Cardano opens Dijkstra testnet ahead of node 11.2 upgrade

What happened

Cardano's public Dijkstra testnet is open to stake pool operators, Intersect announced in its Oct. 22 Upgrade Bulletin #39. The network, called DijkstraNet, became publicly available after an Oct. 21 restart, and operators were invited to begin joining before the next node release. Crypto.news, U.Today and CoinGape reported the opening.

DijkstraNet currently runs protocol version 11 inside the Conway era on node 11.1.3. Intersect pointed operators to configuration files and a testnet faucet through Cardano Book, and listed one-day epochs and a Kleioscan explorer among the testing resources. Once the node 11.2 pre-release is available, a hard-fork initiation action will be submitted to move the test network to protocol version 12, known as Dijkstra.

Node 11.2 was still in development when the bulletin was published, with a tagged version expected during the week. Intersect said the release includes the full Dijkstra hard-fork feature set apart from Leios and is expected to clear LSM for mainnet use, with memory requirements estimated at about 12 GB when LSM is used. The organization said it was already working with operators to test LSM and collect feedback. The bulletin did not give a mainnet activation date or a required percentage of operators that must upgrade.

Why it matters

The public testnet gives stake pool operators, wallet providers and tooling teams an environment to check integrations before any mainnet change. Intersect described two parallel testing paths: DijkstraNet is meant to exercise Dijkstra features without Leios, while MusashiNet offers a prototype that includes Leios for downstream teams. That split lets integration work begin while the formal node 11.3 release remains unfinished.

The preparations also reach beyond node software. BLS key management, constitutional changes and ecosystem risk reviews are still part of the work, and Input Output estimates that Leios activation will require voting keys covering roughly 90, 95% of stake. Intersect also confirmed that CIP-23, which introduces a minimum pool margin parameter, is fully included in Dijkstra, a long-standing request from some operators.

What the data shows

According to the bulletin and the reports, DijkstraNet runs node 11.1.3 on protocol version 11 with one-day epochs. Node 11.2 is expected to include the Dijkstra feature set minus Leios and to clear LSM for mainnet use, with memory estimated at approximately 12 GB when LSM is used. Input Output estimates Leios activation will need voting keys covering roughly 90, 95% of delegated stake. Its plan set initial capacity targets at three to five times current transaction capacity, with later targets of 10, 15 times; U.Today reported the current Praos ceiling as 4.5 kilobytes of transactions per second. Intersect gave no mainnet activation date or required operator upgrade percentage.

Background

Cardano activated the van Rossem hard fork on July 18, moving mainnet to protocol version 11. The current bulletin concerns test networks, not another completed mainnet upgrade. Earlier Intersect planning placed Linear Leios in Dijkstra's first phase and Peras activation in a separate, later hard fork; the two-phase roadmap described its dates as estimates that testing and governance could affect.

Input Output's Oct. 20 rollout plan, previously reported by Crypto.news, separated the hard fork from full Leios operation. It set initial Leios capacity targets at three to five times Cardano's current transaction capacity, followed by later targets of 10, 15 times. Those figures are targets, not performance delivered by the DijkstraNet opening.

What is still unclear

Several details remain open. Node 11.2 had not yet been tagged when the bulletin was published, and Intersect did not say when the testnet hard fork would occur. Developers were also weighing two ways to handle BLS key registration and rotation without requiring pool owners to take part: a dedicated BLS key management certificate or permission to update BLS keys in pool parameters without owner signatures. Intersect identified the second approach as the more likely option for Dijkstra, while noting that a fuller solution could be deferred to the Euler era.

What to watch

Operators and downstream teams will watch for the tagged node 11.2 release and the hard-fork initiation action on DijkstraNet. Formal node 11.3 development remains unfinished, with Intersect saying a tagged release was at least two weeks away. Intersect scheduled a constitutional update and guardrails meeting for Oct. 23 at 14:00 UTC, and the Amaru team organized a Node Diversity Workshop for Nov. 12, 13 at the London Marriott Hotel Canary Wharf. Leios activation will depend on BLS key registration, mainnet load exercises, protocol parameter updates and governance approval, according to Input Output's plan.

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