Cardano is in the news for three unrelated decisions at once: a protocol testnet opening to operators (Intersect), a lobbying position aimed at Brussels (Cointelegraph), and a treasury vote that would put copper in the treasury's hands (CoinDesk).
The Dijkstra testnet is open
Intersect said in its Upgrade Bulletin #39 on 22 October that DijkstraNet had become publicly available after a restart on 21 October, inviting stake pool operators to join ahead of node 11.2 (crypto.news). As of Intersect's weekly update of 24 October, the network was running node 11.1.3 on protocol version 11, still in the Conway era, and will move to protocol version 12, named Dijkstra, through a hard fork action once node 11.2 is available as a pre-release (Intersect). Node 11.2 is to include the full Dijkstra hard fork feature set apart from Leios, and is expected to clear LSM for mainnet use with memory requirements of roughly 12 GB (crypto.news).
Leios is tested separately. A weekly prototype, RC 2026w42, carries the complete Leios-inclusive feature set on MusashiNet for downstream tooling teams, while the formal node 11.3 release is at least two weeks away with substantial work remaining. Intersect gave no mainnet activation date and no percentage of operators required to upgrade (crypto.news).
Input Output's rollout plan of 20 October sets initial Leios capacity targets at three to five times Cardano's current transaction capacity, with later targets of 10 to 15 times. Under that plan, stake pools register BLS voting keys after the hard fork, and roughly 90% to 95% of delegated stake must be registered before Leios can operate (Input Output). The figures are targets rather than measured throughput (crypto.news). Cardano's last mainnet hard fork, van Rossem, activated on 18 July (crypto.news).
The Foundation asked Brussels not to add rules
The Cardano Foundation published a response to the European Union's consultation on revising the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation on 21 October. The submission was filed on 30 September and runs to 19 pages. It opposes new standalone rules for decentralised finance and staking, asking that existing financial law apply according to the functions performed and the risks created "not the technology through which it is conducted". It asks the Commission to distinguish direct participation in a decentralised network from financial services provided by intermediaries, on the basis that Cardano holders can delegate ADA to help secure the network without surrendering custody or locking tokens (Cointelegraph).
The disagreement is with ESMA, which in September recommended a definition of decentralised finance written into the regulation, a strictly limited exemption for fully decentralised services, and a new regulated category for firms providing access to DeFi protocols (Cointribune). MiCA has applied in full since 30 December 2024, and the transitional period for firms already operating under national law ended on 1 July 2026 (ESMA). It already excludes services provided entirely without intermediaries (Cointribune).
Nothing is decided. The consultation opened on 20 May and was extended to 30 September, and it contains no legislative proposal (Cointribune).
A treasury vote on copper
Toto Finance is asking Cardano governance for 22 million ADA, about $5 million, to buy physical copper and tokenise it, in a proposal called the Cardano Strategic Copper Reserve. Voting runs from epoch 661 to epoch 668 and is expected to close around 15 November 2026 (CryptoBriefing, CoinDesk).
About two-thirds of the request would buy COMEX Grade 1 cathodes stored in a warehouse near New Orleans, with one token, CuTT, representing a verified pound. The metal would be held for 18 to 24 months and sold over the following year, with net proceeds and unused funds returned to the treasury within 36 months. The proposal's own assumptions, buying at $6.73 a pound and selling at about $10.06, mean copper needs to rise roughly 49.4% to return the money if the full budget is spent and ADA's dollar price holds (CoinDesk).
The scale is the sharper point. The request would consume more than half of Cardano's remaining withdrawal allowance of 42.6 million ADA, with 457.4 million of a 500 million ADA cap already used as of 16 October, and returns would not replenish the allowance (CoinDesk). Toto could receive up to 3.36 million ADA across a technology and project management allocation, an execution fee and a margin on storage and insurance invoices, while keeping commercial rights to its separately funded token business (CoinDesk).
Cardano's treasury has rejected a request before. In late May the Foundation's 7.8 million ADA request for its 2026 summit won 65.21% support, short of the two-thirds required, and the event was cancelled (CoinDesk).
What to watch
- The Toto Finance governance action, which closes around 15 November 2026, and whether voters treat the treasury as a grant fund or an investment vehicle (CryptoBriefing).
- The node 11.2 release and the hard fork initiation that would move DijkstraNet to protocol version 12 (crypto.news).
