Cardano’s ADA ADA token came under pressure Saturday, falling to $0.5818 and extending its weekly losses despite renewed focus on the network’s Leios upgrade. ADA declined 3.77% over the past 24 hours, with volume spiking 38.39% above the 7-day average, according to CoinDesk Research's technical analysis model.

On Thirsday, Input Output Global (IOG), the research arm behind Cardano, reiterated its vision for the upcoming Leios upgrade via a thread on X . The team explained that Leios is designed to optimize transaction processing and resource utilization, especially during peak block activity. The design introduces new mechanisms like endorsements to maintain security and data availability while boosting overall throughput.

Leios was first introduced in November 2022 as a new family variant of Cardano’s Ouroboros consensus protocol. At the time, IOG highlighted that existing designs such as Praos and Genesis faced fundamental scalability limits — not due to bandwidth or CPU, but due to algorithmic dependencies that constrained throughput. Leios seeks to address these limits with a major architectural overhaul, including faster chain sync, tiered transaction fees, and greater service prioritization.

The upgrade is not just a tweak to the existing system but a substantial redesign. While implementation will demand considerable changes, its benefits could be transformative. IOG Co-Founder and CEO Charles Hoskinson said on X on May 10 that he expects Leios to go live on the Cardano mainnet in 2026, a timeline that was reportedly accelerated from an initial 2028 projection.

Meanwhile, long-term holders continue to withdraw ADA from centralized exchanges, signaling conviction in the asset’s future.

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