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Cardano Opens Public Dijkstra Testnet; Protocol Transition and Mainnet Upgrade Remain Pending
Operators can begin testing on the public network, but its Dijkstra name should not be confused with an activated mainnet upgrade.
Intersect’s 24 October update reports that Cardano’s Dijkstra testnet was respun on 21 October and opened to public participants. Its detailed upgrade section dates the event to 21 October; this report uses that explicit date rather than the introductory weekday reference.
The operational distinction matters: the network initially runs Conway protocol version 11 using cardano-node 11.1.3. Intersect says the Dijkstra protocol-version-12 transition requires the 11.2 prerelease and a hard-fork initiation action. NetNapz has not independently operated a node or verified completion of that transition.
What operators can test now
The Cardano Operations Book corroborates the initial Conway configuration and identifies 11.1.3 as compatible. It provides network configuration files and a faucet for test ADA and pool delegation. It says configurations will be republished for 11.2.0 before the planned Dijkstra transition.
This gives pool operators and tooling teams a public preparation environment. It does not establish that Dijkstra is active on Cardano mainnet. The 11.1.3 release itself dates to 29 September and fixes IPv4 decoding; the new development here is public testnet access, not a newly released mainnet node.
NetNapz assessment: readiness is the useful test
Assessment: the immediate value is an opportunity to identify compatibility problems before a production transition. Useful follow-up evidence would include the published 11.2 configuration, the testnet hard-fork outcome, reproducible integration results and a separately confirmed mainnet governance timetable.
Testnet availability alone does not measure production throughput, commercial adoption or additional demand for ADA. Readers should assess those outcomes separately. This report does not provide a mainnet migration instruction or claim that ordinary holders need to move their tokens.
Sources and dates
Intersect weekly update 134, published 24 October, reporting the 21 October respin; Cardano Operations Book: Dijkstra testnet, live documentation; cardano-node 11.1.3 release, published 29 September. All checked 28 October 2026.