Cardano’s Block Size Limit: A Major Red Flag for Investors!

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Fund CIO Warns <a href="https://tech-oracle.com/ada-usd/">Cardano</a>’s Block Size Limit Is A Red Flag

Justin Bons, founder and lead investor of Cyber Capital, has reignited a longstanding debate about Cardano’s scalability potential by pointing out to his followers on social media that the network’s fixed block-size limit and current real-world transaction rate of around 18 transactions per second (TPS) offer no assurance for future expansion, either for developers or institutional investors.

Cardano Faces Backlash Over 18 TPS Limit

On June 10th, Bons expressed a desire to appreciate ADA but needed convincing. They questioned if anyone could make them take the project’s scaling efforts more seriously, since its current transaction speed is only 18 transactions per second (TPS), which they found disappointing. Input Endorsers slightly boost this to 400 TPS, but Bons noted that L2 solutions like Hydra do not address the issue of L1 scaling. So they were wondering if they were overlooking something.

Cardano supporters quickly countered that salvo with a technical refutation. In response, stake-pool operator Jaromír “Cardano YOD₳” Tesař shared an image from IOG’s Ouroboros Leios paper, emphasizing that the updated consensus layer is capable of handling approximately 10,000 transactions per second (TPS), with potential for even higher speeds, while still preserving a unified global state.

A short while after, Phil UPLC, CEO of Anastasia Labs, mentioned that their internal simulations ran at a rate of 30 input-blocks per second and reached a Transaction Per Second (TPS) of 11,790. He emphasized that there was no limitation preventing higher input-block speeds beyond the need for more validator hardware. However, Bons remained unimpressed by this information.

He acknowledged that it sounds promising on paper, but if these changes were to be made within the next year, including an expansion of block size, it would sway his opinion significantly. However, mere promises don’t cut it because this has been promised for quite some time now. Without more concrete assurances, the plan seems too uncertain.

As a researcher, I am currently exploring a novel block structure proposition I recently encountered in a pre-print study published in November 2023. This structure, which we are now closely monitoring through the weekly progress reports of our dedicated scaling team at IOG, is referred to as Leios. The design of Leios introduces three distinct tiers: input, endorsement, and ranking blocks. These tiers enable nodes to process transactions concurrently before their final arrangement.

While this design shares some similarities with the decentralized “local fee market” strategy championed by Solana, it aspires to maintain Cardano’s unique stake-weighted Nakamoto consensus mechanism for settlement. This balance between innovation and preserving core principles is what excites me about this research.

The main concern for critics isn’t about the design being aesthetically pleasing, but rather the time it takes to reach mainnet. Bons brought up this topic once more when Phil from Anastasia Labs suggested that Input Endorsers (IE) without Leios should be capable of surpassing 400 transactions per second (TPS) if governance removes the cap. “The 400 TPS figure comes from running IE without Leios,” Bons explained. “I thought IE would launch before Leios. Is that where I’m going wrong? I thought there was no fixed release date for Leios? I am currently reading the Lanningham paper, which is impressive—but it remains purely theoretical.

The conversation subsequently focused on Cardano’s restrictive block size settings. Delegate representative @Cerkoryn supported maintaining the current setup, asserting that the 100 kB body limit fosters a more democratic environment by enabling most people to run a node using a standard desktop computer. He also emphasized that the primary challenge lies in finding sufficient substantial transactions to occupy block space in the first place.

In a response reminiscent of the Bitcoin scaling debates, Bons argued, “If you’re advocating for maintaining the block-size limit, it gives me little assurance that it will ever be raised. Recalling my experiences with Bitcoin, I fear that similar delays may be happening with ADA at this moment.

Theory Must Become Practice

frankly, I don’t care how you boost TPS—either by expanding size, increasing the count, or enhancing block speed. The crucial point is capacity. If it can be attained through a multi-leader structure, that’s fantastic. Just make it happen.

Even though the skeptic might harbor doubts, he can envision a route that could win him over. In conversation with Dave ADA at the gathering, he expressed his enthusiasm, “It’s all very promising on paper,” he said. “But if these strategies are ever put into action, I will jump aboard the ADA wagon without delay! If I had faith in all of ADA’s claims, I would have been a loyal follower from day one. Unfortunately, my skepticism proved valid as none of their promises have materialized so far.

At press time, ADA traded at $0.7173.

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2025-06-11 18:21