Alpenglow will enable exchanges, bridges, and merchants to consider payments irreversible almost instantly.
By Shaurya MalwaUpdated 36 minutes agoPublished 44 minutes ago2 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this articleCopy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmailMake preferred on Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko at Consensus Miami 2026 (CoinDesk)SummaryShow- Solana's Alpenglow upgrade is now on its public test network, aiming to reduce transaction finality from approximately 13 seconds to just 0.15 seconds.
- The upgrade introduces Votor, which replaces Solana's TowerBFT consensus system, allowing validators to finalize blocks more quickly.
- The initial testnet requires Agave 4.3 and does not support Firedancer or Frankendancer; a mainnet update on September 28 is still tentative and not confirmed.
Solana’s latest upgrade, named Alpenglow, has transitioned to a testnet phase where developers are working to decrease the time required for a payment to be deemed irreversible from around 13 seconds to just 0.15 seconds.
This critical moment, referred to as finality, is significant for exchanges, which wait for it before processing deposits, as well as for bridges that release funds on other blockchains, and for merchants who need assurance that payments cannot be reversed.
The Alpenglow upgrade is currently being tested on Solana’s public test network, a simulated version of the blockchain that utilizes tokens without real monetary value. This environment allows developers to identify issues and test the migration process without risking users’ funds.
Currently, Solana utilizes a consensus mechanism called TowerBFT, which requires validators to agree on which transactions are permanently recorded. Validators cast their votes on the blockchain and need to accumulate enough votes across 32 slots before a block achieves finality.
The new upgrade will replace TowerBFT with a protocol named Votor, enabling validators to directly share their votes and finalize a block after just one or two voting rounds, streamlining the process.
Applications will continue to function without changes, and users will not need to alter how they send funds or use their wallets.
Alpenglow has been in testing on a smaller network for over four months, and moving it to Solana’s established testnet will help assess if the broader network can seamlessly transition.
Validators involved in the test must use Agave 4.3, the main software for running Solana, maintained by Anza, a key developer for the network.
On September 21, Anza advised all mainnet validators to adopt Agave 4.3 after initially rolling it out to those managing 10% and then 25% of the SOL securing the network.
Two alternative validator programs, Firedancer and Frankendancer, developed by Jump Crypto, are not yet compatible with the Alpenglow test.
These alternatives aim to reduce Solana’s dependence on a single software, mitigating risks if Agave encounters issues. Their absence means the initial Alpenglow migration will rely solely on Agave.
A tentative date of September 28 has been noted in Anza's schedule for activating features from Agave 4.3 on the main network, but this is not a confirmed launch date for Alpenglow, as the testnet transition was still pending early Wednesday according to Anza’s tracker.
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