Cardano opens Dijkstra testnet as node 11.2 prepares protocol upgrade

Cardano moved to on-chain governance with the Conway era in 2022, and Intersect, the nonprofit that now coordinates protocol development, has run successive public testnets to vet changes before mainnet. DijkstraNet is the latest in that line, following governance-focused efforts like SanchoNet. Protocol version 12 is the next scheduled hard fork, and Intersect's Oct. 22 Upgrade Bulletin #39 confirms stake pool operators can now access the network ahead of the node 11.2 release.

Stake pool operators must now run node 11.2 and test against protocol version 12, checking compatibility before any mainnet hard fork. Developers get an early look at nested transactions, account enhancements, guard scripts, Plutus V4, and freely withdrawable staking rewards, all of which change how smart contracts and delegators interact with the chain. Projects building on Cardano will need to rework code touching staking rewards or Plutus scripts once these features land.

Splitting the rollout matters: protocol version 12 is being tested on DijkstraNet without Leios, Cardano's proposed throughput upgrade, meaning the network is choosing to validate smaller changes before attempting a more ambitious scaling leap. That staged approach trades speed for safety, a defensible choice for a chain that governs upgrades through formal committee votes rather than a single company's roadmap. Whether Leios ships in this fork or a later one remains a genuine point of disagreement among contributors.

Watch the Dijkstra testnet's progression from Conway protocol version 11 on node 11.1.3, restarted Oct. 21, toward the node 11.2 release that unlocks protocol version 12 testing. A clean transition there, confirmed through further Intersect bulletins, would set the timeline for a mainnet hard fork; persistent bugs on the test network would push back the date and determine whether Leios integration gets folded into this upgrade cycle or deferred further.

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