Input Output, the development company behind the Cardano network, proposed increasing the network’s block size by 11% on Wednesday.

“We have proposed the next parameter update as we continue to increase #Cardano network capacity in line with the plan. The proposal will increase block size by a further 8KB taking it from 72KB to 80KB,” Input Output said in a tweet.

NETWORK UPDATE: Today, we have proposed the next parameter update as we continue to increase #Cardano network capacity in line with the plan. The proposal will increase block size by a further 8KB taking it from 72KB to 80KB.
🧵⤵️

1/9

— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) February 1, 2022Block are batches of transactions that are confirmed and recorded on a blockchain. Larger sizes mean more transactions can be included in each batch, but it can affect transaction times and overall network capacity.A separate proposal was additionally triggered to increase the performance of Plutus, the smart contract platform of the Cardano blockchain. Input Output said script memory units per transaction – or the amount of data that can be included in a single transaction – on Cardano would now increase to 14 million from 12.5 million.The changes are expected to improve the performance of applications built on Cardano, while increasing overall network capacity, Input Output said.The proposals are in line with a broader plan to increase transactional volumes on the Cardano network as it moves towards becoming a decentralized finance (DeFi)-focused blockchain. DeFi refers to financial services that depend on smart contracts instead of third parties.SundaeSwap, the first DeFi exchange (DEX) on Cardano, went live in January. The DEX offers several trading pools that consist of native Cardano tokens, such as SUNDAE, Cardano’s ADA, metaverse token PAVIA, among several others.However, at the time of writing, swaps on SundaeSwap were slow. “The network is extremely congested at the moment. Swaps may fail or not go through until congestion decreases,” a notice on the DEX states.Prices of ADA were up 3% in the past 24 hours, data from analytics service CoinGecko show. ADA exchanged hands at $1.10 in Asian morning hours but fell five cents at the time of writing after a nominal sell-off.