Dijkstra testnet opened October 21: What it means for the Cardano price

Published on 10/27/2026 at 18:31 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS

Epoch 660 processed 1.78 million transactions. The Cardano price is 0.2045 USD on October 16, 2026, up 0.35 percent.

Protocol progress and network activity

On October 21, 2026, Cardano reopened the public Dijkstra testnet ahead of protocol version 12 testing.
Epoch 660 processed 1,780,896 transactions between October 6 and October 11, 2026.
The Cardano price stands at 0.2045 USD as of October 16, 2026, 0.35 percent above the UTC daily close of October 15, 2026.
CIP-0113 became operational on October 7, 2026, for regulated digital assets issued on Cardano.

Cardano, XCCRYPTOADA0, Illustration mit AI erstellt.

Cardano (ADA) reopened its public Dijkstra testnet on October 21, 2026, as preparation for a protocol version 12 hard fork, according to Intersect. The Cardano price stands at 0.2045 USD as of October 16, 2026, up 0.35 percent compared with the UTC daily close of October 15, 2026.

Protocol version 12 starts in testing

Intersect said in its October 24, 2026, weekly update that the Dijkstra testnet was publicly available after an October 21, 2026, respin. It was running protocol version 11, also called Conway, on node version 11.1.3. Once the node 11.2 pre-release becomes available, the planned hard fork initiation action will move the testnet to protocol version 12, known as Dijkstra, according to Intersect. A hard fork is a coordinated protocol change that requires compatible software and governance actions.

The public test environment gives stake pool operators, wallet providers and tooling teams a place to check software compatibility before the version 12 transition. Bitkub reported on October 23, 2026, that the upgrade includes Plutus V4 smart contracts, nested transactions and freely withdrawable staking rewards.

Epoch 660 records 1,780,896 transactions

Cardano's recent network activity includes 1,780,896 transactions in Epoch 660 between October 6 and October 11, 2026, according to Coinotag. Transaction counts measure recorded activity, not the number of unique users, so the figure does not by itself establish a change in adoption.

A separate protocol development dated October 7, 2026, was the activation of CIP-0113. Blockonomi reported that the opt-in standard allows issuers of regulated digital assets to embed rules such as freezing balances, reclaiming assets and limiting eligible recipients. The report also said the controls apply to tokens that use the standard, not to ADA itself.

ADA market data on October 16, 2026

The Cardano price is 0.2045 USD as of October 16, 2026, according to Investing.com. That is 0.35 percent above the UTC daily close of October 15, 2026. The daily high is 0.2080 USD and the daily low (UTC day) is 0.2005 USD. Market capitalization is 7.52 billion USD, ranking Cardano 15th; 24-hour volume is 249.98 million USD, and circulating supply is 36.81 billion ADA.