Cardano ahead of the Dijkstra hard fork: Leios node 11.3 now expected in December

For Cardano, the biggest technical project of the year is slipping into the winter. Node version 11.3, which is meant to be the first to contain the complete Dijkstra upgrade including the Leios scaling mechanism, was still "at least two to three weeks" away from a release candidate, according to the weekly update from developer organisation Intersect dated November 6. According to a report by The Crypto Basic, the Cardano Foundation now expects a release in December. What is established: mainnet continues to run on node 11.1.3, Leios is not active there, and the hard fork must first be put to a vote on the blockchain. Our assessment follows further down: a mainnet date is unlikely before the turn of the year, and the price is getting no tailwind from the roadmap for now.

On Friday morning, November 13, 2026, ADA cost $0.1699 according to CoinGecko and €0.1535 on the Kraken exchange. That is a decline of 1.6 percent over 24 hours, 8.3 percent over seven days and 28.8 percent over 30 days. The daily low was $0.1668. With a market value of around $6.4 billion, Cardano ranks 18th among cryptocurrencies. The overall market is falling much more sharply: Bitcoin lost 6.3 percent over the same period and fell to $68,880.

Dijkstra hard fork: what the upgrade to protocol version 12 changes

On Cardano, a hard fork is a planned protocol upgrade after which all nodes operate under new rules. Unlike a chain split, it creates no second blockchain and no new coin. Anyone holding ADA holds the same ADA after the upgrade. The new era is called Dijkstra, after the Dutch computer scientist Edsger W. Dijkstra, and raises the network to protocol version 12.

On the DijkstraNet testnet, this step has already been taken: overnight into November 2, it switched to protocol version 12 with node 11.2. According to Intersect, the feature set includes seven improvement proposals, known as CIPs (Cardano Improvement Proposals), a new version of the Plutus smart contract language, namely Plutus V4, new prices and limits for reference scripts, and the registration of BLS keys for stake pool operators. BLS is a signature scheme that allows many signatures to be aggregated into one. It is a prerequisite for Leios, because there many pools confirm blocks together.

That does not mean Dijkstra is finished. The values with which the upgrade is to run on mainnet are "still being clarified", according to Intersect. The associated constitutional amendment, CAP-12, is available in version 5 dated October 30; around thirty parameters are still awaiting feedback from the responsible parameter committee, and a sixth version has been announced.

Leios on the Musashi testnet: more throughput alongside Praos

Leios is the part of the upgrade on which most expectations are focused. The mechanism supplements the existing consensus protocol, Praos, with additional blocks in which transactions are prepared in parallel and confirmed by many pools. The existing blockchain is preserved; it simply gets more capacity. The simplified variant that is due to come first is called Linear Leios.

It has been tested on the public Musashi testnet since June. According to The Crypto Basic, an earlier test phase reached roughly six times today's mainnet throughput under artificial load. Since the end of October, Musashi has been running a build that contains Linear Leios in full and a version of the remaining Dijkstra features. Node 11.3 is available there as a prototype so that pool operators and developers can test early. None of this is active on mainnet.

Node 11.2.1 and node 11.3: the roadmap according to Intersect

The path to mainnet runs through three versions. Node 11.1.3 is the recommended version for mainnet and for the Preview and Preprod testnets. Node 11.2 runs on DijkstraNet and is explicitly "not yet approved for mainnet". According to Intersect, a version 11.2.1 is due to appear soon with mainnet approval; it fixes increased memory usage that had crept into the 11.1 series. Only node 11.3 bundles the full Dijkstra feature set, including Linear Leios.

On Cardano, further steps usually lie between a release candidate and mainnet: testing on Preview and Preprod, the switchover by exchanges and stake pools and, finally, the vote on the hard fork itself. None of the official sources gives a date for mainnet activation.

Hard fork by on-chain vote: who has to approve it on Cardano

Since the Chang era, Cardano has decided on hard forks on its own blockchain. A so-called hard fork initiation requires the approval of three groups: the constitutional committee, the DReps and the stake pool operators. DReps are elected representatives to whom ADA holders delegate their voting weight without handing over their coins. Only when all three groups reach the required majority does the upgrade take effect at an epoch boundary. An epoch on Cardano lasts five days.

Anyone holding ADA in their own wallet can give their vote to a DRep or explicitly abstain. Since 2025, this has also been a condition for withdrawing staking rewards. Anyone who only keeps ADA on an exchange does not vote themselves; there, the provider decides on delegation and voting rights.

Hoskinson in an AMA: "Leios imminently" and the store-of-value comparison

Founder Charles Hoskinson recently sounded more optimistic than the timetable. In a question-and-answer session on November 7, he said, according to The Crypto Basic: "We have Leios imminently." The mechanism was already running on Musashi and would be introduced "soon" via a fork, he said. In the same session he called ADA a "far better store of value" than Bitcoin, citing the fixed cap of 45 billion ADA and the extended UTXO model, which he said could be adapted, for example, against attacks by quantum computers.

Both are assessments by the founder, not facts. The market currently sees things differently: since its all-time high of $3.09 in September 2021, ADA has lost around 94 percent, while Bitcoin, despite its latest decline, is trading far above its levels of that time.

ADA price since October: five weeks in a row of lower closes

For context, cryptoticker.io analysed Cardano's daily closing prices over the past twelve months, a total of 366 values from November 14, 2025 to November 13, 2026, based on CoinGecko price data. cryptoticker.io compiled this analysis itself on November 13, 2026.

The result: since October 5, every Monday close has been below that of the previous week, five times in a row. On October 5, ADA stood at $0.2597, then at $0.2520, $0.2210, $0.2039, $0.1929 and, on November 9, at $0.1750. If the price is still below $0.175 next Monday, it will be the sixth week. The 50-day moving average stands at $0.220 and the 200-day moving average at $0.205; ADA is therefore trading a good 17 percent below its long-term average. The twelve-month low dates from June 29, 2026 and stood at $0.1436. Exactly one year ago, one ADA still cost $0.530.

Since November 11: the $0.170 level under test

On Wednesday, cryptoticker.io described the rise in open interest in ADA futures. At the time, ADA cost $0.1748 and €0.1572 on Kraken, with a daily low of $0.1709. The article identified the zone around $0.170 as the threshold below which things get tight for leveraged long positions. Two days later, precisely this level has been reached: Friday's daily low of $0.1668 was below it, and the price is hovering around $0.170. The distance to the annual low of $0.1436 is still around 15 percent.

What is new since Wednesday is the gap to the overall market. On November 11, ADA fell much more sharply than Bitcoin; this time it is the other way round, with Bitcoin down 6.3 percent within 24 hours and ADA down 1.6 percent. That is not necessarily a sign of strength, because ADA went through the downturn earlier and more deeply.

Treasury votes until November 20: copper reserve without a majority

Alongside the upgrade, votes are under way on the network's shared fund, the treasury. The largest amount is being requested by the strategic copper reserve: 22 million ADA for tokenising copper as a real-world asset. The vote ends on November 15. According to Intersect, only 0.41 percent of DRep voting weight had approved by November 6, while 67 percent is required. In the constitutional committee there were three no votes and no approvals.

Two further proposals run until November 20: the AURORA project for credit markets, with 3.64 percent approval, and the PFMS financial management system from Trivolve Tech, with 24.93 percent. Both are far below the 67 percent threshold. For the price, these sums are small; they do show, however, that DReps are currently handling the treasury sparingly.

Delegation and staking during the Dijkstra upgrade

For ADA holders, the hard fork changes nothing about staking. Cardano does not lock delegated coins: the ADA remain in your own wallet and are available at any time, including during a protocol switchover. Rewards continue to be credited every epoch. Anyone staking through an exchange does not need to do anything; the provider takes care of switching over the nodes.

Self-custody is a different matter. Intersect is explicitly calling on hardware wallet manufacturers to close compatibility gaps before approval for the hard fork. Anyone holding ADA on such a device should update the firmware and wallet software after the upgrade before using new transaction types. If you are still looking for a device, you will find models with Cardano support in our hardware wallet comparison. Be wary of messages urging you to carry out a supposedly necessary "coin swap" because of the hard fork: no such swap is planned.

An upgrade of this kind without a chain split creates no new coins. Anyone who wants to buy ADA should first check whether the provider is licensed in the EU under MiCA as a crypto-asset service provider. The public register of the European Securities and Markets Authority, ESMA, lists all licensed companies. You will find a selection among the regulated crypto exchanges.

Our assessment of the Dijkstra roadmap

In the editorial team's view, a Leios launch on mainnet before the turn of the year is unlikely. The evidence: node 11.3 still had no release candidate on November 6, the Cardano Foundation expects the version in December, around thirty parameters of the CAP-12 constitutional amendment are still open, and after that the hard fork still needs the approval of the committee, DReps and pools. Experience shows that each of these steps takes weeks. On the other side are Hoskinson's statement that Leios is imminent and the progress on Musashi. Against it is the fact that a founder is naturally optimistic about dates and that Intersect's official reports give no date.

For the price, little follows from this for now. The downward movement since the beginning of October runs in parallel with the overall market and cannot be traced back to the roadmap. A clear mainnet date could later become a reason for buyers to step in, but a floor cannot be read from technical progress alone.

Cardano hard fork: no mainnet date without node 11.3

1. Check your custody: If your ADA are on a hardware device, keep the firmware and wallet software up to date and wait for the manufacturer's approval after the upgrade. Devices with Cardano support are listed in our hardware wallet comparison.
2. Keep staking: Delegated ADA remain available during the upgrade. If you want to compare returns, you will find providers and yields in our staking comparison.
3. Record your purchase dates: Note the date and price of every tranche, because gains and losses are calculated from them. A tool from our crypto tax software comparison keeps track automatically.

(As of November 13, 2026. This article is not investment advice. Prices and fee structures change; check the terms with the provider before you buy.)