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Cardano Launches Leios Musashi Dojo Testnet Despite ADA Hitting Five-Year Low

Cardano is taking a major scaling step with the public Leios testnet, even as ADA trades at a five-year low. The next test phases should show whether the tech can deliver the capacity it promises.

By Zenz van der Wielen
• 2 min read
Cardano Launches Leios Musashi Dojo Testnet Despite ADA Hitting Five-Year Low

Key Takeaways

  • Cardano launched the public Musashi Dojo testnet for Leios on June 23, a new scaling protocol built on top of Ouroboros Praos.
  • Leios is meant to raise transaction throughput from 4.5 KB/s to 200 KB/s, a capacity increase of 30 to 65 times.
  • ADA is at a five-year low, while the mainnet hard fork for Leios is planned for November 2026.

Cardano launched the public testnet for its Leios scaling protocol on June 23, marking a major technical milestone after years of development. The launch comes at a time when the ADA token is at its lowest point in five years, with a price that is about 95% below its September 2021 all-time high.

Leios Testnet and Musashi Dojo

The testnet, called Musashi Dojo after the famous 16th-century samurai Miyamoto Musashi, goes through five phases named after the chapters of Musashi’s Book of Five Rings: Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, and Void. These phases range from basic design validation to advanced testing and preparation for the mainnet launch. Leios works as an overlay on top of Cardano’s existing Ouroboros Praos consensus mechanism. As network load increases, a chosen slot leader produces an extra ‘endorser block’ that runs in parallel with the standard Praos block. This is supposed to lift transaction throughput from the current 4.5 KB/s to 200 KB/s, which works out to 30 to 65 times more capacity.

Challenges and Outlook

The launch is happening in a tough market backdrop. ADA’s recent price drop of about 35% over the past month and the cancellation of major events like the 2026 Singapore Summit show the challenges Cardano is facing. On top of that, co-founder Charles Hoskinson warned about a wave of failures across Cardano DeFi projects. Even so, the network keeps moving forward with its roadmap, and Leios is a key step toward addressing long-standing criticism of base-layer scalability.

Approval of the Leios governance proposal with more than 84% support from Cardano’s delegated representatives made it possible to release 27.7 million ADA from the treasury for this next phase. The planned hard fork for mainnet integration is set for November 2026. This is part of Cardano’s broader vision to scale monthly transactions from about 800,000 to more than 27 million by 2030.

Relevance for European Crypto Users

For European crypto users, a successful rollout of Leios could be an important sign of Cardano’s ability to scale and stay competitive in the blockchain sector. The higher transaction capacity could lead to more use and adoption of Cardano-based applications, which matters for developers, investors, and users active in the European crypto market. The project could also serve as an example of how blockchain networks tackle technical challenges while operating in a volatile market.

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