Cardano has set out a two-stage plan for its next major network upgrade, but the announcement does not appear to have done much for the price of ADA. The token traded near $0.174 as of this writing, almost 14% below its August high, and the chart shows it has now surrendered most of the gains recorded when it moved above $0.20 earlier this month (AMBCrypto).

Cardano sets out the Dijkstra roadmap

According to the team, the upgrade — named for the Dutch computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra — is designed to make Cardano faster while maintaining the security of the network.

The first phase introduces Linear Leios, which increases the number of blocks Cardano can process. Leios has been part of Cardano's research agenda for several years, with design work published by Input Output Global, the engineering company behind the network's original development, and it targets one of the most common criticisms of the chain: limited throughput relative to faster rivals. It will also bring a form of nested transactions, a feature intended to help developers building applications on top of the network by adding another dimension of flexibility to application development.

Developers hope to finish and test the necessary software in Q4 2026, although that is not a mainnet date. The upgrade will need to pass through Cardano's testing networks first, which gives the main operators time to make sure their systems are prepared for the changes. The community would also need to approve the upgrade before it goes live, a step that reflects the on-chain governance Cardano activated with its Chang upgrade in September 2024, which lets ADA holders vote on such decisions through delegated representatives.

A second phase is planned, for now, for Q2 2027. It will introduce Peras, which is designed to help the network achieve faster transaction confirmation, an area where Cardano has lagged some competing networks.

Intersect, the member-based organization that coordinates Cardano's upgrades and helps maintain its core code, has said that both timelines are estimates, as testing, community approval, and preparations by exchanges and other services could push them back. The concrete milestones to watch before any mainnet date is set are the Linear Leios testnets and the community approval that would follow.

ADA gives back its August rally

ADA climbed to around $0.203 earlier this month but could not establish itself above $0.20, and sellers have since pushed the price back toward $0.17.

Buying momentum has been lost during the decline, leaving $0.171 as an important area to watch. ADA was trading around that level before its recent surge gathered pace, and losing this position opens up the possibility of a move back toward $0.16, the level at which buyers entered in July.

For ADA's picture to improve, the price would first need to climb back toward $0.193, with a much larger and stiffer test waiting up near $0.20, where the August rally stopped.

The planned upgrade allows Cardano to make its next biggest changes, but it will still be months before those changes are successfully applied to the network. For the time being, buying interest remains the stronger driver toward ADA's full recovery.

Summary

Cardano aims for the end of Q4 2026 to complete the testing phase of the first stage of its upgrade. ADA's move above $0.20 has failed to hold, and the token has fallen back to $0.174.