Cardano node v.10.7 development and Leios endorsement block prototyping are advancing, pushing the network toward higher throughput. The Hydra team focused on performance optimizations and a Raspberry Pi demo, while Mithril prepared distribution 2603.1-pre with DMQ protocol support. Furthermore, Intersect is coordinating an intra-era upgrade to protocol version 11, laying the groundwork for enhanced governance and scalability features.

The updated Cardano constitution has been ratified and officially took effect on January 24, marking a pivotal step in decentralized governance. The ledger team finalized the design for nested transactions (CIP-118) and began implementing account address enhancements (CIP-159) for the upcoming Dijkstra era. Simultaneously, the Mithril team focused on SNARK-friendly libraries and prepared the infrastructure for the decentralized message queue (DMQ) network deployment.

The final development report for 2025, dated December 12, highlights the approval of the Pyth Lazer oracle integration and Serviceplan Group joining Intersect as an enterprise member. The consensus team completed LSM-tree work, slated for integration in node v.10.7. Mithril made progress on its SNARK-friendly STM library and Bitcoin DeFi prover prototype. In governance, a critical vote is underway to restore the Constitutional Committee to full capacity, while Project Catalyst Fund15's community review period closes on December 15. The Midnight Redemption portal is live, and the NIGHT token is now trading on exchanges like Kraken.

The 2025 State of the Cardano Developer Ecosystem Survey reveals a shift in developer priorities, with Identity and Authentication now the primary focus for DApps, overtaking DeFi and stablecoins. Key findings from the 109 respondents include TypeScript, JavaScript, and Python as the top proficiency languages, while Aiken has become the dominant smart contract tool, used by over 75% of developers. The community identified Ouroboros Leios (higher throughput) and improved documentation as the ecosystem's most pressing technical needs.

The ledger team finalized the specifications for nested transactions, while Lace v.1.32 launched with a new notification center and NIGHT token support. Hydra v.1.2.0 introduced the "SafeClose" feature, and Mithril advanced its SNARK-friendly STM library. Additionally, Project Catalyst Fund15 moved into community review with 761 proposals, and a 23-hour virtual Annual Members' Meeting was successfully hosted.

Giorgio Zinetti analyzed the November 21 incident, where a malformed transaction caused a temporary chain partition. Despite the split, block production continued uninterrupted, and the network remained online throughout. A coordinated response from SPOs and the Ouroboros consensus mechanism resolved the issue within 14 hours, demonstrating the network's resilience and decentralization.

A proposed intra-era hard fork to Protocol Version 11 enhances Plutus performance, ledger consistency, and node security. This upgrade avoids an era transition to minimize integration burdens while introducing enhanced primitives, VRF key uniqueness, and updated reference input rules. Intersect is forming a working group to manage ecosystem readiness and feedback.

Professor Aggelos Kiayias analyzed the November 21 incident, where a serialization bug caused a temporary chain split. He explains how the Ouroboros protocol's self-healing design and longest chain rule successfully resolved the partition without central intervention. Once SPOs upgraded their nodes, the network converged back to a single history, demonstrating the resilience of decentralized consensus under real-world stress.

The Net Change Limit serves as a constitutional safeguard that caps ADA withdrawals from the treasury to ensure financial sustainability. A proposed short extension allows the community time to ratify a new 18-month limit and align fiscal strategies with Cardano Vision 2030, ensuring continuous funding for ecosystem growth.

The Leios development tracker was launched to provide a consolidated view of the protocol's global progress. The networking team focused on Cardano node v.10.6, resolving cardano-tracer issues and preparing for P2P-only networking. Project Catalyst Fund15 proposal submissions have closed, and Intersect is preparing for its 24-hour virtual Annual Members' Meeting in the Virtual Hub.