Solana Unveils Revolutionary Alpenglow Protocol with 150ms Finality
Date: 2025-05-21 Author: Oliver Abernathy Categories: BUSINESS
The developers of the Solana blockchain network have announced a new consensus protocol called Alpenglow, which they claim can finalize transactions in just 150 milliseconds. This is a significant speedup compared to the current confirmation time, which can reach almost 13 seconds.
The key element of Alpenglow is the implementation of the principle of “optimistic confirmation”, which allows the system to achieve finality within 100-150 ms. Such response speeds bring the performance of the blockchain network closer to the level of Web2 solutions and make Solana possible for applications where real-time processing is critical, such as high-frequency trading or interactive gaming.
Alpenglow will be the largest change to the Solana protocol in the history of the network. This initiative plans to replace the existing TowerBFT and Proof-of-History mechanisms with two new components: Votor and Rotor.
Votor will be responsible for voting and finalizing blocks. It is capable of completing processing in one round with 80% of validators participating and in two rounds with 60%, with both modes running in parallel and finalization occurring when the fastest one is completed. This dramatically increases the stability and speed of consensus.
Rotor, in turn, will improve the existing Turbine transaction transfer protocol. It will redistribute the load between network nodes proportionally to their contribution, freeing the system from dependence on a single leader and thereby increasing network throughput.
According to Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko, the implementation of Alpenglow fundamentally changes the developer experience, freeing them from the need to work with epochs filled with unconfirmed blocks. Now interaction will occur with one or two blocks simultaneously, which significantly simplifies and speeds up the development and integration of applications into the network.
The Alpenglow prototype is currently running in a test environment, with a full testnet launch expected in the coming months. The developers are confident that this technological milestone will give Solana an edge over other blockchain platforms, especially in areas that require instant data processing.
