Cardano Block Size to Increase by 12.5% to 72KB on 1st December after Testnet Deployment This Week

Input Output Global (IOG), the software firm behind the development of Cardano (ADA), the largest proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, has announced a move to increase the Cardano network’s block size by 8kb to 72kb on 1st December 2021, to contain the expected rise in transaction volumes and network traffic.

This was explained in a blog post written by John Wood, Cardano Director of Architecture, published on 22nd November titled, “Slow and steady wins the race: network evolution for network growth.”

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Cardano’s blockchain permissionless nature makes it accessible for anyone who wants to use it or build on it. A lot of new users have joined the network due to the recent hard forks and thousands of users are still expected to join the network, which would result in a rapid increase in transaction volumes and network traffic.

Also, as core components, such as wallet connectors and the Plutus Application Backend (PAB) are finalized and integrated into mainnet, a significant surge in the network activity is expected.

Testnet Before the Key Adjustments on the Mainnet

So, to accommodate the ongoing growth on the network and ensure Cardano maintains its resilience and robustness, a series of adjustments to the network parameters have been scheduled.

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The blog post reads in part as follows:

“Following extensive benchmarking, and developer feedback, we’re now starting to make gradual adjustments and have today submitted two initial changes. These changes are planned to take effect on the testnet on Thursday 25th November. Once tested, we anticipate subsequently applying these to the mainnet, taking effect on epoch 306, on Wednesday December 1, 2021 at 21:45:00 UTC.”

Cardano Block Size to Increase by 8KB to 72KB

In the blog post, IOG announced that it intends to increase Cardano block size by 12.5% (8KB) to 72KB.

Currently, there are over 2 million Cardano wallets and the growth is expected to remain steady. It’s worthy of note that the Cardano network has moved from less than 10,000 transactions per day to over 200,000 transactions per day in just a year.

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The block size became a key consideration due to the anticipated surge in traffic as Cardano developers launch new decentralized applications (DApps). Once the block size is increased as scheduled, there will be an assurance that more transactions can fit into a block, which will in turn provide greater capacity for users.

Also, the software firm plans to increase the Plutus script memory units per transaction to 11.25 million, which is also a 12.5% increase.

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