Cardano launches Leios testnet amid lows

• Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA) launched the public Musashi Dojo testnet for its Leios scaling protocol on June 23.
• ADA trades near US$0.16, down about 35% over the past month and 95% below its September 2021 peak of US$3.09.
• Input Output is targeting a mainnet hard fork as early as November 2026 following the test programme.

Cardano (CRYPTO:ADA) launched the public Musashi Dojo testnet for its Leios scaling protocol, marking a major step in the network's effort to increase transaction capacity.

The launch comes as ADA trades near US$0.16 after falling about 35% in the past 30 days and roughly 95% from its September 2021 all-time high of US$3.09.

The public testnet is the first deployment of Leios on a public network and begins a multi-phase testing process ahead of a potential mainnet upgrade.

Leios operates as an overlay to Cardano's Ouroboros Praos consensus system and is designed to increase throughput from about 4.5 KB/s to as much as 200 KB/s, according to the project's roadmap.

Input Output product manager Carlos Lopez de Lara said the initial rollout is expected to deliver two to five times current throughput, with greater capacity available as demand grows, and following the announcement the ADA price was unchanged at approximately US$0.16.

The Musashi Dojo testnet is structured around five phases named Earth, Water, Fire, Wind and Void, which progress from design validation through to adversarial testing and mainnet readiness.

The Leios governance proposal received more than 84% support from Cardano delegates, and Input Output is targeting a hard fork in November 2026 as part of a broader plan to support growth from roughly 800,000 monthly transactions to more than 27 million.

At the time of reporting, Cardano price was $0.1575.