Solana Activates Alpenglow Upgrade for Live Validator Testing, Cutting Finality Times

Solana developer Anza said that Alpenglow, described as “the biggest consensus change in Solana’s history,” is live on a community test cluster as validators trial the software ahead of a potential mainnet rollout.

““Alpenglow is live on the community test cluster,” Anza wrote on X.”

CoinDesk

CoinDesk reported that Alpenglow moves Solana from its current consensus system combining Proof-of-Stake with TowerBFT and Proof-of-History toward a new architecture intended to reduce finality times and improve network responsiveness.

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The upgrade is designed to cut Solana transaction finality from roughly 12.8 seconds to around 150 milliseconds, with the new architecture built around Votor and Rotor replacing Proof-of-History and TowerBFT.

Unchained Podcast said internal testing had previously been limited to roughly 45 nodes, while external validator operators can now run the new consensus code in a live environment for the first time.

Crypto Briefing added that the upgrade is intended to make delay-based transaction ordering more expensive for validators, reshaping Solana’s MEV economics as the network moves toward mainnet.

Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko said Alpenglow changes MEV economics by making delay based transaction ordering more expensive for validators, reducing incentives to manipulate transaction ordering through intentional delays.

Crypto Briefing reported that Yakovenko said leaders that miss timeout windows risk losing future slot opportunities, a penalty that matters because some of the most valuable MEV opportunities depend on timing.

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The same source said Alpenglow replaces Proof-of-History and TowerBFT with Votor and Rotor, where Votor handles voting and finalization and Rotor is designed to improve block propagation across the network.

Unchained Podcast said the mainnet timeline has slipped from earlier hopes of a Q1 release, with Yakovenko saying mainnet activation could come next quarter if testing proceeds smoothly.

CoinDesk also framed the testing step as validator operators testing software designed to move Solana toward new consensus architecture, while the upgrade remains on a community test cluster rather than mainnet.

Alongside Solana’s Alpenglow testing, CoinDesk’s The Protocol said LayerZero acknowledged it “made a mistake” allowing its own verification infrastructure to secure high-value crypto assets in a vulnerable configuration tied to a $292 million hack.

“LayerZero said that it “made a mistake” allowing its own verification infrastructure”

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CoinDesk quoted LayerZero’s blog language, including “We made a mistake by allowing our DVN to act as a 1/1 DVN for high-value transactions,” as the company shifted tone after weeks of blaming Kelp DAO.

The same CoinDesk wrap said Ronin is set to transition to an Ethereum layer 2 on May 12, executing a hard fork at block 55,577,490 that will result in about 10 hours of downtime for users.

CoinDesk also reported that the Ethereum Foundation and major crypto wallet developers are rolling out “Clear Signing,” aiming to replace confusing walls of code with simple, human-readable explanations for what users are agreeing to.

In parallel, The Protocol said the Ethereum Foundation pointed to incidents like the Bybit hack as examples of how attackers exploit “blind signing,” where users approve transactions filled with unreadable technical data.