Charles Hoskinson believes the network’s Ouroboros Leios upgrade will increase transaction capacity, positioning Cardano alongside some of the industry’s fastest blockchain networks, including the $XRP Ledger (XRPL).
Hoskinson made the assertion during a virtual interview with David Gokhshtein on The Breakdown podcast. During the discussion, he revealed that Leios technology could boost Cardano’s throughput by as much as 60 times its current capacity.
“Leios will be 60x in terms of throughput inside the system,” he said, highlighting the upgrade’s potential to significantly increase the number of transactions Cardano can process per second.
If Cardano reaches that level, Hoskinson believes the network will “be as performant as the $XRP Ledger (XRPL).”
Cardano Aims to Match XRPL’s Speed and Efficiency
For years, the XRPL has built its reputation on fast settlement times and high transaction throughput, making it a preferred option for payments and cross-border transfers.
The network typically settles transactions within three to five seconds and supports a throughput of up to 1,500 TPS. Notably, the blockchain surpassed 120 TPS in March 2026 while processing around 650 transactions during peak activity.
Against this backdrop, Hoskinson’s latest remarks suggest that Cardano no longer views transaction speed as a competitive disadvantage. Instead, he believes the introduction of Leios will place the network on par with leading blockchain platforms in terms of performance and scalability.
Preserving Decentralization and Security
Notably, Hoskinson stressed that Cardano achieved these throughput gains without sacrificing its core principles, particularly decentralization and security.
The blockchain industry has long struggled to balance scalability, decentralization, and security, a challenge commonly known as the blockchain trilemma. Many networks improve performance only by compromising one of the other two elements.
However, Cardano aims to prove that such trade-offs are not inevitable. With Leios, Cardano hopes to deliver the speed required for mainstream adoption while preserving the principles that have guided the ecosystem since its inception.
Current Status of Leios
Meanwhile, the Ouroboros Leios upgrade officially launched its public testnet on June 23, 2026. Named Musashi Dojo, the testnet represents the first time the protocol has operated in a live network environment.
Looking ahead, Cardano plans to deploy Leios on the mainnet later this year, marking what could become one of the network’s most significant scalability upgrades to date.
