity. U.today reported that planners aim for an initial three to five times the current Praos ceiling of 4.5 kilobytes of transactions per second, with at least two later protocol parameter changes seeking 10 to 15 times current throughput, dependent on demand, builder needs and network economics. Crypto.news noted those figures are targets, not performance delivered by the testnet opening.
What to watch
The next concrete data points are the tagged node 11.2 release and the hard-fork initiation action that would move DijkstraNet to protocol version 12. Beyond that, the tagged node 11.3 release, which Intersect said was at least two weeks out, will determine when the Leios-inclusive feature set reaches formal testing. No mainnet activation date has been given.
Sources: U.Today, Crypto.news
