Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade tests faster finality at 150ms in public test networks

Solana’s Alpenglow upgrade, designed to slash transaction finality from approximately 12.8 seconds to about 150 milliseconds, has entered its second public test network, alongside its developer network. The upgrade, announced by Anza—the developer of Solana’s core software—aims to improve efficiency by eliminating validator votes from recorded blocks, thereby reducing reported transaction volumes even if user activity remains unchanged. This change will affect transaction history tracking and may alter data visualizations for services monitoring Solana’s network activity. Services building transaction histories must now maintain separate candidate blocks until consensus is reached, preventing incorrect records from merging contents prematurely. Applications requiring only basic transaction and balance checks will not need migration, according to guidance from the Solana Foundation. While the upgrade’s speed target is derived from simulations rather than live-market validation, it could shorten delays for exchanges releasing deposited funds or payment apps confirming sales to merchants. No official mainnet launch date has been set, though Anza’s software schedule tentatively permits feature activations to resume on September 28, though this date does not confirm Alpenglow’s deployment.