Cardano Founder Confirms IOG Working on Protocol to Surpass Solana’s Speed

Cardano founder Hoskinson says IOG is ramping up efforts to improve Cardano’s speed, aiming to outpace competitors like Solana. 

In a recent community poll by Rick McCracken, a Cardano community figure associated with the stake pool operator (SPO) Digital Fortress, members were asked to choose between two proposals. In the hypothetical scenario, these proposals would enhance the network using a budget of 20 million ADA every month.

The choices were between building a Rust-based node for 11 million ADA or implementing the Leios protocol for 12 million ADA. Of the 1,798 participants, 56% voted in favor of the Leios proposal, while only 7% supported the Rust node option. 

Cardano Founder Responds

In response to the poll, Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano, stressed the potential benefits of the Leios protocol. He highlighted that the Rust node would not bring any significant new features to users. 

In contrast, the Leios protocol provides a chance to enhance Cardano’s transaction throughput, making it faster than Solana without sacrificing its decentralization.

Solana with its high-speed transaction processing has been a strong competitor in the space. However, some argue that its speed comes at the cost of decentralization, an area where Cardano aims to maintain a competitive edge. Solana has also faced issues with outages.

Leios Aims to Boost Transaction Speed

The Ouroboros Leios protocol looks to surpass this speed level while preserving Cardano’s decentralization. This protocol separates the validation of transactions from the creation of new blocks, introducing “input endorsers,” a concept that could boost transaction speeds.

Despite Leios’ promising nature, one community member expressed concern, noting that the protocol should have been a priority years ago. He pointed out that an open-sourced paper alone isn’t enough unless the technology is actively built and implemented. 

Hoskinson addressed these concerns, explaining that a dedicated team, led by Input Output Global (IOG), is already working on the design of the Leios protocol. The team’s efforts will expand in Q4 2024 after completing work on the Peras Cardano Improvement Proposal (CIP).

Your understanding is wrong. There is an active prototyping team led by IOG actively working on Leios’s design post paper. Efforts will dramatically scale next quarter after we finish the Peras CIP

— Charles Hoskinson (@IOHK_Charles) September 15, 2024

Meanwhile, Cerkoryn, a Cardano dRep, asked whether there would be opportunities for community builders to participate in the Leios prototyping team. He noted the importance of diversifying development efforts beyond IOG to ensure a decentralized approach to core development. 

Hoskinson responded affirmatively, stating that the aim is to involve third-party developers through a request-for-proposal (RFP) process, similar to how Cardano handled the development of the Genesis protocol with Tweag and the upcoming Peras. 

Notably, Hoskinson confirmed that due to how complex the Leios protocol is, it would require more than a dozen firms to be involved in its full implementation. The Rust node proposal, while receiving less support, is still a crucial part of Cardano’s development. Rust is known for being fast, secure, and lightweight.